The facial expression Essay Example

The facial expression Essay Example The facial expression Essay The facial expression Essay The end of Act Three possessed the same hysterical and anticlimactic qualities as the end to Act One. The pretence of Abigail and the rest of the girls was once again acted in a rather ridiculous fashion to put off the audience. Abby, you mustnt Im here, Im here Never, never. To put it rather bluntly, the girls seemed to be shaking as if they had been given an electric shock. In this scene, Danforth appeared to be the one serving the same function as Hale in the end of Act One; being the gullible one who fell for the puerile actions of the girls. (growing hysterical) Why can they only repeat you? (p93). The way that Danforth was presented in this scene highlighted his typically one dimensional character as described earlier. To the girls, this was nothing more than a playground game. On the other hand Danforth was treating it seriously. Danforth also played the gullible role of Hale in Act One when he appeared to be charmed by Abigail. While he spoke the words Abigail. I bid you now search your heart and tell me this (p87), he had gone down on one knee and was treating her as if she was a princess. This, like in Act One served the same purpose as to distancing the audience from the opinions of the characters on stage (since the audience did not feel sexually attracted to Abigail). In addition to all of this, what struck me most was the fact that the expression on Mary Warrens face was blemished with genuine fear for what was going on; the audience on the other hand were not scared in the slightest. Hence this once again underlined the difference in opinions between the audience and the characters on stage, the audience being the ones in the knowing, thus emphasising the dramatic irony shown in Act One. The only problem however lay in the fact that Proctors outbreak of hysteria at the end of this scene was somewhat suppressed due to the state of mind the audience was in following the juvenile actions of the girls. The whole disturbing sense of I say god is dead (p96) was dissipated. Even though this scene did not do justice to my favourite character John Proctor in Arthur Millers actual text, overall I believe it still benefited him. The dramatic irony was a way of highlighting his choric role. Since the actions of the other characters on stage were ridiculed to such an extent and the audience was driven against them, the crowd has been driven to share the same opinions as he did, for he too was one who saw through all the mass hysteria and deception. Theyre pretending Mr Danforth Lies, lies (P92) Another aspect of the book that I believe this production highlighted brilliantly was the tragic effect that Arthur Miller intended to create. Every tragedy is the story of how the birds come home to roost. You do something, and then you try to undo it and it wont undo; it keeps pursuing you until it catches up with you. In other words, his intention was to create a sense of loss, an inescapable fall from a great height. I believe that Proctors catch-22 situation was highlighted very vividly. The scene with Elizabeth on page 109 made it very obvious to the idea that Proctor was going to lose whatever he chose to do. There was not any intimacy in the play up to this point and there was none at this point either. Both had stood in the corner of the stage and the body language of the two made it very obvious that they were distant. It made the audience feel very sympathetic towards what was happening to Proctor. He was not only in a no win situation, there was little support or advice from his loved ones. John, it come to naught that I should forgive you, if youll not forgive yourself. It is not my soul John, it is yours. (p109) The ripping of his own confession on page 115 was done in a very emotional fashion and it made the crowd feel traumatized by Proctors actions. After he ripped the piece of paper, his eyes had somewhat widened and he shot a very blank and psychotic stare at Danforth, it appeared almost as if he had been driven to insanity by the conspiracy against him. I can. And theres your first marvel, that I can. (p115) The facial expression that he asserted was as if he was saying You can take my life but youll never take my pride. His bloodied face was an emblem of all the pain he had already been through while fighting this huge battle against the corrupt court. As he lifted and kissed Elizabeth with great passion, it made the audience feel at a huge climax, because it was actually the first time the two had been intimately and physically together. But for me, Proctors triumph seemed somewhat short lived and in vain. He had saved his pride Because it is my name!; he had made a sacrifice for others I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang!; he had done the honourable thing I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor and his relationship with Elizabeth was healed. Yet still, Proctor was going to die and since the audience had formed such a favourable and positive opinion of him, we didnt want him to die. I think the point when he caught Rebecca as she was about to fall was done very effectively and it underlined Proctors good character and integrity. The final emphasis of the tragic effect was subtly expressed in Elizabeths final quote. He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him. Since this quote was so understated and underplayed as Elizabeth had been throughout the play, it killed the whole idea of triumph in what Proctor had done. As the play was about to end and Proctor was about to die, I didnt feel any positive or satisfying vibe. Instead I felt emotionally overcome with a tragic sensation that left me speechless and perhaps even upset by the death of the righteous man in the play. The only person who seemed to possess the iconoclastic figure and moral authority of the town was dead, the choric role was gone Overall, I think this an excellent production of Arthur Millers The Crucible. It effectively portrayed most of the characters as Arthur Miller had described them in the original book, and the message Arthur Miller had intended to send was ingeniously conveyed. Even though the play was only a mere two and a half hours, I was highly impressed with the amount of detail that was illustrated from the book. In particular, some of the key lines from various characters which had a significant effect on me were vividly presented by the excellent actors and actresses. The setting was very vivid, the costumes were simple yet highly creative, the characters in general were presented very uniquely and the didactic message Arthur Miller wished to depict was carried out clearly. Despite the fact that some areas of the play were underplayed as mentioned earlier, they were compensated by highlighting the significance of other areas. This is an excellent reproduction and unique interpretation of Arthur Millers original work and I absolutely loved it.