How does Arthur Miller gain and hold the audience's interest in The Crucible?
How does Arthur Miller gain and hold the audience's interest in The Crucible? I have been looking at the play 'The Crucible' by Arthur Miller. Whilst studying this play, I have read the book and seen two different films which were different interpretations of the play. One of them was the BBC version and the other one was the Daniel Day-Lewis version. As I have read and seen different versions of it, I have seen different ways of putting the information of witchcraft in Salem across. Although all of them were based on the same story, they all seemed to be able to hold my interest throughout. The play is based in a little town called Salem in the Massachusetts in 1692. Although the book was written in the 1950's, Arthur Miller knew how people reacted to witchcraft. People in those days were very religious and nearly everyone was against witchcraft. The whole play was divided into four acts. In act 1, straight away, it shows some form of witchcraft. This was performed by some relatively young girls. Parris, the reverend of the village had seen some girls 'dabbling in magic and dancing.' He saw Tituba (the servant) taking part in this magic, Abigail (his niece) Betty, Parris' daughter and many others. Parris was very worried that people around the village would hear of what happened that night. He certainly didn't want that to happen because if people found out that his
"The Crucible" - John Proctor says, "I'll tell you what's walking Salem, vengeance is walking Salem." Discuss the real evil in Salem, who contributed to it and their motives who do you blame the most?
"The Crucible" - Assignment 1 John Proctor says, "I'll tell you what's walking Salem, vengeance is walking Salem." Discuss the real evil in Salem, who contributed to it and their motives who do you blame the most? Before I begin to tell you my opinion on who was to blame, and my reasoning for saying so, I will give you a brief insight into the real point of Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible. Arthur Miller first produced his play in 1953, in the middle of the McCarthy political 'witch-hunt', although the story had applied for playwright for many years prior to this. This meant that the play was seen as a political parable - it represented the goings on in actual political life. Since 1938, an organisation had existed in America called the House Un-American Activities Committee with the right to investigate any movement, or anyone who seemed to put at risk America's safety. The chairman of this was Senator Joseph McCarthy. Under his rule, the committee became paranoid in its search for people who sympathised with communists. Almost any criticism of the government or its instructions was seen, in the eyes of McCarthy, as an admission of devotion or loyalty to communism beliefs. Witnesses were made to appear in court and answer charges that they were sympathisers of communist followers, and made to name others that they saw at these meetings which took place as long as twenty
Does Miller's presentation of Proctor make the ending of 'The Crucible' inevitable?
Does Miller's presentation of Proctor make the ending of 'The Crucible' inevitable? 'The Crucible' was written in 1953 by the American playwright, Arthur Miller. It is a historical play, which takes place in the small theocratical Puritan village of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. However, Miller wrote the 'The Crucible' not just as a straight historical play detailing the Salem witch trials; the play in fact acts as a political allegory based on the situation in America during the Cold War in which Miller wrote the play. The allegorical story relates back to the Salem witchcraft trials and connects them to their contemporary equivalent in Miller's time, the McCarthy trials. Just as the people in Salem believed that witchcraft threatens their village, many Americans during this time saw Communism as a threat too. Arthur Miller himself was called in front of the committee, when he refused to give the names of friends who might have believed in Communism he was fined for contempt of court. The political 'witch hunt' of McCarthyism becomes clear in Miller's play, which was written to illustrate how fear and hysteria mixed with an atmosphere of persecution may end tragically. The Salem witch trials took place from June to September of 1692, during which time nineteen men and women were hanged, including a man named John Proctor, at Gallows Hill near Salem, while another man was
Examine how Arthur Miller uses the character of Rev. Hale in 'The Crucible'
Examine how Arthur Miller uses the character of Rev. Hale in 'The Crucible' Arthur Miller describes Reverend Hale as nearing forty, a tight-skinned, eager-eyed intellectual. An intellectual is usually thought of as someone with his head in the clouds, who spends so much time thinking great thoughts that he's inept in the real world of human emotions. There is some truth in this image of John Hale. He knows a lot about witchcraft; but he knows almost nothing about the people of Salem or the contention that is wracking the town. How pompous and arrogant he must sound when he says, "Have no fear now--we shall find [the Devil] out if he has come among us, and I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face!" And yet he has every reason to be confident. To Hale, demonology is an exact science, for he has spent his whole life in the study of it. "We cannot look to superstition in this. The Devil is precise." But he is not just a bookworm, he is a minister of God. His goal is light, goodness and its preservation, and he is excited by being called upon to face what may be a bloody fight with the Fiend himself. All his years of preparation may now finally be put to the test. He fails, and the evil that follows his first appearance totally overwhelms him. Is the fault in his character? Is he not as smart as he thinks he is? Is he a fool, whose meddling lit the fuse to the bomb
A View From The Bridge.
A View From The Bridge Annie Davies 10c/v The play 'A View from the Bridge' is set in the late forties in Red Hook, "a slum facing the bay on the seaward side of Brooklyn Bridge...the gullet of New York." It is a poor community, consisting in large part of Italian immigrant relying on the uncertain livelihood on work at the docks Life wasn't easy. The area is Italian-American, and therefore has very strict catholic morals, values and social conventions. Immediately Eddie, a forty year old, husky slightly overweight man is introduced to the audience. Eddie is fundamentally a simple, straightforward guy who works on the piers when there was work brought home his pay, and he lived. Family orientated, and very hardworking, Eddie likes to feel in control of him self, his home and the people around him and because of this he will not allow himself to be criticized. He likes his evolving world to stay the same and faces tremendous problems, as Catherine grows... He lives with his wife, Beatrice, a simple good woman whose problems seen incidental to the major tragedy of the play. He is Catherine's uncle but he behaves as a father and a friend to her, already at our first sight of them together, iwe can see an intense relatinshiprelationship. But what exactly does he feel towards her? . In addition, a neutral character helps the audience understand the complex views of the
What do we learn about the character of Eddie through stage directions, the narrator and dramatic devices?
What do we learn about the character of Eddie through stage directions, the narrator and dramatic devices? 'A View from the Bridge' is a modern day tragedy based around the character of Eddie who begins as a good, honest, working class longshore man with mixed feelings towards his niece, Catherine. However, tensions flare with the arrival of his wife's cousins, Rodolpho and Marco, both of whom are illegal immigrants, brings about jealousy and anger that finally leads to Eddie's own death. We understand that Eddie is a caring man as he only wants the best for Catherine. "Please do me a favour will ya? I want you to be in a nice office. Maybe a lawyer's office someplace in New York in one of them nice buildings. I mean if gonna get outa here; don't go practically in the same neighbourhood." Eddie is trying to tell Catherine that he wants her to work in a better place rather then to go and work in a similar neighbourhood. This informs the audience of the area in which they live isn't very safe as he is mortified when he finds out that she is working at a plumbing company which means that she will be surrounded by young men. Therefore he wants her to move away and work in a friendlier environment. This is significant as it was rare for women in this time to have jobs and be working, let alone move away, before marriage, and work. The woman was usually dependant on the man as he
View from the Bridge
A view from the bridge- Coursework 3. Arthur Miller is a renowned play- writer who was born on October 17th 1915, in New York City. His parent's originally had came from Italy but soon migrated to America perhaps searching for the American dream. His family lived in prosperity due to the success of his fathers clothing manufacturing business however, as a result of the Wall Street crash the business sadly collapsed therefore; Arthur Miller was forced to work as a warehouseman. The play AVFTB was set in the 20th century as this is when illegal immigration was probably at its most. He possibly got his inspiration for writing this astonishing, sensational and breathtaking play from his parents as they were immigrants searching for the American dream and Alfieri (a lawyer in the play) expresses the themes of immigration and the American dream. However, his main inspiration was almost certainly when his lawyer friend showed him a case which has a similar context to AVFTB. Despite writing the play AVFTB, Arthur Miller is also recognized for his several other plays, such as: The Crucible; The Man Who Had All the Luck; All My Sons and Death of a Salesman. Unfortunately, Arthur Miller died in 2005. Alfieri first introduces himself to the audience when he is telling us the prologue, which sets the mood and scene of the play, 'This is Red Hook, not Sicily... I'm a lawyer.' In the play
A View from The Bridge Coursework
A View from The Bridge Coursework Discuss the importance of stage directions in Arthur Millers 'A View From The Bridge' and what they reveal about the character of Eddie Carbone. Stage directions are very important in drama and this is evident in Arthur Millers 'A View From the Bridge'. Stage directions give actors and directors character motivation and this allows actors to create believable characters and explain a characters actions and feelings. They also highlight characters emotions that are indirectly portrayed through stage directions instead of directly through dialogue. 'A View From The Bridge' has a lot of stage directions, especially when describing the main focus of the play, Eddie Carbone. When describing Eddie, the stage directions are prescriptive, in particular when describing his reactions to certain situations and to other characters. This allows the actor and directors to have a lot of information on how each character should be portrayed. In this play, it is very important for the characters to be portrayed accurately so that the audience can relate to the characters behaviour no matter how irrational; this is why the stage directions are made so prescriptive. Eddie's character in particular needs to be understood fully so that the audience can understand his emotional reasoning and his obsessive irrational behaviour. Stage directions in 'View From
A view from the bridge, pages 40-42
A modern play - A view from the bridge, Writing course work, by Laura Poulson I have chosen pages 40-42 from the part where Eddie says "You never seen a fight, did you?" to Marco, in the centre of page 40. This is a fight scene, in which Eddie "teaches" Rodolfo how to box. He begins by making fun of Rodolfo's attempt. This then leads to the two lightly boxing, until Eddie hits Rodolfo hard, so he staggers. At this point the fight is stopped and Marco uses some intimidation tactics to frighten Eddie off, away from Rodolfo. Marco does this because he knows that he is the stronger of the two so if Eddie challenges him to a fight he will win. He also does this, in a secretive way, to warn Eddie that if he hurts a member of his family, for instance Rodolfo, he will have to go through him first. This in a way tells us about his background because of the strong bond with in a family. This is like the end of the play, where Marco, protecting Rodolfo's honour and life, fights with Eddie, to begin with not meaning to, but when Eddie plunged at him, he had no choice, so killed him in self-defence. This in itself tells us that he is Italian because of the gangs that he talks about, earlier on in the play, and the strong bond between him, his family and Rodolfo. In this scene the characters have different emotions and feelings going through their minds. Eddie, at this point of the play
Examine how modern protagonists are caught in a classical, tragic tale of revenge and obsession from which their heritage leaves them no escape.
Examine how modern protagonists are caught in a classical, tragic tale of revenge and obsession from which their heritage leaves them no escape. The following essay studies how the characters' Italian/Sicilian backgrounds influenced the outcome of 'A view from a bridge' by Arthur Miller, a story of treachery and betrayal, towards family and friends and members of the same culture. The protagonists in this story all add a little to this tragic play, from which it seems there is no escape. I shall endeavor to study all aspects of the characters' personalities, and discover why they acted the way they did in certain situations in this book. This story is interesting to the reader, as each character seems to have a different view in each situation, which all add up to the story's climax at the end, when it is clear that although everyone has different views, they all believe Eddie to be in the wrong. Are they correct in thinking this, or was it due to the backgrounds and beliefs of each character? During Act 1, we are introduced to the first character, Alfieri. This character appears to be the 'narrator' of the story. He starts off by telling us of recent events. He refers to these events as, 'Something amusing that just happened'. Is Alfieri an unbiased character in this story? Since he is the narrator we assume that he takes an all round view and takes nobody's side.
