ABIGAIL: What has gotten into you Miss?
ELIZABETH: Silence! I’ve had enough! (She repeats her assault, Abigail’s screams fuel her)
PROCTOR: (a faint call from another room): What’s going on in there?
ELIZABETH: Nothing John get some rest!
ABIGAIL: (The rosy blood drips from Abigail’s eye whilst her innocent smile darkens, her pale skin fills and her cower rises and intimidates, the fear is evident on Elizabeth) I swear to Lucifer, this day will be your greatest regret. (She looks at the knife by the bread, then at Elizabeth)
ELIZABETH: (trembling) I, I think it’s time you left.
Abigail leaves the room, unusually unemotional, as she passes John’s room she meets his eyes, he halts his prayer and his eyes follow her, Abigail smirks mischievously.
Describe how you have attempted to reflect Miller’s ability to craft characters that invite a range of emotional responses from the audience.
I have attempted to reflect Miller’s writing style in this scene by using archaic language. For example in my scene Elizabeth uses the word ‘nay’ which is an Old English term that was probably most commonly used in those times. In The Crucible Arthur Miller frequently uses archaic language, he does this because the Salem Witch Trials occurred not long after America gained independence, therefore the people of America would still have an ‘old English’ sounding language and dialect. For example Proctor says in Act 1 “Aye, that’s the truth of it Rebecca”, on the same page Putnam says “There be children dyin’ in the village, Mister!” These are clear examples of archaic language used by Arthur Miller. I also used very aggressive language from Elizabeth, I did this because she is very jealous and angry towards Abigail, this seems unusual to someone who has read The Crucible but because this scene is set prior to it I think that it works because people will see the slightly dark, jealous and personal side of Elizabeth first and then the good side of her in The Crucible. The most obvious reason for this drastic change would be that she realises that she must change in order to keep her husband.
I did not just use the language as a way to attempt to imitate Arthur Miller’s writing style. I also used stage directions as a way to help the actors perform but also as a way to add additional description. For example; the stage directions on the last part from Abigail were very descriptive, this is because it was a very important part of the scene. Arthur Miller uses descriptive stage directions quite often rather than simple ones; for example on the last few pages of script he uses descriptive stage direction, “and now a wild terror rising in him, and a boundless anger”. Miller gives very precise stage directions that would seems more like a quote from a story than a play, I think this is very effective because it would help the actor know exactly how he wants the part to be performed.
In this scene I have shown the good, original side of Abigail which contrasts with the dark side of her in The Crucible. This is set before John commits adultery because I wanted Abigail to have a reason or excuse for what she does later in the Crucible. Abigail turns from a shy, innocent girl to a manipulative girl in need of revenge.
This scene contains some of the deadly sins:
Jealousy & Envy: Elizabeth is jealous of Abigail’s beauty.
Lust: John’s lust for Abigail is clear when he kisses her and when she glances at him at the end.
This scene would be easy to act out on stage because it is set in the living room and there is no need for room changes during the scene. Although, in the last stanza Abigail does leave the room, but as she merely walks past Proctors window I think that the kitchen would have to be open to the audience but there should be a small room to one side with a large window so that the audience can see Proctors bed, this might be slightly difficult to set up but I think it would be very effective.
I tried to use language that fitted the moment. For example there is a great deal of contrast at the end when Abigail’s entire personality changes. “Innocence darkens, cower intimidates, pale skin fills”. I used this because is it the most important part in the scene and I wouldn’t have been able to give the image of her changing without using these words. There is an example of Miller using contrasting words to show a change in the last paragraph of the scene:
The final drumroll crashes, then heightens violently. Hale weeps in frantic prayer, and the new sun is pouring in upon her face, and the drums rattle like bones in the morning air.
Crashing contrasts with heightens, ‘drums rattle like bones’ contrasts with the morning air and Hales weeping contrasts with prayer. Also the new sun rising could imply that goodness has risen, and that something good has emerged from Proctor’s and all the other convicted witch’s defiance (the end of witch hunting?).
I used “rosy” to describe Abigail’s blood; I used rosy because it is usually seen as a flower of beauty, but with thorns, I think that this describes Abigail well as she is beautiful but very dangerous.
I did not do a very long scene because I only wanted to use language and speech that was necessary to the plot. Also John Proctor did not play a key role in the scene because he is focused on to a large extent in the rest of the Crucible; I wanted all of the focus to be on Elizabeth and Abigail. I ended the scene with Abigail not releasing her anger on Elizabeth and keeping it locked up, but she swears revenge, and acquires it in the Crucible. I also ended with John ending his prayer to stare at Abigail. This implies that he is giving up his religion (temporarily) for Abigail, which does also happen.
In conclusion I have slightly changed the manner of Arthur Miller’s characters to give reason for their actions in the Crucible, and backed it up by attempting to reflect Arthur Miller’s style. By doing this I have created a range of emotional responses from the audience such as anger, envy, and slight pity towards Proctor.
