Crucible Five Act Structure

Over the course of history, the structure of a play has continually evolved. Aristotle, renowned Greek philosopher, first introduced the three-act structure which consisted of a beginning, middle, and end. This was further expanded by Aelius Donatus, who named the three divisions protasis, epitasis, and catastrophe. As time has passed, this structure of a drama has been largely replaced by the five-act structure but can still be found in use today. The five-act structure, utilized by numerous famous playwrights including Shakespeare, is compromised of five key components an exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement. The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, does not follow the traditional five-act structure as

The exposition introduces the setting, main characters, and the conflict. In Act I of The Crucible, the author establishes the setting as Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 as well as the protagonist, John Proctor, and antagonist, Abigail Williams. Other significant characters such as Tituba, Parris, Hale, and Thomas and Ann Putnam also appear in Act I. The conflict is introduced through the revelation that the girls, Betty Parris and Ruth Putnam, had fallen ill after spending time in the forest which caused the people of Salem to suspect witchcraft despite Parris’ adamantly declaring their illness could not originate from unnatural causes. The atmosphere between John and Abigail is noticeably tense and uncomfortable as she confessed to John “I am waitin’ for you every night” but rather than invoking feelings of love and desire John, plagued by guilt over their affair, declined her romantic advances setting the conflict between protagonist and antagonist into motion. While Act I is the exposition in a five-act structure, in The Crucible it contains both the exposition and the start of the rising action which is further developed throughout Act

The denouement is the final resolution to the conflict, the absolute end of the drama as all of the plot comes together. Typically, the final act, Act V, is the resolution, but since The Crucible only has four acts, Act IV is the denouement which in this case ends with the death of the protagonist. The conflict is resolved when Proctor destroys his written confession condemning himself to die to stop the false accusations from going any further. With the death of Proctor, Salem ceases the pursuit of witches. Proctor is unwilling to sacrifice his name, his identity as well as ruin the reputation of his well-respected friends in the process stating “I blacken all of them when this is nailed to the church the very day they hang for silence!” The denouement reveals Proctor’s character as he chooses to go to the gallows and die honorably rather than live with the knowledge he lied. The change in Proctor is illustrated here as he accepts what it truly means to be a respectable man with a good reputation when initially he was hesitant to even mention his affair with Abigail for fear of ruining his name. In choosing death Proctor overcomes the guilt of his transgression with Abigail and recognizes the goodness he actually possesses. While Elizabeth could have persuaded John to live she understood “he have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!” John Proctor is redeemed through his final actions; he