tension in the crucible
There is tension at the opening of the play. The audience sees a child lying unconscious and her father praying and weeping. He orders Tituba, out of the room in a fury. The audience is immediately drawn into the drama of the situation.
The tension is raised further when there is talk of "unnatural causes" and Parris orders his niece, Abigail, to conceal it from the village. She replies that "the rumour of witchcraft is all about".
The title of the book ‘The crucible’ creates tension as a crucible heats metals to boiling point which could be a metaphor for the community which is turning mad as its being heated to a point where people are desperate to blame one another and hysteria starts. A crucible can also mean ‘a place or situation in which concentrated forces interact to cause or influence change or development’ this describes the book so creates tension as we don’t know what’s to come.
The play follows how fear of death, the Devil and the unknown causes people to become mad and how the sense of guilt which “generally it was a guilt resulting from their awareness that they were not as Rightist as people were supposed to be” could allow for insanity to overcome a whole community.
The opening of the play, with Betty Parris laid “inertly on a bed” and Reverend Parris knelt weeping and praying, instantly creates tension and suspense for the audience who are unaware of the situations. Parris’s concern and fear of what is happening to his daughter alerts the audience to the seriousness of Betty’s condition and so causes for a sense of drama and tension to further grow in the audience’s minds.
Reverend Parris is powerless to help the child, as is the doctor. 'He cannot find no medicine in his books' 'He bid me tell you that you might look for unnatural things for the cause of it'. This establishes one of the key themes.
The tension is raised further when there is talk of "unnatural causes" and Parris orders his niece, Abigail, to conceal it from the village. She replies that "the rumour of witchcraft is all about".
The title of the book ‘The crucible’ creates tension as a crucible heats metals to boiling point which could be a metaphor for the community which is turning mad as its being heated to a point where people are desperate to blame one another and hysteria starts. A crucible can also mean ‘a place or situation in which concentrated forces interact to cause or influence change or development’ this describes the book so creates tension as we don’t know what’s to come.
The play follows how fear of death, the Devil and the unknown causes people to become mad and how the sense of guilt which “generally it was a guilt resulting from their awareness that they were not as Rightist as people were supposed to be” could allow for insanity to overcome a whole community.
The opening of the play, with Betty Parris laid “inertly on a bed” and Reverend Parris knelt weeping and praying, instantly creates tension and suspense for the audience who are unaware of the situations. Parris’s concern and fear of what is happening to his daughter alerts the audience to the seriousness of Betty’s condition and so causes for a sense of drama and tension to further grow in the audience’s minds.
Reverend Parris is powerless to help the child, as is the doctor. 'He cannot find no medicine in his books' 'He bid me tell you that you might look for unnatural things for the cause of it'. This establishes one of the key themes.