The Crucible Play Review Essay

Shown all throughout the play is courage, nonetheless; it is shown through the characters of Arthur Miller’s play. The play may have not come together if it weren't for these courageous characters. This courage was key to keeping the audience not only interested, but suspenseful. The witch trials that occurred in The Crucible occurred because of the daring traits of certain

One might argue, if you want the best interpretation of The Crucible, you should read the original play because it is exactly what Arthur Miller wanted to express with the story. This would seem to be logical, as the play is his original work. However, one could also debate that most plays rely on the director’s and the actor’s interpretation while they are in production. Most plays or musicals rely heavily on the imagination of who is putting on the show. With this power in hand, they can change the play for better or for worse. And in the case of this movie, it was exceptional. To defend the play

The Crucible was a very clever film created by Arthur Miller which leads to other identical films to be created with The Crucible in mind. The film of the Crucible was not the best, but definitely explained the play a lot better. It went more in debt with several parts and even enhanced how the viewers see the characters emotions. For instance, in the play, it was only a flashback when the girls were dancing in the woods. In the film, the girls were shown running, dancing and much more detail that is critical to the viewers. Other little things were also changed in the film to make it more appealing to the audience. Such as when Tituba gets whipped by Reverend Parris while in the play she is only threatened to be whipped. The film also made

The Crucible, an original play written by Arthur Miller, has had a multitude of adaptations come out after its’ release in 1953. Among these adaptations are the movie, The Crucible, directed by Nicholas Hytner and starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder and local performances of the play, such as the one seen at the Civic Theatre. The Crucible is about the people of Salem, MA and trouble of the accusations of witchery after Abigail, the niece of Reverend Parris, has an affair with the married John Proctor and he denies her when she attempts to do it again. Specifically, Abigail’s reaction to the rejection in the movie is portrayed so much more realistic than it is in the play and the entire cast portraying their characters realistically for how it was appropriate for the setting of the movie. Although the movie was exceptional in content, the universal portrayal of the characters was better in the movie. Overall, The Crucible movie version, directed by Nicholas Hytner, portrayed the characters better the play because Winona Ryder portrayed Abigail Williams better than the written play did, and the cast as a whole worked together to create the mood of the historical time period of both the Salem Witch Trials and the communist era. Additionally, even though the written play was amazing due to it being ‘first’, the movie was still better at portraying the development of the characters.

Hytner made changes to the play so that that the viewer of the movie has information about what is occurring. From the start Hytner alters the first scene; girls dancing in the forest undressed, Abigail drinking chicken blood, while Tituba sang in Barbados. In the play, this scene was explained through words, and was talked about in the past. Another difference from the play is the way Betty was shown. In the movie Betty is fierce and desperate, in the play she cries for mom. Tituba's character in the movie is whipped and treated harshly in front of everyone, while in the play she was only threatened to be whipped while being accused by Abigail of being a witch. Unlike the play, that has narration, Hytner is forced to change the scenes so that the viewer can keep up with the story without deviating from the

Since Arthur Miller wrote the Crucible as a play instead of a novel, I think that helped make the movie and the playwright connect. A difference between how I pictured the movie to be and how it was performed was how the actors looked and acted. I envisioned John not to be so gruff and rough looking. I imagined a more clean cut man. I also imagined Abigail to be more charming and appealing, because that might help explain John’s actions.

Let's start off by naming some of the important situations that has taken place in The Crucible. First, a few girls were caught dancing in the woods doing witchcraft. Along with that, many trials, court hearing, and deaths were caused. There was a situation of affairs, deaths consisting of kids, as well as plenty of lying and accusing to go around. There were many wrongful people as well as innocent people getting killed for the wrong reasons.

Since I have prior knowledge about this famous play, I did not have a hard time figuring out which actors played a specific character. When all the other characters came onto the stage, it was easy for someone to believe that they were the character stated in the program due to the costumes. The actors were attempting to make you believe they were the real characters, something that could have worked if the execution was better. If the actors practiced more and thoroughly knew their lines, making the character their own without losing the integrity of each character, the audience would be gripping out of their

The Crucible is a historical play by Arthur Miller, and is set in the town of Salem during the late 1690s. The main characters are John Proctor, the protagonist, and Abigail Williams, the antagonist. The conflict occurs when Abigail falsely accuses others of witchcraft. This leads to hysteria in the town, with people turning in innocent people for witchcraft. Many people including John and Elizabeth Proctor are arrested and put on trial, despite their innocence. John Proctor is sentenced to death after refusing to denounce his friends as witches, forgiven by Elizabeth for his affair with Abigail, and restores his reputation of being a good man. The Crucible delves into the extent people will go betray others in order to benefit themselves

I will be honest with you I had a lot of trouble enjoying the play, like I said the dialect gave me trouble, plus my seats were not that great. I did however like the movie quite a bit, but I realize I am a product of a different generation as well. I have been brought up around TV and movies rather than plays

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an interpretation of the Salem witch trials of 1692 in Puritan Massachusetts in which religion, justice, individuality and dignity play a vital role. These factors define the characteristics of many of the most significant characters in the play. Some of them being John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, Reverend Hale, Danforth and many others. The Salem witch trials were a result of the lack of expression of individuality and the fact that no individual could expect justice from the majority culture as a result of the deterioration of human dignity in the Puritan society of Salem.

The Crucible stood out to me from the rest of the plays. I was able to relate to it on a greater scale than the others, and the story behind the Crucible interested me very much. Also I notice a theme of secret sin. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this play as well as watching the movie. In research, I have read numerous facts on the Salem witch trials and have discovered that the witch trials are a very wide known topic which possesses many different opinions on the subject. The mass hysteria over witches started these trials. Since held in 1692, television programs today consist of witch characters in their series including some bad and some good. Clearly, the thought of witches has made its way to our world now-a-days. An obvious theme in this play is lies and deceit. Most of the characters in The Crucible are lying – if not to other people, then to themselves. Abigail lies about her ability to see spirits, as do the other girls; Proctor is deceitful first for cheating on his wife and then for hiding

The main characters of the play, Hannah and Martin, had strong and successful performances in terms of their body movements, chemistry, and portrayal of their characters. Ali Basalyga, the actress portraying Hannah, was excellent in demonstrating Hannah’s transition from an awkward, shy, and self-conscious young girl in the beginning of the play, to becoming dominant and powerful at the end of the play. While most of the actors did their characters justice, there were some minor faults that seemed to stick out like sore thumbs. In terms of vocal quality and articulation, for example, Basalyga definitely stuck out--her occasional fast speech and slurred words caused sentences to pass, unheard by the audience. Had she spoken slower at times, her role would have been more understandable and therefore, more powerful. I have seen other plays in the past, “The Glass Menagerie”, for example, in which Basalyga also portrayed the main character, and again, articulation proved to a problem for her. One character that did not add to the success of the production was Gertrude Jaspers, portrayed by Emily Paparazzo. Paparazzo’s soft tone of voice and perceived shyness to be on stage, made it virtually impossible to hear what she was saying for minutes at a time. Her movements on stage were awkward and

The play, The Crucible, is a fireball of guilt, evil, and good compiled into one magnification. It is a play with tremendous feelings, with many inside twists hidden in the archives of the true story. It is a play with emotional feelings; feelings of anger, hate, and evil, yet also feelings of goodness, and pureness. Undeniably, The Crucible is a play illustrating good versus evil.  The principal characters, Abigail Williams, John Proctor, Ann Putnam and Marry Warren all contain within them elements of good and evil.

This production ticks every box; from staging to acting, the play is refined down to absolute fluidity. Immersing themselves in the roles completely, the actors in the Old Vic production embody Miller’s characters in ways unparalleled by other performances. Seeing the actors wholly capture the raw emotions of their complex characters brings the play to life, and with their efforts, the audience feels so deeply along with them.