Will Massey

Mr. Smith

A Block

17 March, 2023

Arthur Miller Utilization of Tone and Characterization in the play “The Crucible?

Within the play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, the character of Abigail Williams is

developed as a young naive girl defending herself from witchcraft accusations. Miller shows this

as he writes, “Abigail, innocently: A dress? Parris-it is very hard to say: Aye, a dress. And I

thought I saw someone naked running through the trees” (Miller 10). At the start of Act 1, Miller

shows how Abigail was getting accused by Parris. The night before, Abigail, Tituba, Betty, and

more were running in the woods naked. Abigail was lying about what Parris was accusing her of,

and she starts to get mad. As shown in the stage directions, at the start of the confrontation

Abigail was calm. Miller uses the word “Innocently” to describe how Abigail is calm in that

moment. Miller then moves on to show how Abigail becomes more impatient. Miller shows the

tone in Abigail's speech, as he writes, “Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba

conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. Let either of you breathe a

word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will

shudder you. And you know I can do it” (Miller 19). As Miller continues to develop the tone

associated with Abigail’s character, we can see how Abigail is bringing fear to others. She is

now threatening others if they talk about what they did in the forest. As shown in the text,

Abigail states all they have done in the forest. Miller now shows Abigail's character developing

further as her emotions are changing constantly. Most of the text when Abigail speaks is now

more negative and hostile. Miller then moves on to show further development in the tone. As
Miller shows the conflict that Abigail causes when he writes, “She made me do it! She made

Betty do it!”

Tituba, shocked and angry: Abby!

Abigail: She makes me drink blood!” (Miller 41). At the end of Act 1, Miller shows all of the

conflicts that Abigail is causing. Abigail blames Tituba for forcing her to drink blood. Miller

uses stage directions once again to convey the emotions in this quote. As Abigail is yelling at

Tituba, Tituba is shocked and angry because she doesn't know what is going on. Abigail lies

about Tituba forcing her to drink blood. Within the play, “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, Miller

uses tone and characterization to develop Abigail's character throughout Act 1. At the start of Act

one, we can see that Abigail is calmer, but towards the end, she becomes irritated. Miller mainly

uses stage directions to convey Abigail's emotions. At the start of Act 1, the emotions associated

with Abigail are calm, but through the rest of Act 1, Miller associates negative emotions with

Abigail.