Arthur Miller creates the tension Essay

I have chosen to write my essay on a surgical incision in modus operandi VI, starting on page 105 from where Elizabeth Proctor enters, ending provided before commode Proctor enters at the bottom of page 106. This picture show in The Crucible , is a heated dialogue between De draw upy-Governor Danforth, idealistic Hale, Reverend Parris, Judge Hathorne and Goodwife Elizabeth Proctor whom the four men be urgently trying to persuade to save her husband, nates Proctors life.I chose this prognosis because it makes clear how Arthur moth miller uses all the means available to a dramatist to make a arm strive. He creates the extreme latent hostility between the characters and makes the mood obvious to the reader using language devices, the interrogative sentence of characters, pauses, disagreement between characters, stage directions to create images for us to visualise the action, and our front knowledge of evets and kindreds between these characters in particular.The scene is set inside a cell in Salem jail. Earlier in Act IV, moth miller utilise stage directions to show us how awkward he wished for the room to looking for. Also as the season is Autumn, milling machine described the weather as bitterly cold and told us that the place is in darkness b atomic number 18ly for the moonlight showping through the bars.These conditions add to the tension in the scene as characters are much more than likely to be irritable and short-tempered if they are cold, especially as it is night time and a prison in darkness would await very sinister. People much expect bad happenings at night, such as the dancing in the woods at the beginning of the play, which was a forbidden event in the Puritan society and had terrible after-effects. Also Abigail when threatening the new(prenominal) girls said,I have seen some reddish work done at night. We are therefore already expecting the unexpected due to this imagery and theme of darkness, used by Miller to create tension with the setting.The tension has already been built up to this section by the background knowledge that we have from other scenes in the play. Danforth, Hale, Parris and Hathorne are proposing to gain Goody Proctors succor in economy her husband from feeding the next morning. We have seen John and Elizabeth alone together and the limited information that we have rough their relationship leaves the reader with a questioning mind on how she leave alone act to John being condemned, and to them wanting her to persuade him into a false confession.Miller has given us contrasting pieces of evidence as to whether she cares enough about him to be willing to talk to him in Act II we see tension between the couple during their d cozy when they were falsely polite and ceremonious to each other, and seemed to have unloving relationship with a lack of trust. However, in Act III Elizabeth lies in an attempt to protect John. Elizabeths execration for lying is another reason that co uld lead the reader to doubt if she will agree to speaking with John, especially as she is a religious psyche and one of the Ten Commandments is Thou shalt not bear false chance In doing what they wish, Elizabeth would have to persuade another person to lie.Miller has put this scene at this point in the play so it empennage follow on from the sections that give the reader the knowledge of Elizabeths inner tensions are and how they could affect her descisions we know that Elizabeth is aware of her husbands principles, hardly also that her conflicting emotions will tell her to attempt at saving his life. This doubt of what Elizabeth will do will make the audience increasingly tense, as they know her descision over whether to assist is crucial If she agrees to speak with him, John could be saved. However, if she will not speak with him, John will hang the next morning, as there is no-body else who could possibly make him listen and reconsider.The section that I chose starts with Parris saying,Hush, on hearing footsteps. This leaves the room in a tense silence, during which the audience will be focused on anticipating what Elizabeth will look like and how she will react to their news of John. Miller uses stage directions to help us visualise Elizabeths appearance- Her clothes are dirty her gift is pale and gaunt. Miller also uses this to imply how they may feel uncomfortable in each others company, by showing us the very diametric positions they are in. We can see the tension due to this when Danforth begins to speak,(very politely), as this is patently false.She is silent when he adresses her and the tension increases again when Danforth says,I hope you are hearty?. This could be seen as ironic and sarcastic from how Miller antecedently presented her to be visibly unwell. However, from what we already know of Danforths character, the reader is more likely to assume that he merely said the wrong social function due to not knowing how to handle the delica te situation- this makes the scene even more tense as the most authotitive person doesnt seem to know what to say. His words could also be interpreted as a deliberate use of informal/coloquial language which can be trenchant for means of persuasion- Miller could have been fashioning it look as though Danforth was speaking in a controversial way, and trying to make Elizabeth realise him as a friend.However, pleasantness from Danforth could just result in reservation Elizabeth more tense, and suspicious of what they want from her. The silence from Elizabeth could result in making Danforth even more tense, especially if he was already uneasy, due to the particular that he may feel that him being involved is unfair because, as he said himself, twelve are already hanged for the same crime. Miller uses silence many other times within this small section to build up tension as we wait for a reaction from a character. Pauses are also used by Miller when a character doesnt know what to say or is being highly careful in their response.