The rest of the play Essay Example for Free

The rest of the play Essay When Mr and Mrs Putnam are talking with Parris, they start referring to their own child exploits and tell of murdered babies. Parris is at first shocked and then slightly disbelieving of them until Putnam mentions a murdering witch. (Parris turns to Betty, a frantic terror rises in him. ) This shows one of the most dramatic parts of Act 1. Miller gives the audience the impression that hysteria will happen in the future. I think this because this is an action that shows a mortal fear in Parris for witches because of what the accusation will do to his reputation. This could explain his actions later in the play and why he is damming the suspect with such conviction. Miller structures the idea of witchcraft being spread throughout the village very carefully and intelligently. He sets up some characters, Abby, Mercy, Goody Putnam and Mr Putnam, to be gossipy, manipulative and vindictive. They hear a hint of witchcraft and instantly they play upon the this rumour to their own advantage. We can gain these clues by the opening actions of characters and the background information provided by Miller. Here are a couple of characters I have chosen. Abby (A striking beautiful girl, an orphan, with and endless capacity for disassembling. ) Mr Putnam Another reason to believe him a deeply embittered man with his attempt to break his fathers will. So it is not surprising to find that so many accusations against people are in the handwriting of Thomas Putnam, or that his name is so often found as a witness corroborating the supernatural testimony. These quotations give the audience clues of their darker side in their personalities. The dramatic action in the first act sets up expectation of an explosive story and plot. When Parris presses Abby and aggressively questions her as well and Abby viciously shakes Betty on the bed. These incidents could lead to there being more of these in the future. Some parallels can be drawn from the first acts events and events later on in the play. When Parris presses in Abby and she tries to speak her opinion, this happens later on but with Proctor, her secret adulterer instead of her uncle, in the first act. Also at the end of Act 1 the children are causing hysteria by naming random people in the village, they cause hysteria when Mary Warren tries to prove they are unauthentic. The actions in the first act are structured by Miller so that the actions reappear in the later stages, while the people dont learn from their mistakes. The language that Miller uses is Arcane, the old English that was used in the colony of America. He uses this old language to great effect to reflect the time and the religious metaphors and symbolism that is contained in Arcane. One such phrase is, Mark this! This is a great phrase for people to hear you and recognise you in a conversation. He uses implicit meanings in the language to try and give clues for later on in the play. He uses this in his opening description of Abby. .. an endless capacity for disassembling. The explicit meaning of this is that she can take things apart for a long time but there is a sub-meaning to this. She can break more things that are not physical with her strikingly beautiful looks she could break people, their hearts and their lifes. I feel that The Crucible has a lot of cumulative factors that give is clues to the storyline, the action in the future and how the characters will develop.