The influence of one character can make
all the difference in the world.
In the play The Crucible, Abigail
Williams influenced the preceding through out the play in the court
room and out. The book and the play both portrayed these incidents
where Abigail would scream, accusing others of being witches and
controlling her. She would fake terror, pinning the blame on other
women and men so that they would be sentenced to jail and hanging
avoiding being accused herself. One instance where Abigail influenced
the court was when Mary Warren was trying to tell the judge that
Abigail was faking being controlled by witches. As Mary was talking
to the judge and jury trying to convince them of Abigail's acting,
Abigail claimed that Mary was in the form of a bird sitting in the
rafters controlling her and trying to hurt her. In the play we
witnessed Abigail running around on the stage screaming and running
from an imaginary bird. All the screaming and running around was so
convincing that the Judge and other witnesses thought Abigail really
believed she was being chased.
I believe that the display of terror and havoc on stage made me, as part of the audience, truly feel as if there were witches on stage controlling the actors and actresses making them run in fear from the “devil”. Hearing the screams of terror rather than imagining them as I was reading was extremely effective in drawing me into the play. Seeing the play was a great way for me to reinforce what I read and picture the characters and settings that were hard to picture just with the descriptions from the readings.
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