Crucible analysis

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  The Crucible is a four act play which contains an important climax. This is  the part of the play at which a crisis is reached. At this crisis it is obvious to the audience that it’s a pivotal turning point, and potentially turns the whole story upside down. Once the crisis has been reached, a resolution is achieved, which forms the outcome of the climax of the play. In my personal opinion I think the climax is displayed in Act 3, where Elizabeth denies that her husband is a lecher in court with the words,  “No sir”. In Act three a lot of dramatic interest is shown through Millers techniques.

The dramatic nature of Act three in the Crucible goes up and down, there are many ways in which the stage directions, speech, plot and character development help to raise and lower the tension of the act. Arthur Miller shows how these techniques have an effect on the audience and how they feel about the play

Act 3 is held in the Salem court room, where an intense questioning is held to find out who is committing the crime of witch craft. Many different characters are involved in this act, and the different relationships are shown between them. Dislike, love and hatred are some of the feelings displayed. Clearly Proctor shows a hatred towards Abigail at this point in the play, as Proctor knows Abigail is lying through her teeth, which ultimately frustrates him. Arthur Miller uses language appropriately to show Proctors ‘breathless and angered’ hatred for Abigail, “It is a whore” he shouts. Abigail reply’s “…he is lying!”. Arthur Miller creates a strong dislike between these characters, which causes tension. However between Proctor and Elizabeth, although they do not speak directly to one another, there is a sense of love and care. Elizabeth speaks highly good of her husband, and tries to think of the best thing to say. Miller creates a severe pressure between Proctor and Elizabeth by good use of stage directions for Elizabeth. ‘not knowing what to say, sensing a situation, wetting her lips to stall for time”.  This stage direction gives the impression that Elizabeth is thinking of the best possible thing to say with a hesitation.  

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The above paragraph describing some aspects of Act 3 is significant in terms of the whole plot, as it is a crucial pivotal turning point in the play. When Elizabeth faintly says “No sir”, from that moment on, there is a significant idea of what will happen next, which reveals the rest of the story. It reveals that Proctor is guilty as he is shown to be a ‘liar’. However if Elizabeth was to say “Yes sir”, it would have been a completely different story, which would have made Abigail guilty. This point in the play is significant, as in ...

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