Hannah


 * Topic 1 - 4th November **

However, you can choose anything which interests you. ** In the book a lot was shown through stage directions. I will be looking specifically at pages 20 to 22, when Abigail and proctor are first alone together. At this point in the play you find out that Abigail and Proctor have had an affair. The stage directions give us a deeper look into the true feelings between the two characters. The moment together, first starts off with Abigail p.g.20“absorbing his presents wide-eyed” from this you can see already that Abigail must have some sort of feelings towards Proctor. As the conversation between the two begins, you start to see slight tension between them that something must have happened. When you then read; p.g. 20 “A trill of expectant laughter escapes her, and she dares come closer, feverishly looking into his eyes.” You know that she has feelings for him even though nothing was said. However you can see his true feelings when her p.g.21 “concentrated desire destroys his smile” this shows how he doesn’t like her love for him. Then on page 22 when Abigail “ is weeping” because she can’t be with him you see how John does have some feelings for her no matter how hard he tries to fight them, this is shown when it says p.g.22 “gently pressing her from him, with great sympathy but firmly”. In this scene you also see her hatred of the fact that she can’t be with him and for his wife Elizabeth proctor. Whenever she speaks of Elizabeth it is p.g.22 “with a bit of anger”. Near the end of this page is when you really see Proctors guilt for what he did; he not only got angry with Abigail when she spoke of Elizabeth in a bad way, but you see how he was more mad at himself that he could do that to his loving wife. This was shown when the stage directions read p.g.22 “angered – at himself as well”. So, through the stage directions you can see how Abigail loves proctor even though he is pushing her away. Then you can see how Proctor is still attracted to Abigail, but the guilt of what he has done to his wife is too much.
 * You are Arthur Miller – write a short (300 word) paragraph explaining your use of stage directions in Act 1. You should focus on one specific area such as the building of suspense, the relationship between stage directions and tone, stage directions and characterisation e.t.c.


 * Topic 2 - 6th November

Earlier this week we began debating 'catalysts' and this was interesting in regard to our study of the play. The next topic response is simply who or what do you feel is the catalyst in The Crucible? As usual a 300 word response. Feel free to respond and comment on other students' opinions. ** In this play there is really only one main catalyst that sets off the insanity throughout the book. It all starts with Abigail Williams and her affair with John Proctor. When she has this affair she ends up becoming obsessed with him, and when Proctor tells her that he no longer wants to see her she has it in her mind that it is goody Proctor that is in the way of their love p.g.21 – “I saw your face when she put me out, and you loved me then and you do now”. At this point in the book when Abigail and John are having this conversation, it is another step into the hysteria that follows. When Abigail danced in the woods, she danced to kill goody Proctor to get her out of the way. You find out that she had done this when Betty says p.g. 18 “You drank a charm to kill John proctors wife! You drank a charm to kill goody Proctor!”. When the towns people started to think that the dancing in the woods had to do with witch craft, Abigail accused Tituba of associating with the devil p.g.41 “She makes me drink blood!” she does this to keep herself out of trouble. When Hale tells Tituba that if she helps them find the witches in the town, they will not hang her, Tituba starts to name Goody Good, and Goody Osburn. After that the whole problem could have been over. However Abigail decides to start saying more names, and the other girls follow her example. The trials started soon after that and Abigail continues to feed the town lies which lead to the deaths of many of the women in the town. Abigail does this all so she can get rid of Goody Proctor and be able to marry John Proctor. Because of Abigail the whole town goes crazy with the idea of witch craft in Salem. The children who followed Abigail, not only faked seizures and seeing spirits, but also people in the town turned against each other. Friends watched and believed in the hanging of other friends. Even Mr. Putnam is willing to get his daughter to accuse George Jacobs, his neighbor, of being a wizard so that he can buy his land p.g. 89 “If Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property, there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy so great a piece”. Because of Abigail Williams’s affair with Proctor, the whole town turned against each other in the attempt to eliminate the devils presents in Salem, which in turn caused chaos.


 * Topic 3 - 10th November

You are the director of the play. Choose an extract of between 1 and 2 pages from anywhere in the play and write a short paragraph explaining how you would direct this extract to convey an underlying sense of tension and hysteria ** In this scene Proctor is talking to Parris criticizing him. At this point in the play everyone is on edge and is unsure of whether to resort to witch’s craft or not. Parris is extremely worried about his reputation in the village and Proctor thinks the whole Idea of witch craft is stupid and he does not believe in what Mr. Parris preaches. In this scene Parris should be very frustrated. Everything he says should be almost shouted in hysteria. Whereas Proctor should be very calm in everything he is saying, knowing that it will only upset Parris even further. However, this air of calmness and sarcasm worries the other people in the room, who are also frustrated and worried, but are only a little calmer then Parris. Proctor should have a condescending tone in his voice when he say on page 29 “My followers” it should also be said questioningly, as though it were true. The only time Proctor should get excited or show much emotion, is when he says “Why then I must find it and join it.”
 * From page 28 when proctor says “Mr. Parris you are the first minister….” To when Proctor on page 29 says “He says there’s a party.” **


 * Topic 4 - Friday 13th November

Having just watched the film version of the film 'The Crucible' please write a paragraph focusing on how far you feel the film adaptation follows Miller's original play. Perhaps chosse one area you can hone in on i.e. character, theme, atmosphere, structure e.t.c. ** There is not that big of a change between the movie “the crucible” and the book. However the movie was a lot more dramatic. This starts at the very beginning, in the play you don’t actually see the dancing in the woods, whereas in the movie it begins with the girls dancing in the woods and you get the dramatic tone right away when you find out that Abigail wants to kill goody Proctor, however you don’t know why until later when you find out about the affair. In the book you know that dancing had taken place but it is not until page 18 that you find out Abigail had danced to kill goody Proctor, when Betty say “ You drank a charm to kill goody Proctor”. On the next page you find out about the affair between Proctor and Abigail and you then know why she wanted her dead. Another aspect that was added into the movie to create a more dramatic feel was when Abigail and Proctor Kissed and he pushed her away trying to avoid letting his feelings get the better of him again. In the play no such thing ever happened, they only talked and Abigail threw herself at him, but he never allowed her to kiss him. This added an extra intensity that was not in the play. In the play you never see Proctors kids you only know that they exist however in the movie you see them when they are there holding on to Elizabeth as she is about to be taken away. This was done again to make a more dramatic tone, to create a sense of sympathy from the audience. At the end of the movie when all the girls are accusing Mary Warren of witch craft, all the girls run outside where the whole town is, where they then proceed to watch the girls act as if Mary is bewitching them. This did not happen in the play either; in the book it was a lot less dramatic. The whole thing took place inside without the presents of the towns people. In the movie there was an extra scene, when Hale sees Abigail looking at Proctors house after he had been accused of dealing with the devil. Abigail then goes and accuses Hale’s wife of witch craft. When the judges refuse to let her accuse a preacher’s wife, she then decides to run away. After that point in the movie Abigail tells Proctor where she is going and that he should come with her, and that she has money to get him out of jail. This scene was also not in the book, and showed us how even though Proctor now had hatred for Abigail, she still cared for him. In the movie when Proctor and Elizabeth are talking for the last time you see their passion for each other when they kiss. Without this kiss in the play you don’t feel the same sorrow as you watch Elizabeth lose her love, this is because without this kiss you never see her show that much affection for Proctor. Then finally in the movie they also showed all the hangings, the first time you saw the crowd of people watch the hangings of the accused, you saw them cheer and scream with joy. However at the end when they showed the hangings of John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey, you saw that everyone in the crowd was sad, and crying. This again adds a more dramatic tone then what you get in the play. However, even though the movie had a more intense feeling, over all the two were quite similar.


 * __Topic 5 - Monday 16th November __**

Find one article or research paper on The Crucible from the Literary Reference Center which you agree or disagree with and write a one paragraph response explaining why or why not. Make sure you are presenting your own ideas rather than simply summarising the article.

This article states that Arthur Miller disliked women and feared them thus making them all wicked. However I completely disagree with this, in Arthur Millers the crucible it is true that Abigail Williams is a female character who is wicked, but this does not mean that all women in the play are evil. For example Elizabeth proctor is the complete opposite of Abigail and is an intelligent and respectful woman. It just happened that in this play Arthur Miller choose to use a female character to play the villain. However this choice was infact, only following what is historically accurate. It is true that the Salem Witch trials began with girls and this is of no fault to the writer of the crucible, but only of the girls themselves. When this article says that “the majority of witches condemned to die were women”, this was also not an attack against women it was a historical fact that more women were convicted of witch craft then men. This is because it is said that it is easier for the devil to capture the souls of women, because they are weaker than men. This Idea has been around as long as the idea of witch craft, so Arthur Miller has committed no crime sexism, all he has done was follow historical facts.

Schissel, Wendy, Bloom, Harold. "Re(dis)covering the Witches in Arthur Miller's The Crucible: A Feminist Reading". Literary Reference Center. 24/11/09 .

Some fantastic points here Hannah and I am pleased to see that you are happy using quotations. You make some good points about the play (not book). At times the paragraphs are a little disorganised – remember that you need to develop your arguments around your central thesis and this is lacking for you sometimes. The paragraph comparing the movie is good but topic 3 is a little light. Overall not bad. __ Knowledge and Understanding - 3 __ __ Appreciation of Literary Features __ - 3 __ Interpretations of the Text - 3 __