Abigail Williams And Mccarthyism In Arthur Miller's The Crucible

Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, is seen as a true piece of American Literature that presents itself at the core of McCarthyism in the bitter wake of Communists spies inside the United States. In many cases the main character of Abigail Williams is considered secondary to that of John Proctor. However, many years later, Miller writes a screenplay for the 1996 film adaptation starring Hollywood heavyweights like Winona Ryder; whose portrayal seems to allow the character of Abigail to have more room to expand. It is to my opinion that the author does this to present a more rapid and truthful motif that differs from that of the 1950 ‘witch hunt’ for communists. It is shown in the differing aspects of Abigail’s character from play to screen,

There are undeniable traits that films can hold that cannot plainly be seen within the text. Things like location setting where, in film, the viewer is able to have a wider picture of the environment, community, and a larger setting allows for more physical movement than say what would be possible on a stage. Also, film language can also be a big addition when understanding the good elements of film to theater. For example, where the camera is placed, picking up different angles—possible view points from multiple characters enables a more round story. While actors and costumes add other elements in both cases, the budgets for both projects are often vastly different. Language was also another element that Miller had to adjust from both projects. If you look in the text, the language used is far more relevant to that of the time period. The screenplay however, uses a similar form of this historical speech. Though, the text was written in the language patterns of the late 1700’s, when compared to the more modern Americanized version is lessened by Miller who states, “The Problem was not to imitate the archaic speech but to try to create a new echo of it which would flow freely off American actor’s tongues,” an important field to maintain when writing dialogue for