Setting Often Provides Clues as the Context of the Play. How Effective Are the Descriptions of the Settings in the Crucible in Presenting the Salem Community?

...

of their house. Instead of having a house in town, John Proctor owns a house close to the fields. Inside the house there is a “low, dark and rather long living room of the time”. Rather than describing people praying in the scene in Proctors home, the audience see him smelling and tasting the food, Elizabeth had made for him. Proctor and Elizabeth are doing normal things, which are contrasting to the scene before in Parris’ home, where people were frantically praying.

Another reason as to why setting often provides clues as the context of the play, would be during the scene in which the girls are dancing in the forest, practicing witchcraft. Miller describes the forest as the last bastion of evil according to Puritan understanding, so the forest where Abigail and the girls danced was seen as ruled by the Devil, while the town of Salem was ruled by God. The entire play is about the moral contradictions inherent in Salem at this time, and how its strict religious theology became twisted and led to the deaths of innocent people. Thus, through Millers’ description of the forest being dark and evil, the audience establishes a contrast to the village, and sees the village as a holy place. By establishing this, the audience receives clues about the context of the play, as well as the community. It is clear that the Salem community is theocratically influenced and therefore, the descriptions of the settings is effective in allowing the audience to create an image of the people, their behavior and their attitude.

Setting in the Crucible provides clues to the audience about the context of the play. Not only the way characters behave in each setting, but also the way each is described, give the audience a clear glimpse into what the Salem Community was like, thus linking to the context, as knowing about the typical behavior and attitude of the community, allows the audience to establish decisions that will be taken and thus allow the audience to foreshadow what will happen during the witch trials.