The Crucible

The Crucible

Faith and lies can twist and destroy lives. This is a basic premise of Arthur Miller’s wonderful play The Crucible, produced by the Arvada Center. The play, set in the 1690’s showcases the lunacy and terror that occurs when a society arbitrarily places faith in a higher power. Upon entering the world of The Crucible we are immediately confronted with one character’s consummate second-handedness. An important central figure to the play, Reverend Parris, is shown kneeling in front of his unconscious daughters’ bed. He is praying, most likely about the situation at hand. Before the start of the play the Reverend stumbles upon some of the local girls, including his daughter, dancing in the forest. In a place where god and law are one and the same, anything perceived as a moral wrongdoing is a punishable offense. Reverend Parris, a main representative of the mood of the play, is completely obsessed with the beliefs and perceptions of those around him.

Only a few characters in the play show their first handed ability to live their own lives dependent of other’s opinions. The main character, John Proctor, showcases the tragic story of The Crucible. A man who has only once told a lie, he takes on the whole town when finally pushed to the edge. Although, initially, he bides his time attempting to outlive his one dishonest moment, eventually he sees that truth is the only way and confesses his previous weakness with Abigail. The antagonist of the play, Abigail Williams, is a young lady infatuated with the striking John Proctor. Their affair, which ended in Abigail being fired by Proctors wife Elizabeth, was never known by the public. For once again, the public opinion is everything in a town based on faith.
Arthur Miller has done a great job in showing that lies feed other lies. When people are threatened they will seek any way out, even losing their integrity. This concept of integrity is integral to the plot and story of this play. For at the plays end, the upright man Proctor, refuses to implicate other people accused of being a witch. With his final testament that they can try and take his soul, but to leave him his name, Proctor comes close to some grander understanding of life. Miller shows us that men can be pushed, but no matter what, there is always choice.

The play almost seems to take on the format of an epic tragedy. With many characters, and the time taking place over several months, this almost is true. However, a closer look shows the climactic formatting of the story structure. It is true that the play takes place over a few months, but the location doesn’t really change in any meaningful way. The farthest we are taken is in John Proctors property on the outskirts of town, where he is confronted by many of the characters from the town, but this doesn’t seem enough evidence to allow this play to meander into the realm of epic tragedy.

John Proctor could be considered a tragic character. He is upright, a goodly man, who is willing to take his beliefs to their inevitable end. He may have his doubts along the way, but his unwavering integrity is crucial to the story of The Crucible.

The production elements were effective and to the point. A simple black box theatre, with a few easy to maneuver sets. The set, which included a vast arrangement of ropes as the backdrop, and a disproportionate (twisted) framing of the houses and court, fully captured the essence of the play. In Act III, the courtroom scene, Abigail begins to accuse Mary of bewitching her. The closeness of the audience to the stage allowed her to begin pointing over our heads shouting about a bird. This involved the audience (the voyeurs), almost making them feel uncomfortable at times. This is highly effective in twisting the audience’s mood to feel what the protagonist feels; frustration. We as the audience are completely unable to fix or alter others lies. Even though we are completely aware that Abigail is lying, because we see no bird, we feel helpless to do anything about it. As the protagonist (Proctor) also feels helpless. It is this that the production is most effective. After leaving the theatre with the twisted buildings and lynches littering the stage, we are unable to shake the feeling that others beliefs can one day effect our own lives. As it has done in our own recent history, much like the red scare did in America. It is this basic theme that has been so proficiently driven home in the mind of the audience. We may believe that people would not lie when someone’s life is on the line. But, as we were shown, faith can twist and destroy lives.