Dramatic Tension in "The Crucible" by Miller

Dramatic Tension in "The Crucible" by Miller

The Crucible Coursework

Excitement, nervousness, stress, anxiety, suspense, unease, and

apprehension are all forms of dramatic tension that Miller creates

throughout the Crucible. Dramatic tension is created by Miller

throughout the Crucible in many ways. Straightaway, the title of the

play, “the Crucible” implies to the audience of the tension that is to

come in the play. Miller names the play “the Crucible” to represent

the puritanical society of Salem, the historic people of Salem wanted

to purify each other from the Devil’s work, they even went to the

extent of killing their fellow neighbours in order to purify them. The

variety of characters involved in the witch trials all combine to

create suspense. Miller creates vivid personalities for the main

characters in the play, the characters are contrasting and their

relationships between each other create tension. Speech directions

influence how the characters speak and act. The stage settings crafted

by Miller create tension, especially in Act 3, in the court room scene

where there is dramatic tension created by the characters arguing

vigorously with each other.

Miller uses the setting of “The Crucible” to create dramatic tension.

The play took place in a newly made colony called Salem at the time of

1692. Miller describes the in such a way that it creates an atmosphere

of tension throughout the play. Salem was surrounded by wilderness;

some of Salem’s people were killed from tribes that were from these

forests. The religious leaders were fiercely puritanical and

protective of their religion, a form of protestant Christianity. The

religious leaders were so zealous and paranoid about their religious

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play, responding to Hale’s plea that she convince Proctor to publicly

confess: “He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!”

Miller uses speech directions and descriptions of action in the play

to create an atmosphere of tension throughout “The Crucible”. In the

last page of the play Miller uses speech directions to show how

desperate Hail is to stop Proctor from hanging himself, Miller shows

him “dropping to his knees” to show his desperation. Hail does all he

can to stop Proctor from hanging and surprisingly so too does Parris,

this creates tension because even Parris, who hated Proctor, wants the

ridiculous hangings to stop because they have gone out of control.

Miller describes the beating of the drum rolls to create an atmosphere

of suspense, the drum rolls are a gradual sign of the music of

Proctor’s heroic yet tragic death.