Book Review of The Crucible Imagine an entire town turned against you for reasons you could not conceive. For a plethora of people who lived in Salem, Massachusetts in the realistic fiction tragedy The Crucible by Arthur Miller, this was an excruciating reality. Miller based all the characters off real people involved with the Salem Witch Trials, so searching through historical documents of the trials to use as inspiration was basically a requirement. The characters in the play needed to talk like they were from the same era as the trials. Also, quotes from genuine documents of the trial can be found in the dialogue of the play. The story begins with a group of girls “dancing” with a slave, named Tituba, in a forest. This “dance” is actually the girls’ ringleader, Abigail’s, attempt at witchcraft. While …show more content…
Extensive research was necessary to provide a dramatic, while also accurate, retelling of a historical event. Miller’s use of diction is evident with how he displays each character’s standing in society through their speech. Such as the servants frequently leaving out parts of speech, speaking with run-on sentences, use of slang, and omitting the “g” at the end of verbs. Since the story is a play, Miller acted as a narrator to provide extra context, humor, and explanation for what is happening in the play. After Miller departed as the Narrator at the end of Act One, the play’s tone took a pessimistic turn. During Mary’s testimony, she states, “I feel a misty coldness climbin’ up my back, and the skin on my skull begin to creep, and I feel a clamp around my neck and I cannot breathe air…” While Mary is literally talking about her experience with another town person, this sinister statement wouldn’t be found in the previous act one. The absence of the Narrator leaves room for Miller to clearly convey the consequence of the