American way of life Essay

Choose one scene from â€Å"The Crucible† that you consider being particularly dramatic, exciting or tense. Explain your choice and discuss the importance of this scene to the play as a whole.  McCarthyism is the term describing a period, 1940s and 50s, when the USA was obsessed with a fear of communists secretly trying to destroy the American way of life. During this period thousands of Americans were accused of communism and were put on trial, they were asked about their personal lives, friends and political beliefs. They were persuaded to pass on names of communists then they could go free. This is much like the Salem witch trials when each of the accused witches were trialed and if they told the court a name of another person they were no longer accused. Rather Miller was trialed in 1956 and refused to tell them any names. He was angry that mass persecution could become hysteria. I have chosen the scene where John has confessed to his affair with Abigail and now Elizabeth has to tell Danforth if it is true. This scene is very tense because if Elizabeth lies then John will hang but if she tells the truth he will live. This is the point in the play that we find out if Elizabeth still loves John and this is also the point that Abigail realises that John doesn’t feel anything for her.  At the beginning of the scene John and Abigail are told to look away from Elizabeth so they can’t give her a sign of what to say. Abigail’s presence raises tension for John, Elizabeth and everyone else in the room. When Elizabeth enters she is made to stand alone. This distance between the characters is symbolic of the distance in their relationship. At this point Elizabeth is standing alone facing Danforth. This is an extremely tense point in the play because Elizabeth is in control of John’s fate. Elizabeth keeps trying to look at John for a sign. She starts to pause a lot because she still hasn’t made her mind up about what she is going to say. This is very tense for the audience because they know what she should say but Elizabeth doesn’t, this is called dramatic irony. Danforth starts to get angry because Elizabeth keeps glancing at John but Danforth says â€Å"The answer is in your memory and you need no help to give it to me†. This shows he is getting impatient with her. Arthur Miller shows Danforth’s anger by using lots of exclamation marks after Danforth’s speech. Danforth starts to ask lots of short curt questions very quickly. Elizabeth continues to stall and she starts to get very defensive of John. She says â€Å"Your honour I – in that time I were sick. And I – my husband is a good and righteous man†. This is a false build up; the audience believes Elizabeth is trying to portray John as a good man before she tells Danforth that he has committed lechery. This shows that she is edging towards telling the truth and that she still loves John because she is trying to save some of his dignity by saying good things about him. This false build up is ended when she starts to talk about things but before she finishes her sentence she changes to a different subject. At this point Elizabeth is equiverating and starts to struggle. Danforth ask Elizabeth outright â€Å"To you own knowledge, has John Proctor ever committed the crime of lechery!† Danforth’s anger is shown by not having a question mark just an exclamation mark. This is the climax of the play because Elizabeth now has to give a proper answer and the audience will find out what Elizabeth is going to say. Elizabeth answers (faintly)†No,sir† shows us that Elizabeth still loves John and we find out that John will be hanged, this stage action shows that she was reluctant to say no. After this John tells her to tell the truth and before the door is shut Elizabeth realises that she has done the wrong thing and says â€Å"Oh, god!† John’s fate is now sealed but he tries to protest but this has not effect on Sanford’s decision that John will be hanged.