ESSAY QUESTION:
“The work of the composer is not just to present an idea, to create characters, or tell a story. The composer must present us as we truly are.”
Analyse how this is revealed in your prescribed text.
By exploring fear, power and emotions instigated by human experiences, Arthur Miller's “The Crucible” deconstructs societal norms in a way that promotes forward thinking and instigates individuals into taking a deeper look within, allowing them to discover their true potential. He explores how an individual reveals their true selves through their human experiences and how power and fear are used to suppress society, allowing for self revelation. Through this tragedy, he shows how individuals are not defined by social constructs and how challenging the prevalent idea in society can unveil an individual's true self.
The qualities and emotions that arise from human experiences can stimulate self-revelations within oneself. Miller created the “Crucible” and uses the Salem witch trials as a historical allegory, to represent how Senator McCarthy’s trials were able to turn individuals against each other, causing many to lose their way. One such individual is Abigail Williams who is characterised as meek and mild but who is truly cutthroat and ruthless. Miller reveals her darkness when she states, “I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.”. The indirect reference to murder, as well violent imagery instigated as a result of this threat, is a clear reference to Abigails darker, more manipulative side, showing how her true qualities arise when she is under pressure and when she is forced into unique situations. She leads society to make false assumptions of her as seen in the lines, “I want the light of God” and “I will go back to jesus” in order to ensure her survival by making her seem “Godly”, using her personal discoveries to thrive and flourish in the chaos of the witch hunt. Miller further explores the confines of an individual's qualities, and utilises high pressure scenarios to force characters to explore their true nature. This is depicted when Abigail states, “If I must answer that, I will leave and I will not come back ”. Her strong and imperative tone is an example of the strength she possesses. Furthermore, The stage directions, “[Danforth seems unsteady]” shows that she is able to shake a powerful figure such as Judge Danforth, highlighting her confidence to manipulate an individual with power in her society, allowing her to indirectly gain power in an overly patriarchal society. These aspects of Abigail’s personality are only revealed when she literally faces a “Crucible” and is a testament to how Miller is able to create scenarios, where characters in his play are able to discover new qualities within themselves, as a result of their human experiences.
Human experiences can generate fears, and these fears can be harnessed by those in power to strip an individual's identity from them. Miller presents various characters who are more easily swayed by their fears, forming parallels with society in the McCarthyist era. Mary Warren is one such example of a character who is not only driven, but manipulated by fear, as seen when she states “He wakes me every night, his eyes are like coals and his fingers claw at my neck”. The reader is presented with sensory imagery indicating nervousness within Mary and showing fear through her hysterical tone. The imagery displayed allows the audience to see Mary Warren's perspectives and thoughts, providing context regarding her frantic actions. Furthermore, the fear caused by supernatural forces and Abigail, as seen in “She'll kill me for sayin' that!” and “Abby, don't do that!”, causes Mary Warren to turn a blind eye to logic and instead succumb to false claims and fear which is another instance where Miller creates parallels between the witch trials and McCarthysim. Like Mary Warren, Reverend Hale displays a blatant disregard for fact and logic when he states, “the Devil is alive in Salem, and we dare not quail to follow wherever the accusing finger points!”. The biblical reference coupled with the aggressive standpoint are factors that point to how Hale’s fears are getting the better of him, as he has been persuaded by "god's judgement" and “frightful proofs” he's witnessed and this has blinded him to the true nature of individuals like Abigail. Miller draws out Hale’s true qualities by exploring his fear of the devil, as well as god, as seen within the line, “Quail not before God's judgment” and connects Reverend Hale's fears with people's fear of communism within the McCarthyist era. Through Mary Warren and Reverend Hale, Miller is able to show how many people, more often than not, can be a product of their fears. By depicting how easy it is for individuals to be manipulated, their fears can be quantified, and their true nature revealed which Miller displays perfectly.
Within “The Crucible”, individuals are stripped down to their core values, allowing them to look deep within themselves and be represented by their experiences. Miller’s focus on representing individuals as a result of their ordeals and learnings allows him to bring new perspectives and challenge societal constructs that force people into a state of conformity. John Proctor is one such character that is depicted as a person who attempts to stay aligned with his moral compass in times of great turmoil. This is seen when he states, “You are pulling Heaven down and raising up a whore!”. By symbolising “Heaven” as God's will, and representing the severity of the situation using a religious hyperbole, Proctor is displaying that he is willing to disrupt Abigail’s true agenda and help the “truth” succeed, even if it puts him against figures of authority such as Reverend Parris and Judge Danforth. Miller shows how Proctor, who is under a high pressure scenario, is able to show to the audience the qualities within himself that he holds to the highest regard - his integrity and passion for truth. This is displayed further in the play when Proctor states, “How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!”. The rhetorical question within this soliloquy indicates that John Proctor wishes to preserve his integrity, especially when he falsely admits to committing witchcraft. Miller shows through this that Proctor's name is too precious for him to succumb to the evil forces at play and his refusal to blacken his own name ends up condemning him to death. John Proctor represents individual freedom because he refuses to conform to society's values and beliefs and Miller is able to show John Proctor as a man forged by his experiences and represented by his core values, not by external influences.
The Crucible is able to bring out the true nature of an individual and draw upon human experiences to instigate unique thought processes. By exploring the effects of fear on society, as well as individuals, Miller is able to accurately portray the importance of challenging the societal norm and indirectly questions the relevance and describes the danger of McCarthyism in the 1950’s. He utilises dramatic convention to draw out the characteristics of an individual and displays how they can discover their true selves, through literally facing a “Crucible”, displaying the faults within the societal constructs of both past and present. In closing, Arthur Miller's tragedy, the “Crucible” is able to present various individuals as a product of their individual and collective experiences, showing the importance of challenging those in places of power and allowing the oppressed to rise up against the oppressed.
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