Magnificent play Essay

Language is extremely powerful in ‘The Crucible’. Miller’s words are used effectively and do not include anything unnecessary to convey the idea. For instance, ‘She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave. And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore’s vengeance and you must see it, I set myself entirely in your hands. ‘ This quote consists of simple speech and tells a straightforward message. Proctor knows his mistake and regrets it, but he also knows he must reveal it to the court in order to stop the trials. Another example of a powerful quote is ‘A person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between. ‘ This quote is very effective in a way Danforth is telling everyone their fate. He is saying those against the court are evil and will suffer the consequences for it, presumably death. he tells everyone in favour of the witch trials that they are victorious and have nothing to worry about if they carry on as they are doing. The theme of this play I believe is a very interesting one. In my opinion ‘The Crucible’ is about rising over adversity, standing for the truth even to the death. there are many examples in the play to support my opinion. John in the beginning wanted to keep distant from the trials, he didn’t want to have a part whether good or bad, but when Elizabeth was arrested he was forced to take part. Throughout the trial, he stood for the truth. He confessed to his affair and was forgiven for his sin. He died a hero learning what truth really meant through his sufferings and struggles. there is also a great deal of hysteria in this play. The village’s people were easily manipulated by Abigail’s lies and came to quick poorly judged conclusions, which lead to killing a great many innocent people. Act 3 is very strong most of the main things are revealed such as the court’s verdict, who is right and who is wrong, who will win and who will die. It is an extremely gripping part of the play, telling how Proctor was so close to victory (through his confession and Mary Warren) yet he still defeated by the envy of Abigail, or rather the loyalty of Elizabeth and the fearful Mary warren. He knows he will die but he also knows he has a chance of stopping this fate yet because of his decency Proctor decides he would rather face death than bring trouble upon his friends and everlasting shame upon his family. I also noticed that in act 3 the three main sides are shown clearly. The power hungry stand together, those full of jealousy, greed, hate and lust join and those who are willing to sacrifice themselves for the truth unite. The people in this play may have had different motives for accusing other people, and practically sentencing them to death, but the outcome of all accusations was more or less the same. Innocent people died and there was more than one person to lay the blame on. In almost every conflict, there is someone or some people to hold responsible. In this case, it was Abigail for her manipulative nature, the Putnam’s for their greed, Mary Warren for being weak-willed and Rev. Parris for craving power. It makes one wonder how such a diminutive act of young girls could lead to such destruction of a community. How could innocent people be sentenced to death simply because some girls were playing and dancing? This is the power of religion and the annihilation it can cause if people refuse to tolerate any other explanation and follow it blindly. ‘The Crucible’ is a magnificent play, superbly written conveying one simple message. It is better stand for the truth and sacrifice yourself than to live with a lie. It reminds us that man is not perfect, and that we can make mistakes. However, even with these mistakes, we can cleanse ourselves and purify ourselves by making what is wrong right.