The Crucible Stage Directions Analysis

In a play, actors will speak and act a certain way so that the audience can infer things about their characters.These stage directions help paint a picture in the readers’ minds, as they help to define what is going on and show the reader more about each character. Act II of The Crucible certainly utilizes stage directions, as well as dialogue to deepen readers’ understandings if all characters including John Proctor, his wife Elizabeth, and Mary Warren.
The act opens eight days after the calling out has begun in John and his wife, Elizabeth’s, home. John walks inside, and immediately goes to the fire to check his dinner. He doesn't like the taste, so he adds salt and quickly puts it back so his wife won't know. This sneaky behavior shows that John and his wife are not in the best place right now; he fears of setting her, so he quietly fixes the meal and doesn't tell her. Later when you taste it, he even proclaims,“it's well seasoned,” to make her happy and feel as if she's pleased him, when, in fact, he was the one to season it. However, while he is trying to please and appease her, John shows that he has a temper and is quite feared by others, even his wife. The stage directions even show that Elizabeth speaks “fearing to anger him” and Cheever comes and, although he “fears Proctor,” must act. Proctor, though seemingly a good man, is clouded in anger and self-loathing,
Whole scenes could be composed of no dialogue, yet still be vital to the tale, so stage directions are written to clarify feelings, emotions, and motives of characters. Mr. and Mrs. Proctor and their servant Mary Warren are three prime examples of how stage directions reveal more than dialogue, and without both, characterization would be extremely difficult, because as this play proves everything is not always what it seems, and stage directions help to clarify what is reality and what is a