Crucible Essay

Peeranat Suksucheep

November 21, 2013

Period 7

Mr. McCrae - English

Crucible Essay

The Crucible displays the numerous events and occurrences of the Salem Witch trials. In the play and movie, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller and the director, there are a multitude of similarities and differences. In the movie, there were a few major differences compared to the play. For example, a lot of scenes in the movie were played outside. In the play, every scene was inside and some things were not explained in the book as they were in the movie. There were a lot of superstition in Salem about witches and witchcraft, which is also the reason it was called the Salem Witch Trials.

In the movie there were a lot of outdoor scenes throughout the film. For example, when Abigail and the girls were being questioned on if they were lying about their possessions from the devil. After things were getting worse for the girls they all pretended that they were all getting cold and that Mary Warren's spirit was coming after them in the form of birds, so they all ran outside into the lake to train and cleanse themselves of the sin I am assuming. Then, just seconds after that scene, John Proctor is focused and alienated from everyone else. This was to show how the town was against him and how he was working for the devil being a sinner and evil. Also, there were two occurrences where John Proctor and Abigail were found alone. During the first time he and she kissed showing that he might still have feelings for her even if he says that it was a one time thing. The second time was when they were found in the forest. She was trying to get him to love her, but he was furious at her because Abigail accused Goody Proctor of committing the ultimate sin, practicing witchcraft.

In the book, every setting was set inside, usually in the courtroom. Other places would take place in John Proctor's house, or Parris's house where they would discuss things before going to court. In the book, the scene where the girls were dancing in the forest wasn't as intense as in the movie. There was not really a separate scene, but they just explained and talked about what had happened. Also, when they explain the dancing in the forest scene I thought that there wasn't that many of Abigail's friends with her. Mostly just Tituba, Betty, Ruth, etc. I did not expect a huge mob of young teenagers.

Some similarities and differences in The Crucible are as follows, Hale's wife was never mentioned in the play, Abigail was seen stealing money from Parris in the movie, and Abigail visited Proctor before running away in the movie. Hale's wife not being mentioned doesn't really change anything besides the fact