Critical Episodes in The Crucible by Miller
The play The Crucible takes place in the Puritan New England town of Salem, Massachusetts, a quite and normal little town during the 1890's. The play begins with a small group of girls that go dancing in the forest with a black slave woman named Tituba. During their dancing, they are caught by Reverend Parris, the local minister. One of the girls, in fact Parris's own daughter Betty, falls into a coma-like state after the dancing. A crowd gathers in the Parris home to see what happened to Betty, while rumors of witchcraft quickly spread in the little town. But this was only the beginning of what was about to come, much more was on its way, many people were to suffer, and many people were to go the gallows. In each of the four acts there are several critical episodes, which are critical to the drama. Miller develops these episodes in a way, which keeps the readers attention to the drama. "I saw Goody Hawkins with the devil", "I saw Goody Bibber with the devil", "I saw Goody Booth with the devil". This is how Act I ends just before the curtain falls. It is a situation where everyone is screaming out hysterically, in a very chaotic situation that takes place in Reverend Parris' house next to Betty lying on the bed, with al
Towards the end in Act II, when Hale comes to see Proctor and his wife in their home, he asks John if he can tell him the 10 commandments. She finally gives her answer to the court, and says that Proctor has NOT cheated on her with Abigail, which she should not have said, because that statement now made John a liar to the court, which meant that he was now to get hanged in the gallows. "I have given you my soul; leave me my name!" is what he cries out to Danforth after having ripped apart the document. John feels sure that his wife would not lie about this in court, and therefore he tells the judges to summon her to prove that he is not lying. In Act IV 4 after John has been prosecuted, he is given an opportunity to confess that he has been in compact with the devil and he is also given the opportunity to save his own life by signing a document given by Danforht, which then would be hung up on the church door. This almost happened to John Proctor, who nearly was blamed for being in compact with the devil because he did not know all of the 10 commandments; he did not know one of them. This whole chaotic situation has Miller organized so that the reader pays full attention to the play, and by then end of act one when the curtains fall, the reader is left with a feeling, sort of saying: "Oh no, what is going to happen next. She only said no to protect Proctors reputation, which unfortunately in this case got him killed. By refusing to relinquish his name, he redeems himself for his earlier failure and dies with integrity in the gallows. After being summoned to the court in Act III, John Proctor tells the judges that he does not lie, and neither does Elizabeth. l of the girls that went dancing in the woods, standing next to the bed. The Crucible is a play largely based upon themes, which furthermore are very important to the play. When Elizabeth gets summoned, and is asked by the judges the question whether Proctor has cheated on her with their former house maid Abigail, she gets really nervous, and does not know what to say.
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