Abigerl

characters that do not belong. The young group of girls are juxtaposed with the older people. The young girls are not thought to have a strong position of authority within the community. For example, Elizabeth Proctor has status over Mary Warren and Abigail when she worked for the Proctors. Abigail attempts to change this by having an affair with John Proctor and succeeds by her accusations of witchcraft in the court. Abigail and Elizabeth are also juxtaposed in their relationship with John Proctor. Abigail wanted John to up her status and for lust. Elizabeth is devoted and is also prepared to lie for him. Abigail’s intentions are selfish and Elizabeth’s selfless. Abigail wants to fit in and belong higher in the community while Elizabeth’s status is already higher in the. community
Irony- the dramatic irony that Miller uses in the play, is used to heighten the audience’s awareness of the distance and tensions of the people of Salem. It shows that belonging is Salem is phony. An example of irony in this text is in Act One where the girls are alone. The audience can get a fair idea of what happened in the woods. The other characters in the play have no idea what went on. The audience can review Abigail’s behaviour with John Proctor. She lies to Proctor calling the dancing in the woods a ‘sport’, because the audience knows that she drank blood to cast a spell on Elizabeth. The ‘crying out’ of witchcraft at the end of Act One is led by Abigail and the audience is more likely to see it as an opportunistic pretence because of the earlier scenes. Because the girls do not have a high status or feel that they belong they feel that they belong with each other.
Archaic language- the archaic language used in the play has an effect on the audience to belong. The audience does not live in Salem, but the themes can be used in modern society. Archaic language is old fashioned. Example of this throughout The Crucible are ‘Goody’ as an alternative for ‘Mrs’, ‘poppet’ for ‘rag...