Grahams crucible essay

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“The Crucible,” by Arthur Miller is a play which tells the true story of the hysteria of the 1692 witch trials in a small town called Salem, in Massachusetts. This essay will look at a particular episode towards the end of the play which is laced with tension. It will examine the position of this episode and also show how the tension is created.

This episode appears at the end of Act Three, when the villainous, manipulative character of Abigail Williams is in the court room with her group of friends just after John Proctor has been found guilty of having an affair with Abigail. Reverend Hale starts to tell Deputy Governor Danforth about how he thinks the girls are faking the whole thing. At this point, Abigail screams and points to the ceiling, claiming that there is a yellow bird sitting on one of the beams attempting to attack her, and that it has been sent by Mary Warren, the servant of the Proctor household. “Why do you come, yellow bird?...Oh Mary, this is a black art to change your shape.” Mary tries to stop her, “Abby you mustn’t,” but Abigail just repeats everything that Mary says. The group of girls quickly catch on to Abigail’s plan, and join in mimicking Mary, showing the reader just how much power Abigail has over them.

The girls flee from the yellow bird out of the court room, which eventually forces Mary to give in. She runs to them and is comforted by Abigail. John Proctor tries again to persuade the court officials that the girls are pretending, but his plans are thwarted when Mary turns on John Proctor, crying out, “You’re the Devil’s man! I’ll not hang with you! I love God, I love God.” This again shows just how manipulative Abigail is. She is able to change Mary completely to turn against her master, and have him hanged by accusing him of witchcraft. Reverend Hale sees that Proctor will be hanged for this and jumps in, shouting, “Excellency, this child’s gone wild!”

As the girls flee from the courtroom, a real sense of chaos and hysteria is created, and this can be seen from the stage directions. “She and the girls run to one wall, shielding their eyes. And now, as though cornered, they let out a gigantic scream, and Mary, as though infected opens her mouth and screams with them.” The image of all these girls screaming and fleeing from a bird which is attacking them is a very strong one, and adds to the idea of the town being in complete chaos.

After these claims from Mary, John Proctor does not try and protest his innocence, but instead he continues to attack the court, at the same time condemning himself, by crying, “I say – I say – God is dead!” When he says this, he speaks metaphorically, lamenting a world in which a villain such as Abigail may preside over the ostensibly just and moral society of Salem. “You are pulling down heaven and raising up a whore!” These are John’s final words of Act Three, and the reader gets the impression here that he has realised that the court will not listen to him, no matter how much evidence he produces. This is his final attack on Abigail and the court. These two quotes from Proctor are very strong and add to the tension greatly as they show how much damage Abigail has brought to Salem. The town was very religious, but now heaven is being “pulled down,” by these allegations of witchcraft.

Miller is able to create so much tension in this episode by presenting a drastic change in character of both Mary Warren and John Proctor. Mary has changed from being an accused person to being an accuser within a matter of minutes. Mary also started to come across as a more powerful character after she was made an official of the court, saying to her master, “I am an official of the court now…I’ll not stand whipping any more!” However, in this episode, she loses all her new found confidence and gives in to the girls.

John started out as a very calm person, but as the trials unfold, more and more pressure is placed upon him and he eventually cracks when he claims that God is dead in the town of Salem. To say such a thing in a Puritan town such as Salem led him to his inevitable death.

Another aspect which adds to the tension is the fact that this episode shows some of the characters who once held power losing control. One of these is Mary, who seemed to be building up her confidence but then lost it all when the girls accused her of sending her spirit to attack them. We also get the impression that Danforth, who started out as a very strong character who knew what he was doing, now doubts his own actions, but carries on in the same way as he doesn’t want to admit this. He carries on as thought he is convinced he is correct. “While I speak God’s law, I will not crack its voice with whimpering.” Through him, Miller demonstrates what happens when the state assumes absolute moral authority to direct the lives and beliefs of its citizens. He knows that he must purge the town, but this overrides legal quibbles about evidence or court proceedings. He cannot understand that even if God’s law is infallible, its interpreters are not.

Miller has succeeded in making this scene very tense for the reader by presenting some significant changes in a few of the main characters, and also by some of the quotes from these characters. The episode comes at the part in the play where the chaos and hysteria in the town of Salem is at its peak, so this also adds to the tension.