Analyze how Arthur Miller creates dramatic tension at the end of Act 3

Analyze how Arthur Miller creates dramatic tension at the end of Act 3

of The Crucible.

During this essay, I will be explaining how Arthur Miller creates

dramatic tension at thee end of Act 3 of his novel, The Crucible. I

will be organizing this essay in paragraphs by points. Here are the

main points I will be analyzing:

- Setting

- Stage Directions

- Characters and Language

- Comparing thee witch trials to the McCarthyism

Proctor brings Mary to court and tells Judge Danforth that she will

testify that the girls are lying. Danforth is suspicious of Proctor’s

motives and tells Proctor, truthfully, that Elizabeth is pregnant and

will be spared for a time. Proctor persists in his charge, convincing

Danforth to allow Mary to testify. Mary tells the court that the girls

are lying. When the girls are brought in, they turn the tables by

accusing Mary of bewitching them. Furious, Proctor confesses his

affair with Abigail and accuses her of being motivated by jealousy of

his wife. To test Proctor’s claim, Danforth summons Elizabeth and asks

her if Proctor has been unfaithful to her. Despite her natural

honesty, she lies to protect Proctor’s honour, and Danforth denounces

Proctor as a liar. Meanwhile, Abigail and the girls again pretend that

Mary is bewitching them. Suddenly Mary breaks down and accuses Proctor

of being a witch. Proctor rages against her and against the court. He

is arrested, and Hale quits the proceedings. The most important part

of this plot has to be the changing of situation when Mary breaks down

and turns to the girl’s side.

Miller has few cases of verbal irony. He uses it in act 3 while

Elizabeth tell she court that Proctor did not sleep with Abigail she

knows that he did.

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...r depicts in The Crucible, including the

narrow-mindedness, excessive passion and disregard for the individuals

that characterize the government’s effort to stamp out a supposed

social ill. Further, as with the alleged witches of Salem, suspected

Communists were encouraged to confess their crimes and to “name

names,” identifying others sympathetic to their radical cause. Some

have criticized Miller for oversimplifying matters, in that while

there were (as far as we know) no actual witches in Salem, there were

certainly Communists in 1950s America. However, one can argue that

Miller’s concern in The Crucible is not with whether the accused

actually are witches, but rather with the refusal of the court

officials to believe that they are not. In light of McCarthyism

excesses, which wronged many innocents, this parallel was felt

strongly in Miller’s own time.