The Crucible - Form and Structure Essay -- English Literature

The Crucible - Form and StructureArthur Miller uses various different techniques in the pains andstructure of The Crucible to create suspense and maintain the earreachs interest. Of course, one of the main factors of the formand structure of the play is its genre. The Crucible can bedescribed as being a symbolic play, a tragedy, a political play, anhistorical play and a narrative play in naturalistic form. It issymbolic, political and historic as although the story revolves aroundthe Salem witch trials, the ideas and morals behind the plot can beviewed as Millers criticism of McCarthyism. The play can also beseen as being narrative in a naturalistic form due to the lengthy entrapdescriptions and stage directions followed by regular, natural yetstylised conversational prose. Obviously, the plot of The Crucibleis tragic as it ends with Miller killing off the main characters. integrity method Miller uses to keep back the audience excited and interested ishis use of high tension and climaxes. He ends each of the four actswith a climax, for example, Act tercet finishes with Hale exclaiming,I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court as he slams thedoor behind him. Climaxes such as this will always keep an audiencealert and wanting to know more. Scenes like this particular one alsocreate an engaging atmosphere and help the audience to understandextreme point Puritanism more clearly. The theme of witch hunting in TheCrucible is an exciting factor which will also maintain audienceinterest. Miller also changes the center of the play in each act. Forinstance, Millers main idea in Act One is fear of the unknown whichhe shows through Parris printing press on there being no unnatural causehere... ...d his wife creating tension not only by the change of spaceon stage, plainly also by adapting to a much slower dialogue with pauses. Through acting out various scenes from The Crucible, I have learntthat by windup each act with a cliff-hanger it is human nature whi chmakes one feel like they must know more and what happens next. Byforming each act as a story in itself, Miller heightens the atmosphereof mass hysteria due to this ongoing use of tension and climaxes. Miller succeeds in keeping the audiences interest flowing despitethis way of a different story in each act by using subplots, forexample, the rivalry amidst Giles Corey and Thomas Putnam. Altogether, The Crucible is written with an easy to follow form andstructure using pace, dialogue and action to aid builds of tension andclimaxes and therefore remain kindle to the audience.