The Crucible

Through the dramatic play, the Crucible, Arthur Miller presents the audience with many themes. Some examples being the impact of hysteria, conformity versus the freedom of individuality, and the wrongful use of authority. These themes are all eternal issues, which continually re-occur in society throughout time, and therefore can be seen as ‘universal messages’. This essay will discuss these messages, and how Arthur Miller evokes the ‘full force of theatre’ to communicate them.
The setting of the play is an important ‘force of theatre’. Miller’s use of stagecraft plays a major role in expressing the tension, and distraught emotion throughout the drama. The setting of each act is spare and sombre, yet effectively portrays the Puritan lifestyle and contributes to the anxiety of the plot.
Act One is set in a small upstairs bedroom, in the home of Reverend Parris. Like the room, the only window is small and barred, symbolising no escape from the future events, and adding to the over crowded, claustrophobic feeling, of a room

Through the characters of the Deputy- Governor Danforth and Reverend Samuel Parris, Miller presents the universal message of the wrongful use of power and the resulting consequences. The hypocrisy and ulterior motives that both these characters posses, evidently contributes to the injustices in the outcomes of the play. Reverend Parris is preoccupied with his salary and blackening his enemy, John Proctor. Ironically he is supposed to be “ ordained, ...” and have “... the light of God...” within him. (page 63). The strong belief in his own righteousness is evident in his claim to Proctor, that any faction which is against him is opposing legitimate authority. (page 35)