At a time when emotions and fear run
high in a community, it is often the case that innocent bystanders fall victim
to accusations of crimes they have had no part of. The
Crucible, the film adaptation of Arthur Miller's classic play directed by
Nicholas Hytner, portrays a community that has run wild with accusations of
witchcraft. As Reverend Parris catches his
niece and other young puritan girls dancing in the woods, the community is
thrown into an uproar. The girls desperately deflect blame from themselves by
accusing others of witchcraft. Hytner's
portrayal of the Salem witch trials is quite successful and mostly faithful to
the source material, but makes interesting choices by showing aspects of the
story that only possible with cinematography.
This treatment has the effect of enhancing the feeling of panic, as well
as showing the futility of resisting the public hysteria. The film offers a condemnation of this mob
mentality through those, like John Proctor, who resist. Hytner's most interesting choice is the
depiction of Abigail. The film diverts
somewhat from the theme of hysteria to paint Abigail in the role of a villain,
placing a stronger focus on her individual motive to eliminate Elizabeth
Proctor. Through this depiction of mass
hysteria in Salem, Hytner highlights the ease in which contagious fear can be
unleashed and perpetuated within a community.
Although Miller's play is a classic
commentary on the Salem witch trials and the HUAC, Hytner's film brings the
fear and paranoia to new heights. Wide
shots of barns and townspeople garbed in rural attire offer a strong sense of
the community. By utilizing aerial
shots, the film shows large crowds of people during some of the most powerful
scenes. As the girls go to Betty's
bedside to try to wake her, she screams out the window and causes the
townspeople within the meeting house to pour out into the streets as a frenzied
mob to see the commotion. When Mary
Warren testifies against Abigail in the court, Abigail quickly defends herself
by claiming Mary is assaulting her supernaturally. The other girls join in her
defense and run outside with the entire crowd following in a chaotic scene as
they splash and shout all the way into the river. Visually, these scenes enhance the communal
sense of the film and show the sheer number of participants. These boisterous crowds serve to increase the
panic in a way that the text or the stage would have difficulty expressing.
Building upon the sense of
community, the film increases the intensity of this craze and lends a sense of
paranoia. The contagious nature of the
accusations is illustrated as the girls call out names after Tituba's
confession. The film depicts the entire
community's participation with Mary Sever's accusation because of a dispute over
a goat, a woman being accused of toppling over a load of logs, and an elderly
man is blamed for the simple flare up of a fire. These added scenes highlight the ease in
which someone may find themselves on trial.
Because the people of Salem adhere to and fear God the most, paranoia of
witches invades every facet of Salem life and makes the accusation believable
to residents. Believing they are doing
God's work, the crowd demonstrates its fervor as they cheer haughtily while the
accused are hanged at the gallows.
The motivation to make accusations
against one's neighbor can often be traced back to personal motives. Many cases of The Crucible are about personal gain or removing undesirables from the
community. Reverend Parris' motivation to
send for Hale stems from his own attempts to deflect suspicion from his own
house: "No-no. There be no unnatural cause here. Tell him I have sent for
Reverend Hale of Beverly, and Mr. Hale will surely confirm that" (9). He puts a focus on his own position that many
in Salem take issue with. Social
outcasts far below Parris are the first to be blamed and put to trial. Goody Osburn, in a scene added to the film,
begs for a penny and is turned away only to be later found guilty and hanged. Osburn's appearance stresses her station in
society by appearing as a dirty and homeless outcast. Tituba, the Barbadian slave, also becomes a
convenient target for blame from Abigail and the other girls.
The difficulties of dealing with
accusations extend to the rest of the community as Hytner shows how difficult
it is to resist the influence of such contagious accusations. The community is a theocracy, embodying
ideals reminiscent of the government sponsored McCarthy era witch hunts. The methods for finding guilt are simple:
denial of guilt means guilt. Hale's
inquisitive questioning of Proctor and his wife reflects this method, as Hale
finds and exploits tiny holes in their reasoning by using relentless
questioning to force them into a misstep.
Proctor's admission of adultery at the court catches his wife in a lie
as she attempts to protect his innocence.
Officials like Danforth reason that their methods are necessity:
"But witchcraft is ipso facto, on its face and by its nature, an
invisible crime, is it not? Therefore, who may possibly be witness to it? The
witch and the victim. None other. Now we cannot hope the witch will accuse
herself; granted? (93). The ridiculous
nature of these accusations of invisible attacks and sending of spirits prompts
Martha Corey to laugh heartily as she stands before the judge.
Characters like Martha Corey show
that while Miller's original play depicted only a few objectors, the film takes
greater care to depict strong characters who stand up for themselves. Martha Corey's defiance in the play is
minimal, but the film depicts her as a strong objector until the final
scene. Hytner also stresses the defiance
of Giles Corey by actually showing a scene only mentioned by the play: his
interrogation and death by being pressed with heavy stones. John Proctor's death is shown more positively
as he makes his decision not to confess.
The film and play express praise for him through Goody Proctor: "He
have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!" (134). The film
stresses praise of these characters as they say the Lord's Prayer at the
gallows before being hanged.
The base reason for all this
commotion centers around Abigail, the niece of Reverend Parris. The film’s only misstep comes in its
alteration of the motivation of the girls, specifically in Abigail’s
character. Hytner’s film stumbles not by
showing the beginning scene, but by altering it to highlight the girls’
motivations. Abigail's character is depicted as more ruthless and desperate
than the play's version. The film's intent to paint Abigail as a villain is
successful as she smears the blood of the rooster on her face, but the result
is a slight alteration of the theme.
Instead of focusing on the ways in which hysteria takes over, the film
opts for a Hollywood style villain with clear motivations dominating the trials. The point of Miller's play, however, was not
to demonize a teenage girl, but instead show how a group of people can be whipped
into a frenzy.
Abigail’s motives are made crystal clear: she
will get John Proctor back by any means necessary. Her resolve is strong, and her skills of
manipulation are demonstrated in both the text and film as Mary claims, “We
must tell the truth, Abby! You’ll only be whipped for dancin’, and the other
things!” (18). Abigail responds,
"Oh, we’ll be whipped!” (18), twisting the punishment to
include all of the girls. She is shown as the ringleader of the girls, taking
the lead in sending innocent people to trial.
Abigail knows she is in control when claiming, “I have seen some reddish
work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!"
(19). She utilizes these threats to
scare the other girls into submission.
The
film’s stronger focus on Abigail’s lust for John Proctor is shown through the
greater lengths she will go to get him. Although
her desire for John is certainly acknowledged in the play, Abigail’s film
counterpart meets with Proctor outside the meeting house and entreats him to
take her back: “John-I am waitin’ for you every night” (21). Adding emphasis, she
places his hand between her legs. This provocative gesture speaks volumes about
her intentions to get him back. Hytner's
biggest change for Abigail is the way in which she flees Salem, first visiting
Proctor and offering to pay the guard for his freedom. In Miller's play she
simply vanishes, but her visit with Proctor further solidifies her motive.
It is likely that Miller’s
contribution of the screenplay influenced Hytner’s adaptation of The Crucible by making the film extremely
faithful to the source material. Miller’s
inspiration came from the communist hunts of the McCarthy era, a scene often
repeated in American History. Even
though the film is focused on a straight-laced puritanical society ruled by a
theocracy, The Crucible is not a
critique of religion but instead a critique of action motivated by fear. While Abigail's deliberate control of the
events deviate from this main theme, it only slightly dulls the feeling of
hysteria. The town of Salem still becomes engulfed in fear. The film still
manages to emphasize the group dynamic of the Salem witch trials in a stronger
fashion, making the film a marked improvement over Miller's play in this regard
by showing the wider application and capability of fear to impact innocent
people in a negative way. This wider
application recalls other events like the forced internment of Japanese
Americans or the more contemporary backlash against the Muslim community after
the events of September 11. Hytner shows that when the stakes are high, fear of
harm from things like terrorism can cause public opinion to change dramatically. Much in the way that the fear of God
dominated the culture in Massachusetts, the fear of terrorism has invaded many
facets of contemporary American life. With
the advent of mass media, The Crucible is
as relevant as ever. Hytner's film affirms
that such an event can easily come to fruition, and links heavily even to
modern society, where an individual can
be found guilty through the media even before standing trial.
Works Cited
Hytner,
Nicholas, dir. The Crucible. Perf. Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder. Twentieth
Century Fox, 1996. DVD.
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York: Penguin, 2003. Print.
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