How does Arthur Miller reveal the complexity of his characte

A detailed Summary of How does Arthur Miller reveal the complexity of his characte

'The Crucible' is about the Salem witch hunts which happened in the small Massachusetts village in the year 1692. A group of girls were discovered dancing in the woods, when one of them fell ill the deeply religious residents of Salem began to suspect that the sickness was caused by witchcraft. This led to wild accusations of compact with the Devil and as a result many people were in jail. Soon there was a sense of hysteria in the village as accusations could be based on almost anything. This was fuelled on by jealousy and old grudges. A crucible is a scientific tool used for melting and purifying elements. The title 'The Crucible' symbolizes the theme of the play which is catching and purifying the alleged witches and melting down and purifying people's emotions.

The Salem society is a puritan one. Puritans are strict Christians who believe that the bible tells them witches must be hanged to be 'purified' and that the devil compacted with witches to overthrow the society. They believe that any pleasure is sinful such as singing and dancing. Children were forced to behave like adults which meant they were repressed and when they showed any emotions it was extreme. The puritans had just immigrated to America at the time and muc

Arthur Miller reveals the complexity of his characters in many ways. He uses dialogue, stage directions and body language to express the emotions of the characters. He uses stagecraft and dialogue to show dramatic tension, and his commentary on the characters make them more realistic. By using all these techniques he creates the complexity of his characters.

Arthur Miller wrote the play to show how a community can be affected by intolerance and hysteria. He wanted to use the allegory with 1950s America to show people what ordeals and pressures the accused people had to endure and how tension and hysteria affected people's emotions and characters.

The second scene is in Act four when Proctor and Elizabeth are allowed to see each other after three months apart. Miller reveals a lot about Elizabeth's character in this scene. When Danforth is trying to manipulate her into persuading Proctor to confess to witchcraft, he is appealing to her emotional vulnerability but she is refusing to let her emotions get out of control. This can be seen in the stage directions 'she is silent' this shows that her character is very strong. She is pregnant, her husband is going to die and she is being pushed to the limit but she is strong enough to stay calm. She doesn't want to talk to Danforth to avoid being dragged into the hysteria because she knows that the whole thing is pretence.

She takes her anger out on his wife because he has no defense on her and she knows that he feels guilty about cheating on her, this also shows her manipulative side 'she is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her!'. His response to this shows that he cares a lot about his wife 'you'll speak nothing of Elizabeth!' he is angry at himself because he is ashamed of what he's done and at Abigail for bringing his wife into it. This shows that he has morals and he just wants to forget about their relationship. It also shows that he loves his wife because he doesn't want to ruin her reputation any more. There is dramatic tension in this scene caused by Abigail's sudden mood changes 'with a flash of anger' and her tears.

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Approximate Word count = 1606
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English