How Does Arthur Miller Create Dramatic Tension within the Play The Crucible - Essay Example

How Does Arthur Miller Create Dramatic Tension Within The Play 'The Crucible' About the Arthur Miller was born in 1915 to Isadore and Augusta, a Jewish family. Graduated from University of Michigan in 1938 where he began to distinguish himself as a playwright. He wrote many classics such as The Story of GI Joe, The man who had all the luck, Focus, Death of a salesman etc. Miller became a distinguished playwright when he wrote 'The Crucible' in 1953.The play was written so that Miller could show how the McCarthyism in 1950's America related to the witchcraft trials that were recorded in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Miller wrote this play during the McCarthy period when many of his friends were being attacked for their pro-Communist beliefs. The Crucible explored this theme in the context of the 1692 Salem Witch trials. A man called Senator Joe McCarthy began McCarthyism, who exploited the American fears about Communism and managed to create a national campaign against Communists. McCarthy was gradually brought into disrepute and in 1954 he was removed as Chairman of the Committee after it was proved that he and his associates had been falsifying evidence. However, the witch-hunt continued for a few years and Arthur Miller himself was called in front of the committee in 1956. Miller refused to give the names of friends who might have been interested in Communism. As a result Miller was fined for contempt of Congress. Miller related McCarthyism and the witchcraft in Salem because in both circumstances, innocent people were punished. Miller is widely proclaimed as a moral writer whose aim is to bring out the good in man rather than bad. Through his play, The Crucible, he attempted with the problem of evil in the man and to provide a solution to this problem. Miller can argue in this way as he believes that all men have a basic concept of what is good in their minds. Through his play, he attempts to bring out this basic goodness in people by shocking them with evil. The writer presents most of the people in his play as being land grabbing, superstitious, vindictive, revengeful, cowardly, adulterous and downright evil. This makes the plot more of a battle between good and bad, both internal and external to man. The battle between good and evil has always been gripping to the mankind from ages. Miller uses this simple philosophy and blends it American history to create the play, The Crucible. The play, The Crucible, is divided into 4 acts, completely different from each other, yet have a realistic connection. Miller's style is very simple He uses simple sentence structure with a simple vocabulary, but makes sure that the suspense in the plot is not taken away. He makes the plot and idea interesting by foreshadowing future events. At the end of first act, two different scenes of Betty's room and the discussion of Procter and Abigail are left incomplete and make the audience guessing. At the end of second act, the good name of Procter in the society is kept at stake for the life of Elizabeth, wife of Procter. This creates the tension in the play, which is sustained at the end of third act also. Sentenced for death, Procter's character is put to the ultimate test. The tension is created in these waves. Each time the atmosphere is calm, it makes audience anticipate a climax. But at the end of each act, there is hysteria. There is no real break-through, but a twist in the story. Tension in the play is sustained by swinging the play from one end to other. Betty is lying unconscious on the bed within a few moments, the room is full of people and very soon, they are all shouting and arguing. Because there are so many people coming and going, this creates a sense of confusion. Miller does this because he wants the audience to feel a little of the same confusion as the characters in the play Miller makes the characters speak at different speeds sometimes quick, sometimes slow, which creates tension, it sounds more realistic. Miller sometimes has the characters interrupt each other at critical moments. A good example of this is when Abigail and Proctor are talking to one another in this Act 1, and Betty claps her ears suddenly and whines loudly. This brings Parris rushing in. "What happened What are you doing to her Betty!" At this point, Mrs. Putnam, Thomas Putnam and Mercy Lewis also enter. These are critical moments where Mr. Parris want to know the truth about his daughter's health condition. Not only there is tension in the drama, there is also a scene of indecency , adultery and love between John and Abigail pair. This is played in scene 2 of act 1 between John Procter and Abigail, his former servant. Abigail Says "John I am waiting for you every night." The lust of Abigail is expressed in simple yet very powerful words. These simple words make a long lasting impression on the audience's memory. Because of this sinful act, John Procter, a villager with outspoken attitude and successful farmer undergoes tremendous internal conflict. Hale is another character in the play with internal conflict which is evident, who initiates these problems. At first Reverend Hale is sure about his belief that there are witches and feels that he is carrying out the desires of God himself. Yet as the play moves on and Hale sees all these honest and good people being sentenced and executed, he too experiences an inner conflict. Miller makes the characters of the play more interesting with the characters having inner turmoil. This type of characters create tension in the play. In the act 2, Miller raises the tension almost to a breaking point and then suddenly drops it by introducing a new character. For example, Elizabeth and John are arguing. Quite suddenly, as though from the air, a figure appears in the doorway. They start slightly. It is Mr Hale." When Mr Hale knocks, it interrupts the argument between John and Elizabeth as well as introducing a new character in the scene. In this part of the act, Miller sustains the tension in the drama by jailing the innocent Elizabeth, the wife of John Procter. The tension increases because we are aware of the danger to Elizabeth. Here the tension reaches a climax. In act 1 the tension comes because the accused are in a life and death struggle. In this act the tension rises because we see a battle between the superstitious madness of the accusers and rational thinking. In Act 3 of the play, the scene is set in courtroom. Miller mixes different types of characters on stage at the same time, which increases the tension. This works especially well in the courtroom in Act 3 when Abigail pretends to be clutched by a spirit, all the girls do the same and then the person being tried who is innocent is convicted. "Abby, stop it!" says Mary. "Abby, stop it!" The girl repeats. This takes the attention away from Abigail just as she may be found out. Reverend Hale is another person, who can see what Abigail is trying to do, but when Hale discusses it, everyone ignores him; many of the other villagers are using the opportunity to seek revenge on the people they don't like. "It is a lie! They are innocent" Hale says. "I'll hear no more of that!" Danforth replies. Here Miller characterises Donforth as a strict, Law-abiding and church going person. The conflict of strict law-abiding officer and rational thinker in Hale creates tension in the play. At the start of Act 3 the stage is empty. The audience can only hear voices talking, they can't see anything. "Martha Corey's voice "If I were. I would know it." "Hathorne's voice "Why do you hurt these children.." Here, Martha Carey is being interrogated- the fact that we can't see her makes one courtroom seem very cold, faceless and intimidating. Miller does this because he wants the audience to use their own senses to try and understand what is happening. By doing this, he makes the audience even more frustrated as they cannot see what is occurring. Miller takes the scene away from the characters slowly and brings them back suddenly. At the beginning of the scene it is that the Abigail's character is foiled in the court with the confession of Mary. But, different characters enter the scene. Making a scene go on past the point, where the audience expect something to happen past its apparent critical point, also creates dramatic tension. This draws the audience into the play, making them frustrated again as well as giving the play more tension as the audience will be expecting something to happen. This is illustrated in Act 3, the courtroom scene. After Mary has given a disposition to the Court, swearing that she never saw apparitions, Judge Danforth decides to question Abigail and the children, in an attempt to find out the truth. Miller wants the audience to think that Abigail is about to be found out. In the play, Miller also makes characters pause while they are talking which slows the dialogue down and then the other person answers back with short, snappy answers. By doing this, tension is built up because a more eerie atmosphere is produced. This can be observed in the courtroom scene: Procter confesses of adultery with Abigail in the past. By doing so, he tries settle all the issues related to witchcraft. Donforth thinks for a while and utters: (Pause) "Abigail Williams, rise. (Abigail slowly rises). Is there any truth in this!" "(Abigail answers) No, sir! Judge Danforth, an insensitive and ruthless judge more interested in the number of convictions, calls in the waiting Elizabeth Proctor. He calls her in to ask her why she threw out her maidservant who was Abigail. As Elizabeth was waiting outside she has not heard proclaims by her husband. The Act 4 opens up where John Procter confesses adultery to Elizabeth. As a result, Elizabeth forgives him. The relationship starts to become closer but eventually John Procter is hanged for refusing to lie to the court. Miller mixes the tension in the climax of the play with the emotions of life and death of Procter. Hale persuades Procter to plead guilty in the court for his life. Hale pleads, "Man, you will hang! You cannot!" Proctor replies "I can. And there's your first marvel that I can. Hale persuades Elizabeth to convince Procter to plead guilty but, Elizabeth upholds John's righteousness, showing that she has forgiven him. Not only the final act is filled with drama and emotions, it is got some comic dialogue. Elizabeth speaking to Proctor, "Great stones they lay upon his chest until he pleaded aye or nay. They say he give them but two words. 'More weight,' he says and died." This show some humour in this tension situation. Miller not only created tension in the drama, but also mixed it with a simple humorous dialogue. Throughout 'The Crucible', Miller keeps the tension going. He does this by interrupting the mood of a scene when the tension starts to drop. Having studied the play 'The Crucible', I have come to the conclusion that Arthur Miller has used various techniques such as speed of dialogue, character interruption, curtain use, empty stage and activity off stage to create dramatic tension for the audience. Truth and self-respect are over life. This is the point that Miller tries to prove with his Play, "The Crucible". One more point creates tension in the play is change in the characters. Miller changes the characters in the play. Abigail Williams, Elizabeth and John Proctor, Mary Warren, Reverend Parris and even Reverend Hale had changed drastically because of what they had to go through during the course of the play. However, other characters such as Cheever did not really change. Reverend Parris and Reverend Hale are two Characters in the "The Crucible" that did change very noticeably. Read More