These link to the three scenes I have chosen as they show the history, such as the girls were ill, witchcraft, devils and deaths. Miller also links the literary context to the three scenes I have chosen, such as McCarthyism and trials.
Firstly I have chosen Act 1. Miller presents intimidation from the beginning of the scene, “I- do believe there was some movement-in the soup.” This shows Parris is being intimidated as the stage directions in front said fearful; you can tell he is fearful as the quotation has hyphens, which indicates a shocked pause. Abigail’s cousin, Betty, is in bed felling ill. Hale is desperate to know if the devil is involved. Abigail blames Tituba, “I never call him! Tituba, Tituba…” Abigail is persecuting Tituba as she has a lower status then her. There is an ellipsis at the end of the quotation; this shows that there is a pause. Abigail and Hale spoke about what happened in the forest. Abigail lies “I never sold myself! I’m a good girl! I’m proper girl!” Miller shows Abigail is getting angry because there are explanation marks at the end of each sentence. It is dramatic irony, the audience know that Abigail had an affaire with John but the characters don’t. Tituba then enters the room; Abigail then blames Tituba again, “She makes me drink blood! ...She makes me laugh at prayer!” Miller shows Abigail persecuting Tituba as she treats her unfairly because of her race and status, she also uses Tituba to cover up her story. Hale now thinks that Tituba has sent her spirit upon Betty. Tituba disagrees, “I love me Betty!” Tituba is getting angry; it also shows Tituba getting annoyed because there’s an explanation mark in the quotation. Tituba’s pronouns are mixed up because she’s from the Caribbean. Parris wants Tituba to confess, “You will confess yourself or I will take you out and whip you to your death, Tituba!” This shows Parris was persecuting Tituba as he was going to hurt her. You can tell he was shouting, as there’s an explanation mark at the end of the quote. Tituba loses her power “terrified falls to her knees” Tituba’s scared she doesn’t want to get hurt so she falls on her knees with no power and confesses, this is intimidation as she feels small and is literarily small, she wants someone to comfort her like her childhood. Tituba lies to save her life. Hale is trying to get answers out of Tituba, “Who came to you with the devil? Two? Three? Four? How many?” Hale is asking short questions to find out about the devil, before the quote stage directions said kindly this shows Hale wasn’t trying to scare Tituba. Tituba is getting all the attention and Abigail is jealous “I want to open myself … I want the light of God” Abigail has changed her mind as earlier Abigail said she never called the devil. Then Betty wakes and started shouting names that she supposedly saw with the devil. The curtain falls with hysteria.
Secondly I have chosen Act 2. It begins eight days after the girls were found dancing in the forest. John lies, “It’s well seasoned.” This shows the lack of trust and honesty between John and Elizabeth as earlier John adds a pinch of salt into the pot. There’s tension between John and Elizabeth, “he gets up, goes to kiss her, kisses her. She retrieves it, with a certain disappointment, he returns to the table.” John is disappointed that Elizabeth didn’t kiss him back; the audience would understand her emotions. Elizabeth was still annoyed about the affaire. I think they are both intimidating each other as John had an affaire with Abigail and Elizabeth is being cold hearted about it. John and Elizabeth are not connecting, “Her back is turned to him. He turns to her and watches her. A sense of their separation rises.” Miller presents the lack of communication between them. They both fight, “I thought she were a saint … where she walks the crowd will part like the sea for Israel.” Elizabeth is trying to show John how powerful Abigail is, and how everyone moves out of her way. Elizabeth tries to get John’s attention, “Quietly, fearing anger him by prodding.” She is afraid of her husband, but in 1953 men dominated women, on the other hand Elizabeth has some power as John had done something bad. Elizabeth loses faith in John, but he won’t have it, “Women” John has to remind Elizabeth whose boss. John’s getting “No more! I should have roared you down when first you told me about your suspicion but I wilted, and, like a Christian, I confessed!” Miller shows John saying I should have acted like a roaring lion towards her, but he acted like a wilted flower. He was angry and shouting as there are two explanation marks.
Lastly I have chosen Act 4. Danforth wants John’s name nailed to the church door, “I have confessed myself! … God knows how black my sins are! It is enough!” Danforth wants the whole town to know about John. Danforth is trying to intimidate John but he is not affected. John is saying how God already knows about his sins. At this point he brings Tituba into the conversation, “You will not use me! I am no Tituba.” He is giving examples of people being used such as Tituba John even says take away my masculinity “say Proctor broke his knees and wept like a women, say what ever you will, but my name cannot-“ He is so desperate to keep his name he says say I acted like a women but just let me keep my name. John is finally intimidated, “Because it is my name! … I gave you my soul, leave me my name!” John uses this quotation when he is fighting with his conscience over weather to confess witchcraft and save himself from being hanged. He is being intimidated as he is begging to keep his name. He then tears the paper standing tall and strong to show that he still has his dignity. He then lifts Elizabeth and kisses her, she now accepts the kiss; it now brings them closer together. “A drum roll strikes the air.” The sound effect brings tension as they gradually get louder and everyone knows what’s coming, John’s death. John is forgiven “He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!” Miller presents that Elizabeth has finally forgiven John. “The final drum roll crushes.” This shows that John is now dead, but it could also mean his heart beats stopped.
So, in conclusion Miller presents The Crucible as a play full of lies which leads to intimidation and persecution. I think there are two morals to the play, the first is that lying can get other people into trouble, sometimes the people you love and in some cases in can come back round, for example John Proctor lied and at the end of the play John is hanged. The second moral is people are dieing for no reason, again because of lies. Miller treats intimidation and persecution very seriously as he explores them in many different ways. Miller going into so much detail could link to the fact that he was Jewish; Miller lived though World War 2 and Jewish people were persecuted during World War 2, so maybe Miller wanted to get his point across about intimidation and persecution to show everyone how it felt to be in his position. The Crucible is very powerful about intimidation and persecution as in every Act Miller presents either intimidation or persecution or most of the time both. In the play I think that John Proctor plays the role of Miller and Abigail plays the role of McCarthy. I think intimidation is a serious matter for Miller as he has been intimidated and persecuted.
