Creating Tension and Drama in the Courtroom in The Crucible Essay

Creating Tension and Drama in the Courtroom in The Crucible The crucible is about a mass hysteria which led to the 1692 Salem witchcraft trials. A group of young girls are caught dancing in the woods and are suspected to of been calling out to the devil. Strange things begin to happen around the local village which are then suspected to be the work of the devil. Everyone in the village is to appear in court and faced with a death sentence. This fantastic and extremely tense play is written by Arthur Miller. Throughout Act Three Danforth; the deputy governor, who is in his sixties and plays an important part, is introduced. He is very sophisticated and respectful. Danforth plays the part of a very loyal man in which he makes antagonising decisions. However he is a very strong character and has his own opinions without being easily persuaded. Danforth has high expectations of both himself and his people. ’ I judge nothing of no one’ This tells the audience what Danforth’s character is like; a strong and noble man, and he will be looked upon as loyal man who has pride in which he can make his mind up for himself without listening to what others have to say. During Act Three Mary Warren plays a main part of a quiet girl who is made to confess by John Proctor that they girls are faking it and being over powered by the devil. Mary Warren who works for the Proctors has a good reputation. She has never done wrong, and is a hard working quiet girl. Mary is forced into court by Proctor to confess the truth. She speaks short words which shows fear. ‘ it were pretence sir’ ‘ aye, sir.’ Mary’s weakness causes tension as she is a weak character being forced to speak out by Proctor. Proctor mainly speaks... ...tly leaving the reader in suspense. My favourite scene was when Elizabeth was called into the court to justify Proctors accusation of lechery against Abigail. It gave the reader an unsure feeling of what the turn out would be like and what was going to happen next, this created more tension in this particular scene. I thought the ending was good and Act 3 was a fantastic build up for this dramatic ending. I think Miller’s intention of scene 3 being so dramatic was to build of for the ending which was not what I would have expected to of been like. This is good because it makes the reader want to read on. Miller was definatly successful in writing this play, he gave me the message, of what it was like back then, very strict and strong about there beliefs and witch craft. I think people would have definatly learnt from this story which is very strong.