The Crucible Assignment Essay Example for Free

The Crucible Assignment Essay Give an account of the moments of extreme tension at the end of Act 3 and their impact on the audience. You must explain in detail the parts played by: Mary Warren, Abigail Williams, Danforth, Hale and particularly John and Elizabeth Proctor.  In this part of the play Mary Warren has been brought to the court by John Procter to testify that the she and the other girls have been pretending that people in Salem have been sending out their spirits to hurt the girls and that all the fainting and cold winds harming them were produced of their own accord. Mary however will be feeling very confused, upset and probably quite vulnerable as she cant benefit from testifying or from continuing the lies. On the one side she has promised John Proctor that she will tell the court the truth to help Proctor free his wife from prison and possibly free the other people from the death penalty of denying witchcraft. On the other side however Mary is afraid of Abigails wrath for telling on her. Earlier on in the play Abigail threatened I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it. She had threatened this to scare any of them telling the courts that they had danced in the woods. Mary also knows that Abigail is very clever and quick even though she has only witnessed a part of Abigails malice when the girls were threatened. Mary seems weak even before she is questioned as she sobs when Mr Danforth speaks to Mr Francis. Danforth comments that she is not hearty and Proctor agrees and bending down to Mary he tells her to remember about what God said to an angel about telling the truth so as to strengthen her spirits and feel that she is back on the right side of God for telling the truth. By coming down to her level as he says this he seems to give her the comfort almost of a father to a daughter. However as soon as Mr Danforth begins to question her she begins to break down. By her second answer her voice has already weakened. As the questioning continues she deteriorates until she is barely audible. She does pick herself up though when she is asked if she is a liar she replies No, sir I am with God now. This makes Danforth angry as it means that he has a battle to determine if all the girls are lying or if Mary alone is lying. Which ever way Mary chooses she is told by Danforth that she will face a perjury charge and go to jail because as he sees it she was either lying in the first place about anybody sending their spirit out to hurt her and therefore there may be no witches in Salem at all and the court may have hanged innocent people, for which all the girls will be committed of perjury and punished or he thinks that maybe she can still see spirits attacking her but chooses to say that she doesnt in the hope that Elizabeth Proctors charge of witchcraft will be dropped and she will be freed. In this case only Mary will be committed of perjury and sentenced. When Mary is told this she simply cries that she is with God repeatedly and then sobs. At this point the other girls accusing people of witchcraft enter the courtroom. There will have been tension in the audience as Danforth has been questioning Mary and they may have felt that Danforth was beginning to believe Mary but as the girls enter the room the audience will immediately sense an increase in tension because included in the group of girls is Abigail, the ringleader and the audience will sense the coming of almost a battle between the two girls each trying to earn the trust and belief from Danforth. Danforth turns from Mary and asks the other girls if any of them will admit that they have been lying about seeing spirits. He asks Abigail Williams to answer for all the girls and she predictably says that they have not been lying. Danforth then sees that he is now going to have to do some hard questioning and gives both the girls a chance to change their positions, claiming to be telling the truth, but both refuse. So Danforth proceeds to question Abigail. Abigail simply denies the implications of Danforths questions or throws them aside as lies. He is obviously the one with the most power as far as law and rules are concerned but it seems that Abigail has more power over him from the way she speaks to him, she almost commands respect from him. I think this is shown especially when she speaks the line: [with a slight note of indignation] It is a lie sir To which Danforth pauses before speaking which seems to show a surprised reaction and I think he does respect her because it has to be remembered that Abigail is only 11 at this time and for any 11 year old to speak with such tones and maturity would be something unusual and interesting to Danforth I think and immediately gain his respect. To make a powerful comparison would be to compare 18yr old Mary Warren to 11yr old Abigail. Abigail is by far Marys junior but is so clever that she can make Mary fear her. Mary doesnt have any of Abigails boldness either which also gives her a disadvantage. Abigail combines her age, beauty and brains to make herself a very fearsome opponent. It becomes obvious that she has Hathorne and Parris on her side and they try to influence Danforth to believe Abigail. Whereas trying to tell the truth there is only Mary, Proctor, Cheever and, the only man of law on their side, Mr Hale.