Discuss The Dramatic Presentation of Justice and Morality Essay

The crucible written by Arthur Miller, in 1953 is set in the heart of puritan 16th century America. The main plot is about the witch hunts during that period and the lives that were affected by it. Although the play is about the witch hunts in Salem in the 16th century, the sub plot is really referring to the injustice that Miller himself was experiencing when he wrote it. In the play, it was not only acceptable practice in Salem to accuse people of witchery (usually women) but it was also acceptable to render them completely unable to defend themselves from such accusations. The society’s Puritanism, hysteria and conflicting views on morality and all that is just accounted for the horrendous tragedies to follow. Justice and morality are the main themes introduced throughout the play – justice, meaning the administration of law according to prescribed and accepted principles and morality, meaning the degree to which something is morally acceptable. Many issues associated with justice and morality such as the difficulties and dangers of conforming to strict principles including the consequences of the misuse of justice are also highlighted in the play. This essay will discuss those themes and how the audience is presented with them dramatically. ‘The Crucible’ meaning something in which substances are melted at high temperatures could be referring to a cauldron used by witches or an explosive situation. ‘The Crucible’ also means a severe test or trial which could be referring to the difficult decisions the characters had to make. The ambiguity of the title makes it difficult for the audience to fully understand and predict the nature and mood of the play outrightly. Throughout the play the audience is subtly presented with particular emotive issues. Miller used the literary device of an allegory to be able to depict them to maximum effect. He used lighting to convey emotions and tones, the same way he would a character. For example the footnotes of act one mention a candle in the room and sunrays beaming through the window giving the room â€Å"an air of clean spareness†. This could be interpreted as reflecting the way in which the puritans perceived themselves, free from corruption or impurities. Throughout the play, light was used to symbolize scenes depicting kindness, softer, more sincere emotions or highlight good characters in the play. But as the plot thickens, Miller uses less light which draws the audience towards the climax of the play. Dark lighting generally denotes bad atmosphere, for example the courtroom in Act Three is described as a â€Å"solemn, forbidding place† even though light shone through the back window. Again, at the very end of Act Four, when John Proctor is finally led away, Reverend Hale begins to pray and a light shines on his face. Again light is used to show raw emotions, and to portray both Proctor and Hale as good pious people. The language used throughout the play is archaic and biblical. Miller used biblical references throughout the play to help further illustrate and highlight the extent of Puritanism in Salem and how religion was the focal point of life in Salem. For example when Procter is pleading with Reverend Hale, he refers to him as ‘Pontious Pilate’ a roman official who found Jesus neither innocent nor guilty and washed his hands of the affair. However, it is more likely that Procter’s reference to the Bible was a subtle way of proving himself and his wife to be practicing Christians. Arthur Miller’s development of Abigail William’s character in ‘The Crucible’ greatly affects the plot of the play. Her snobbishness and perceived superiority made many people believe in her lies. Her superiority complex stems from the fact that she was an unmarried orphan, this placed her at the bottom of the social hierarchy in Salem. Her resentment of those that betrayed her influenced many of her decisions. From the very beginning of the play, it is clear to all that Abigail was a person who craved control, albeit subtly at times. Miller used the literary device of juxtaposition to show this to the audience. Juxtaposition is when two or more things are placed next to each other in order to create contrast and allow further analysis. In Act One, scene one where Reverend Parris is praying over Betty, Abigail appears to be an innocent, concerned niece â€Å"I will never hurt Betty, i love her dearly†. But as we see in the next scene, she threatens her own friends into silence. â€Å"Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word about the other things, and i will come to you in the black of some terrible night and i will bring some pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know i can do it. † The â€Å"evil† that made her capable of drinking chicken’s blood made the girls fear her, so much so that when Procter asked Mary (his house helper) to tell the courts about Abigail she replied â€Å"she’ll kill me for saying that†. Juxtaposition was also used to show the different levels of morality between the characters. Throughout all the chaos of trying to find who is moral and who isn’t, the audience is fully aware that Abigail was behind it all and she is the person lacking in morals. This made it possible for the audience to make the contrast between her and the other members of the community. Again Abigail’s acted superiority complex revealed itself when Reverend Parris asked her why no-one in the village had rehired her, she replied by saying how they wanted to enslave her and how she would not â€Å"blacken her face for any of them†. This further illustrates her feelings towards the black slaves in the community. It was almost as if she was saying she would rather be without a job than lower herself to their level. It was this reasoning that made it so easy for her to use Tituba (Parris’ slave) as a scapegoat to take all the blame for the witchery. It was also easy for the rest of the villagers to believe Abigail’s accusations because they too thought themselves better than Tituba. An example of this is in Act One where Tituba takes a step backwards before attempting to talk to the reverend but he scrambles to his feet and quickly dismisses her.