THE CRUCIBLE Flashcards
WHAT YEAR WAS THE CRUCIBLE WRITTEN IN
1953
FEAR AND HYSTERIA THESIS STATEMENT
In its totality, the play demonstrates a persistent tension between paranoia and righteousness, and in-turn the audience bears witness to an on-stage manifestation of fear and hysteria.
INTEGRITY THESIS STATEMENT
Following on from this sentiment, Miller didactically displays unto his audience the importance of upholding one’s integrity in the face of collective turmoil.
FEAR AND HYSTERIA DRAMATIC TECHNIQUE #1
The play begins ‘in media res’, throwing the audience directly into the midst of an intense dialogical exchange between Reverend Parris and his niece Abigail.
FEAR AND HYSTERIA DRAMATIC TECHNIQUE #2
Mary Warren is described in the stage directions as a “subservient, naive, lonely girl.”
FEAR AND HYSTERIA DRAMATIC TECHNIQUE #3
The echophonesis of Mary Warren’s exclamations will have a subsequent impact on the audience. The desperation in Mary Warren’s cries ensures that the audience will not hate her, rather they empathise and understand her wrongdoings are a manifestation of her fearfulness.
Reverend Parris Quotes and Analysis.
The high modality language of “I must know it now, for surely my enemies will and they will ruin me with it… there is a faction that is sworn to drive me from my pulpit.” shows his paranoia.
When coupled with the revealing syntax of “My ministry’s at stake, my ministry and perhaps your cousin Betty’s life”, we know where Parris’ priorities truly lie.
Mary Warren quotes and analysis
Anaphorically pleading “We have to tell the truth Abby… We must tell the truth!”
To succumbing to her anxieties “I will not hang with you!”
Echophonesis from both of these exclamations generates audience empathy.
Judge Danforth Quotes and Analysis
“I cannot pardon these when 12 are already hanged for the same crime. It is not just.” High modality language reaffirms the fallacious logic— with Danforth electing to make a hasty generalisation rather admitting to his mistakes.
Danforth is trapped by his own ego, and this is reinforced through dramatic irony. Which returns at “Hang them high over town! Those who weep for these, weep for corruption!”
John Proctor Quotes and Analysis
“I speak my own sins; I cannot judge another, I have no tongue for it.” - Heightened by dramatic peripeteia.
“You will not use me” in a moment of anagnorisis.
“I will not mount the gibbet like a saint” Self-aware metaphor, swallowing his pride for the sake of integrity.
Integrity Dramatic techniques
Dramatic irony
Dramatic peripeteia
Anagnorisis
PARRIS CONTEXTUAL LINK
Miller attempting to convey to his audience how politicians in the 1950s American context are only acting out of concern for their own power, and not necessarily the American people, who they should truly be concerned for.
MARRY WARREN CONTEXTUAL LINK
Miller additionally expresses how these unjust politicians have an effect on the isolated and vulnerable through the character of Mary Warren.
Thus, Miller— whether the audience knows it or not— subliminally communicates the importance of maintaining. and individuals integrity in the face of fear and hysteria if true justice is to be preserved, further resonating with the allegorical message he is intending to put forward.
JUDGE DANFORTH CONTEXTUAL LINK
At this stage, It is clear that Miller’s contextual objective is to compare the egotistical lack of integrity that Judge Danforth pertains to in his position of justice, as similar to that of politicians in his context ascribing to radical anti-communist propaganda.
JOHN PROCTOR CONTEXTUAL LINK
This is Miller’s primary desire - to shift the impetus of society toward self-realisation in the face of political oppression.
