Alex+W

English Year 12 Alex Weston
 * Topic 1: Stage Directions**

The stage directions contribute to and reinforce the fear and tension throughout Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. In the last scene of Act One, for example, the stage directions join with the dialogue to create a mounting sense of apprehension, rising panic and finally near hysteria. Tituba’s terror and anger are particularly noticeable, especially in contrast to Abigail, who is almost calm in her accusations of the other women in the village. Abigail is clearly thinking about every accusation she makes, in an attempt to take the blame of witchery off of her shoulders and onto the other women of the village. After Hale says that “God will bless you” for telling him who the devil worshippers in the town are, Abigail “//rises, staring as though inspired, and cries out// I want to open myself! //They turn to her, startled, she is enraptured, as though in a pearly light//.”(p.45) The crowd around Abigail had previously been occupied by Tituba’s “//fury//”(p.44) at the devil and at her situation, when suddenly Abigail interrupts everything and begins to accuse people, and implicate herself in the devil worship. Betty suddenly arises out of bed at this point, adding more to the commotion and the tension of the tales woven by Abigail, and she begins to scream and flail and give more names of innocent women. Parris becomes joyful at Betty’s consciousness, and the sanctity and preservation of his career. He begins to shout a “//prayer of thanksgiving,//” (p.45) which creates even more chaos on the stage as the scene draws to a close. The act ends “//On their ecstatic cries… The curtain falls//.” (p.46) It is unclear whose cries these are in the stage directions, but it is likely that everyone has been reduced to a state of pandemonium because of the chaos and the excitement of the witch-hunt. Everyone’s judgment is clouded by the fear of witches and by Abigail’s manipulations. The stage directions capture this fear with words of action, as well as imagery and metaphors that read as passages from a novel as much as directions for a play.

English Year 12 Alex Weston
 * Topic 2: Catalyst**

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Abigail's affair with John results in strong feelings of resentment toward Elizabeth, and serves as a catalyst for the rest of the events in the play. If John had never given in to Abigail’s seduction then there would not have been the massive witch-hunt in the community. Elizabeth is responsible for kicking Abigail out because she found out that she and John were having an affair. Abigail then blames Elizabeth for tearing, and keeping, herself and John apart. Her jealousy for Elizabeth grows into resentment and hatred, because Elizabeth is with John and has a legitimate life with him. Her jealousy causes her to cast the spell to kill Elizabeth in the woods, and bring the rest of the girls out dancing and frolicking with her. Parris catches them in the woods and becomes very angry, and fearful for his reputation. Betty Parris and Ruth Putnam fall ill, and witchcraft is blamed. Abigail in turn blames Tituba before conniving a plan to start a witch-hunt, which would eventually implicate Elizabeth. Several people are taken and confess to witchcraft before Elizabeth and Martha Corey are finally charged. John implicates himself as an adulterer with Abigail in an attempt to get his wife out of jail. He is, however, arrested for witchcraft as well because he tries to prove that the girls are faking their mystical influence, and their ability to ‘see’ magic because they were under the devils influence. The affair drove Abigail to wish to destroy Elizabeth Proctor, no matter what the price, because she wanted John more than anything else in the world. Abigail and John are both catalysts – she for seducing John and he for giving in. Had they never had the affair, the whole fiasco would never have happened.

English Year 12 Alex Weston
 * Topic 3: Stage Director**

This scene is from the beginning of act three (“now, Martha Corey…”[p.77] to “Who is this man?” [p.79])

The beginning of act three in Arthur Miller’s //The Crucible// is full of tension and hysteria, this is how I would direct it to convey these emotions most effectively. The curtain opens slowly, from the middle, opening around a table and chair set. There is faint yellow and red lighting in the background, illuminating the back of the set. The chairs and table are scarcely visible as more than shadows. The stage is utterly empty except for the furniture. Suddenly the sound of the townspeople can be heard from backstage. None of their words are discernable, but the general tone is angry and scared. Judge Hawthorne’s voice rings out above the noise of the townspeople. They fall silent. He accuses Martha Corey of witchcraft. Her voice is quieter than his roaring tones. She is scared when she responds to him, her voice is slightly desperate and pleading and yet it is also refined and contained. She is confident that she is not a witch and adamant that she would never “hurt them (the children). [She] scorns it.” (p.77) The church is silent for a moment before her husbands voice breaks in, roaring and angry. He claims to have “evidence for the court” (p.77) In response the townspeople become clamorous and loud once more, this time with more excitement than fear. Judge Danforth’s voice interjects in an attempt to silence Giles. The old man doesn’t care. He is desperate to prove his wife’s innocence, and screams “Thomas Putnam’s reaching out for land!” (p.78) Danforth is furious. He orders the court marshal to take Giles away. Giles cries out that the people are hearing “lies!” (p.78) He is emphatic, and people become angrier and louder, their voices cutting off any sounds. The chaos continues and Hawthorne screams over the crowd to “Arrest him” (p.78) Giles voice is desperate, accusing and suspicious as he asks, “why will you not hear my evidence?” (p.78). It is nearly impossible to hear him over the din being created by the townspeople. A door off of stage right opens with a bang and Herrick comes in, half carrying and half dragging Giles away from the courtroom. They enter the dark stage. The stage becomes lighter and the table and chairs clearer and more defined. The old man is still flailing and trying to push past the burly guard in an attempt to return to the courtroom to make his case. They argue. Herrick’s tones are soft and placating, which is quite strange because the man is a few inches taller than Giles and much broader, and Giles is loud and accusing. Hale quietly slips through the door that Herrick left open and closes it firmly behind him. Giles stops struggling and looks to Hale for guidance. His voice is still a tad bit angry but mostly he is just desperate. Hawthorne sidles in, he looks red in the face, he is sweating a bit and uncomfortable looking. His neck and body are stiff as he walks up to Giles. He is angry and begins to shout at the old man “how dare you come roarin’ into this court!” (p.78) Giles is not cowed by the man’s anger, and responds coolly. Danforth walks in with Parris and Cheever. He is confident and snide. He sneers at Giles and asks, “Who is this man?” (p.79)

English Year 12 Alex Weston
 * Topic 4: Movie versus Play**

The Crucible by Arthur Miller was adapted well into the movie by the same name, but there are a number of dissimilarities between the two that make them very different. The overall impact is that the movie seems more dramatic and less ambiguous than the play, creating a more stark contrast between good and evil. The movie has freer reign to use changing scenes and scenery to create a more dramatic atmosphere. With the freedom to use a broader and richer variety of scenes, such as staging scenes outdoors, the moviemakers can show actions and events that are only suggested or described in the play. For instance, the scene in the forest where Tituba and the girls are dancing is only alluded to in dialogue throughout the play. In the movie, the girls dancing in the firelight in the dark forest not only contributes to the plot, but the setting and visual effects add an element of foreshadowing and ominousness. The weather was featured in a more prominent way in the movie, and added a distinctive tone. For example, several of the trials are set in stormy, dreary, threatening weather, emphasizing the wildness of nature and using the atmosphere created by the weather as a pathetic fallacy [metaphor] for the townspeople becoming desperate and fearful of the judges and the witches. There were a number of specific details that were added to the movie to make the action more dramatic, and the characters more clearly defined as good or bad. Parris, Putnam, Abigail, Proctor, his children, and the mysterious third judge are all slightly different in the movie then they are in the play. The first most glaring difference is the presence of a third judge from Boston in the court scenes. He seems to have been added to be the 'good cop' to Hawthorne and Danforth's 'bad cops' and to provide a contrast to their generally evil behavior. Perhaps he was added to make the government seem ignorant and cruel. The Proctor children are never seen in the play; they are spoken about, but the audience never encounters them. In the movie, the third little baby Proctor is never mentioned. The children are plot devices in both the movie and the play to make the Proctors’ plight more serious and depressing. In the movie when Elizabeth is being arrested, her older sons run down the stairs and say a tearful goodbye to her, before tackling and beating up one of the people who came to take her away. Their anger reflects their father’s anger and anguish, and serves to make his anger and disbelief stronger. The movie makes many things explicit that are left unresolved or unsaid in the play. John and Elizabeth are hanged in the movie, while the play ends with them still in jail, leaving the audience to imagine, rather than witness the horror to come. The personalities of Putnam and Parris seem more slightly exaggerated in the movie through small, but noticeable, adjustments. Putnam is more domineering in the movie. He seems weaker and more pathetic in the play then he does in the movie. Parris is more egocentric in the play and a lot less whiney then he is in the movie. Tituba is whipped to confess in the movie, but she not in the play, making the treatment of her more evil. Abigail is much more clearly defined as the bad guy in the play; she is shown stealing money from her uncle in the movie, while we only hear of it in the dialogue in the play. Abigail accuses Hale's wife of witchcraft and is told by Danforth that she is wrong. The movie more clearly shows how Abigail’s lies deteriorated over time, as people began to see her as the faking adulteress she was.

English Year 12 Alex Weston
 * Topic 5: Literary Research Database**

"Society vs. The Individual in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible." //EBSCOhost - world’s foremost premium research database service.// Jean-Marie Bonnet, Feb. 1982. Web. 22 Nov. 2009. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lfh&AN=7902559&site=lrc-live.

__Society vs. The Individual__

The argument stated in Society vs. The Individual in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is that the “predominant emphasis in writing the play was on the conflict between people rather than the conflict within somebody.” (p.1) The conflicts within society itself are merely the end result of people with conflicting interests and issues, fueled by suspicion, jealousy and fear, which ultimately manifest into a witch-hunt, where the fear and the apprehension are felt collectively throughout the community. The small “squabbles gradually develop into a wider, extensive quarrel.” (p.2) Every individual in a society affects the rest of society, each part contributes to the whole and everything becomes inflated and out of order. All of the little arguments between people contribute to the process of the trails and the finger pointing. Abigail begins the process with her jealousy of Elizabeth Proctor; Mrs. Putnam blames the rest of the world and their evil ways for the “[un]natural work to lose seven children before they live a day” (p.36, //The Crucible//); Mr. Putnam argues over his land and his wood with everyone and anyone, for his own greed and ambition. They all accuse others of being witches, and either the accused confess and loose the rights to their land and property, or they die. Either way it creates an advantageous situation for the accusers. The accusers are irrational, driven and clearly the antagonists in the story, while the accused are rational, justifiably angry. Their honesty and innocence goes completely unnoticed in a court corrupted by the beguiling lies of Abigail and her peers, or the stubbornness and pigheadedness of Danforth and Hawthorne. With every small action that the individual takes, society is changed by it.

Excellent Alex, a very thorough and detailed analysis with a multi faceted reponse. I am so pleased that you quote with real confidence and skill and that your responses demonstrate great knowledge of the key themes and character traits in the play. I am particularly impressed with your paragraph on the stage directions and the fact that you can view the play from the point of view of the director. Again, be careful with your wording to ensure you are focused and clear at all times. An excellent response.

__Knowledge and Understanding - 4__ __Appreciation of Literary Features__ - 5 __Interpretations of the Text - 4__