Joel

//__**The use of stage directions in The Crucible**__//

Stage directions in plays help set the scene and atmosphere by showing the way characters move, use tone and and act. When writing The Crucible I wanted the detail of the description of the opening scene to create an uneasy tone. "The room gives off a air of clean spareness. The roof rafters are exposed, and the wood colors are raw and unmellowed." in my view, this passage not only tells us about the room, but about what is to come later. "Unmellowed" can suggest the uncertainty of what is to come; because it means immature, by taking a broader perspective, unmellowed could mean wild or unpredictable, hinting to the reader that something unexpected is coming. This idea can also be seen through Abigail Williams who is said to be a beautiful orphan with an endless capacity for dissembling. The word "beautiful" gives her a positive aspect and the word "orphan" makes her seem sweet and innocent, However, the word "dissembling" is completely contradictory; the verb tells us that she gives a false or misleading appearance so, despite her innocent nature, truthfully she can be the opposite. By giving the reader this double sided view of Abigail at the start, I hoped to create tension because the reader can anticipate something, although they do not know what or when and this leaves them wanting to know more. The idea of a second side to Abigail is reinforced later on. "Abigail, in a temper", "Abigail, tauntingly", "Abigail, with a bitter anger". So now we see what she is really like: a young girl who believes that she can manipulate people with her sexual powers, and how her tone shifts, her quick temper makes the reader feel that something bad might happen, creating suspense. This notion of uncertainty is also shown through Parris, Abigail's uncle. "Parris, his eyes going wide". He is portrayed as a nervous character, and is very concerned about his position as a Reverend, rather than being concerned for his daughter. "They will howl me out of Salem for such corruption in my house." I think that by putting emphasis on his nervous state, (and Abigail's character) the reader starts to believe something is going to happen. In the interest of creating tension, characterization was useful because it helped me set the initial scene with an uneasy atmosphere.


 * //__The catalyst in The Crucible__//**

Like in many plays, The Crucible presents the idea of a catalyst which we can see is the setting, and more specifically the divisive nature of society in this time period. The first few lines of the introduction give us an idea of how society views witchcraft. "In 1692 19 men and women and 2 dogs were convicted and hung for witchcraft." We can see from this that witchcraft is a bad thing. However ridiculous this may seem to us, these lines make the paranoia of this time explicit. Because we know that people of this time were very religious, we can assume that one side of the division in society involves religion, and that the other side is negative behavior; however it is important to understand that the negative behavior is what the Church views opposes, as the Cristian faith was a great influence. Through the character of Parris we can see that society is harsh towards witchcraft, maybe even discriminating: Parris puts emphasis on how if the community found out about the strange things going on in his house, he would lose his role as a Reverend. "for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me for it." I think that society not only opposes witchcraft, but to suppress it, they use fear. We can see this through Parris' nervous state and the repetition of how he will lose his role. Because of this, Parris seems to be more concerned with with his role in the Church, rather than his sick daughter. This gives us an idea of how important the division in society is: a father would rather keep his status rather than help his daughter. This paranoia of witchcraft relates to the divisive nature of society because it shows us how people view things that the Church oppresses, and how quick they are to blame the unexplained, reinforcing the idea that the setting is the main catalyst of the Crucible. This is also seen through Danforth towards the end of Act 3. His pride affects his judgement, he is quick to follow in any accusation that involves the Church: "Danforth, shocked, turning to Abigail: What's this? laughter during-!" Because there is division between the church and what they view is evil, and because Danforth has a role in society he has to agree with what the Church says. Again, this shows how the division of society's nature is portrayed.


 * //__The direction of a part of the play__//**

As the director of the play, I want to focus on the scene where Parris and Abigail seem to arguing over Abigail's involvement in witchcraft, which is from page 10 to the top of page 12. This scene is crucial to the play because it creates tension. Miller's stage directions in this passage are one of the factors that help create the atmosphere, I would try to follow them in as much detail as possible; as this scene starts to show Abigail's true nature "Abigail, innocently", the characterization of Abigail is particularly important because the double-sided view of her character creates tension. We can see this through the changes of her tone "Abigail, with an edge of resentment [...] she hates me [...] it's a bitter woman, a lying, cold, sniveling woman." This must mean that she is hiding something, and because of this, we can see a contrast between her innocence and her true nature. Parris' character is also an important factor in the scene because through him, we see the theme of the desire to protect one's nature, which is a recurring theme in the play. "for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me for it." this worried feeling is showed a lot through Parris "Abigail, you understand that I have many enemies." "Your name in the town - it is entirely white is it not?" we can see the hypocrisy of the Church though the key sentences that Parris says. With Parris' character, in contrast to Abigail's, I think that the stage directions are not as significant, the tone of his voice and the things he says are much more important because they characterize him more, whereas Abigail's character is strongly brought out through the stage directions. During most of page 10, Parris is very worried, this is shown through his lines but it must also be shown through his movements, I think that to express how nervous he is he should move around; pace up and down the room and stop occasionally to look either at Abigail with a stern look upon his face or at Betty. Abigail, needs to look like she is trying to hide something; she does not look Parris in the eye, she lowers her eyes, I think that to convey her efforts of innocence, she must pause often, or take a while to reply to Parris' questions. When Parris asks about who was naked, she angers. She should stand up (as she is sitting down), her voice must be a lot louder than before. Her body language is also key; she has to wave her arms around as she speaks. Because she is now trying to show her innocence through her anger, she must dominate the room: she has to move around and take advantage of the space that she has. She then calms and the conversation continues, Parris is still skeptical and this could be shown through facial expressions and tone of speech. However when he touches a topic that Abigail finds sensitive: her connections with Goody Proctor, her tone has to change entirely. She has to be louder and angrier than before. her tone becomes attacking and aggressive and again, this should be shown through movements, tone and facial expressions. This can either be seen as an act of desperation, where she uses her temper to try and convince Parris that she is innocent, or she does this with extreme confidence, and when acting this, the person playing the role of Abigail must show a distinct difference between the two.


 * //__The developing of one theme in The Crucible__//**

One key theme that recurs during the play is the desire to protect one's reputation. This theme is immediately seen through Parris at the start. "For surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me for it [...] Your name in the town - it is entirely white is it not?" I think that this can lead to another theme^which is the hypocrisy of the Church: Parris, as a Reverend representing the Church should be more concerned for the the sick or the poor (his daughter, for example) instead he becomes obsessed about his name in the town. This can also be seen at the end of act 3 were many people are playing the blame game - trying to turn the blame onto someone else, although they may have different motives. Proctor wants his wife Elizabeth to be set free, and in his attempts to make his wife seem innocent blames Abigail. But he uses cunning techniques: things that make her seem like someone who is guilty "In the sight of the congregation she were twice this year put out of this meetin' place for laughter during prayer." This statement makes him seem hypocritical and desperate, but Proctor knows how to manipulate Danforth and the Church and he uses this to his advantage. We can also see his desperation when he interrupts Parris "Parris, Your Honor this- Proctor..." Here we see Parris, Proctor and Abigail trying to protect their reputations. "Parris, Excellency, since I come to Salem this man is blackening my name." This contradictory conversation continues where we see how Abigail uses her threatening power to protect herself. "Abigail, in an open threat: let you beware, Mr, Danforth." I think that the way in which people accuse others or the ways they try to protect their names is different for each character: each different person uses a technique that helps them protect themselves. For example, Abigail threatens by using her power and dominance. Proctor uses clever statements that help him. This desire to protect one's reputation in these pages seems to be a never ending spiral of blaming and accusations, and I think that through this desire, we can see the lengths that people go to protect their reputations, which is a different theme that can be exploited through this desire.


 * __The relevance to contemporary society__**

The Crucible presents the idea of mass hysteria and how it is developed through the paranoia of the unexplained. I think that Miller was trying to show our society that mass hysteria is still an idea that is around today, however it can occur through many things. For example, in The Crucible it was developed through the fear of witchcraft, but today the idea of witchcraft is mostly thought of as ridiculous. However The Crucible was set in a time were religion was important and what the Church said had to be true, and this could create hysteria. But even if we live in a society were religion is not as influential, mass hysteria could still be created by the communal fear of something else. For example, the fear of terrorism, world wide pandemics or disasters. I think that Arthur Miller was trying to send us a message through the play: that despite our fears of something, we should try and not become too paranoid about it and create a sense of chaos.

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