Act I: Reflections

This week each of you produced a series of five freeze-frames from Act I of The Crucible to create the sense of tension and rivalry within Salem and to clearly show the power/status relationships among the town citizens. You also worked in groups to recreate the scene where Abigail is persuading Tituba to conjure spirits and the scene in the forest which Rev. Parris witnesses.

(image via)

Your assignment is to answer ONE of the four questions below. It would be great if everyone didn't answer the same question!

1. What were you trying to show with your frames? What atmosphere were you trying to create? What did you reveal about the characters and setting? How did you do this? Why did you choose the quotations you did?
2. What did your improvisation on the dancing in the woods add to our understanding of the characters, atmosphere, and setting? Why do you think that Miller chose not to begin the play like this?
3. Which other groups succeeded in adding to your understanding and appreciation of the play through their work? How and why?
4. What is the value, do you think, of doing drama work like this when studying a play or a novel or poetry? How does it help you personally, if it does? Is there anything you’d like to do in its place?

Comments

[PurPly_PunK]

Dear Ms. K,

I kinda merged some of the journal questions togetherbecause it was written that way on the assignment paper. I hope that is ok...

Which other groups succeeded in adding to your understanding and appreciation of the play through their work? How and why? What is the value, do you think, of doing drama work like this when studying a play or a novel or poetry? How does it help you personally, if it does? What would you rather do in each place?

All the groups succeeding in adding to my understanding and appreciation of the play thought their work. The Crucible is a play which is meant to be seen and seeing the multiple happening things happening at once rather than in lines helped set the atmosphere of the play. The value of doing drama work like this when studying a play is vital to the understanding of the piece. Without acting it out the play seems so dead and boring because it is lines of dialogue after dialogue. When it is acted out, it doesn’t seem a play where one person says one line then the other person says another. In a play all the things happen together and seeing the person physically can paint a better picture in everyone’s mind, including mine. It was fun acting it out for other groups because it showed the other groups how we interpreted the play. Seeing the other group play was also fun because we saw how they interpreted it along with their creativity with the props. =)

I would not do anything different because this helped me a lot personally because I understood the play’s situation and conflicts better.

[ringmybella]

What is the value, do you think, of doing drama work like this when studying a play or a novel or poetry? How does it help you personally, if it does? Is there anything you’d like to do in its place?

-I think the value is that it gives us a chance to do sort of a role play. For example, we can really focus on the character and experience what kind of situation they are in, what kind of atmosphere (or setting) they are in, or how the other characters correspond to them. Even though we aren't always 100% serious, I felt like we were more focusedm and paid more attention to the play because it was just that much interesting, and entertaining. I personally felt like I really liked the idea of acting it out, because like I have mentioned above, I felt like I paid more attention to the plays, because, the WERE really funny and entertaining. So, I feel like we should keep going with this method of acting each scene out, because I feel like it really does help us. Also, I think it's because I'm such a big drama fan :P

[chAos D.]

What were you trying to show with your frames? What atmosphere were you trying to create? What did you reveal about the characters and setting? How did you do this? Why did you choose the quotations you did?

With my frames I was trying to show the background and the main events our news that are occouring in Salem. The atmosphere I tried to create was that witch craft is a new term used to accuse people that they have hated for a longtime, also this only happens with women. <- Men do not get accused so often, also anything out of the ordinary is also considered witchcraft. The setting I drew in my frames was that Salem is surrounded by an enchanted forest, and pretty much isolated and on its own. I chose the quotes because to reveal the character and to show his or her nature. Also the relations of this specific character.

[miniart168]

Which other groups succeeded in adding your understanding and appreciation of the play through their work? How and why?:

All the groups succeded in adding to my understanding and appreciation of the play but if I were to choose one then, it would be Angela's group. Angela's group gave me a clearer idea of the play through their work. One of the reasons is that everyone was really into their own character and I could have known the actual character's personalities and styles. Everyone was serious in acting that I really felt that I was in time of The Crucible. I thought that they were really successful at setting the atmosphere. I felt like I was looking at real characters and backgrounds. They brought out specific details such as the traditional clothes and the way they speak during that time. Such historical accuracies helped me to organize my understanding to the characters, cultural backgrounds and atmosphere.

[bakz]

What is the value, do you think, of doing drama work like this when studying a play or a novel or poetry? How does it help you personally, if it does? Is there anything you’d like to do in its place?

I think the value of doing drama work is that it helps me to understand the whole plot of the story and each character's trait more easily and faster.
Unfortunately I was absent on the day everybody performed enthusiastic plays but I'm sure it would have helped me personally in many ways if I was there. It would give me opportunity to act one's role out in front of people , and it helps understand the plot's situation or atmosphere at one time.
As I mentioned already, I personally like the drama works such as plays rather than just reading a novel.
For me just reading a novel would be boring and not appealing as the plays. It takes long time to classify its theme, situation, conflicts or atmosphere. But for plays we can classify those in a short time and we can enjoy it.
So in my opinion drama works would help me to understand the plot more efficiently than any others .

[Mud]

Which other groups succeeded in adding to your understanding and appreciation of the play through their work? How and why?

From my point of view everyone succeeded in making me understand the play through their work. Everyone deserved another around of applause. "Yea go solpohers!" But if I were to choose one of the groups which made understand and appreciation would be Ankit's group. The reasons are they had props which helped them in their play and one interesting preview scene before they started the calling the sister spirit. Other groups just started the scene in the forest with the Tibuta calling the sister spirits. Ankit's humor and he was in his character. To be honest if Ankit wasn't in the group I wouldn't have chose his group or any other groups.
Well there were two groups who did extra work; they are my group and Ankit's. Every group had reached onerequirement goal which was to make their play understandable. But Ankit's and my group were creative by having an extra goal which was bring out humor to make the audiences enjoy not get bored having to see all groups perform the plays in the same way.

Note: People Please understand that I'm not insulting members who are not in Ankit's and my group. I'm just saying that Ankit's group was quite best from my point of view. Overall everyone did a good job and I enjoyed watching all of your plays. Well done sophomores we showed Ms. Lehman what we got and what we are good at! Sophomores rules!

[StandAlone]

What is the value, do you think, of doing drama work like this when studying a play or a novel or poetry? How does it help you personally, if it does? Is there anything you’d like to do in its place?

Doing this work helps me understand the play, novel or poetry more because people’s subconscious mind learns from visual and physical works. Just reading the play, novel or poetry is not the ultimate way to understand the meaning or story it has. By acting out the scene we get a visual view of the character and the atmosphere. Without even having to understand the book we could just depict the full story from acting.
Another fact is that we get to know the characters by being them. We get to feel how the character feel and feel the situation the character has. It is easier to get to know the characters instead of just reading.
Next is that we get to practice social acting like in front of a huge spectators. We learn how to work together and interact with others. Acting needs organization and we become more organized from acting.
So I say acting out a play has considerable effects instead of reading the whole novel, play or poetry.

[Ball4Life]

What is the value, do you think, of doing drama work like this when studying a play or a novel or poetry? How does it help you personally, if it does? Is there anything you’d like to do in its place?

Doing drama work when studying a play or a novel helps us understand more about the characters, the atmosphere, and the plot of the play. With the whole drama thing, we get to feel and understand the atmosphere of the story and the characteristics of the characters better because the story's either happening right in front of you or you're playing a character in the story. We get to see more clearly on how the characters in the play or the novel really interact and talk with each other or how they react to situations. Again, The close up and live interaction with the story by doing all these drama work helps us understand the play or the novel better.

I think that some changes could be done to the way we performed the scenes to make these drama works even more effective in our learning of the play. We could be more serious and play our roles like we're really playing a part in the story. Plainly, what I'm saying is, we need to become better actors and turn into or become the characters that we're playing. This will really help us with our learning of the play.

[wh!te_lOvE13]

2. What did your improvisation on the dancing in the woods add to our understanding of the characters, atmosphere, and setting? Why do you think that Miller chose not to begin the play like this?

Since I had to take the actual role of the character and dance in the setting of the woods, I began to feel like that character herself and began to understand more about her. Taking the role of that certain character and acting with the other characters, I felt that I had become one of them. These feelings all contributed to the settings and props used in the act. The settings seemed to be all realistic with certain props and other characters dressed up like how the characters in the play would dress up. I also felt the atmosphere of the play itself and understood more. I learned how the atmosphere had an effect on the act and the characters. The atmosphere actually had a great influence on the character especially on the mind and the emotion. When I was actually dancing around in the woods, I began to feel like the character and suddenly I felt like I’ve penetrated her mind and body. I understood more about her from her point of view. And also I realized more about the play since we acted out the flow of events. So, it was basically like seeing the whole play clearly.
Miller chose not to begin the play with the wood scene maybe because he wants emphasize more on the events of witchcraft since the theme of the play is about witchcraft. He then eventually brought up about witchcraft in the play in the later scenes. If he started out with the woods scene, it would be rather abrupt.

[Slayer 19]

i'm very sorry everyone
coz i tried to fix some grammatical errors and ended up posting three things..
Including this, it would be four..
I'm especially sorry to the owner of this blog of what i did.. forgive me plz??
(0_o);;

[haha921]

What were you trying to show with your frames? What atmosphere were you trying to create? What did you reveal about the characters and setting? How did you do this? Why did you choose the quotations you did?

I was trying to show tension between the villagers in Salem and how they treated toward each other. Another fact I was trying to portray was that there was a class distinction among individuals in the society. For example, maids and servants would be very poor while the ministers and reverends would have good apparels.

The atmosphere was that they mistrusted each other and accusations existed. It was very tense and full of darkness (although I wasn’t able to express this in the frames). I was trying to express that the characters in the village trusted in God and they were very superstitious. The villagers believed witchcraft to be a deadly sin and out of fear, the girls were confessing and at the same time accusing other villagers that they have been with the Devil. Since this is only ACT I the setting is in the parlor where Parris lives.

I tried to find quotations that would reveal about the characters. For example, Abby was accusing Tituba that “She made me drink blood.” These kinds of quotes help us visualize the inner part of the characters.

[DieAloneXplosiv3]

What were you trying to show with your frames? What atmosphere were you trying to create? What did you reveal about the characters and setting? How did you do this? Why did you choose the quotations you did?

I am trying to show some information about the play and in the other hand I am also trying to show some main events that occur in the play. About the atmosphere, I have created with witchcrafts and accusations. In the play, The Crucible, there are more female characters and then males. Males seem to be out of everything like in they are good and until Act 1 none of them are accused of using witchcrafts. As for the female characters, most of them are accused of using witchcrafts. One more fact that I realize about this play is that the males have better traits than the females do. The settings that I have drew is the beginning of the scene where Betty is in the bed, then another scene where Betty’s father is kneeling beside Betty wishing that nothing will happen to Betty, the girls dancing in the forest, the priest comes and tries to drive the devil out of Betty, and the final scene is at the end of Act 1 where Betty is awaked and everyone starts to accuse each other for being with a devil. I did this by drawing frames to show some main events about the play. I chose the quotations that I did because those quotation were most suitable for the scene and those quotation helps explaining the scene to show the person, who is looking at it, about what is happening during that time.

[Go_Rush]

1.Which other groups succeeded in adding to your understanding and appreciation of the play through their work? How and why?

I think Ankit and Jeff’s group succeeded in adding to my understanding about the play because they really worked on the atmosphere of the forest as well as the setting. They also told us all the characters that they were in the play and they didn’t really laugh and they seemed real while they were acting in front of the audiences. The word that they were using and the tone of their voice made dark and gloomy atmosphere. While they were acting, I could hear what they were saying well and they also made me understand how the characters dressed in Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible. How they played their roles was accurate and I really liked the atmosphere that they made while they were dancing. Also, I could understand how the characters get to drink the chicken’s blood. Especially, when Ankit was telling the others to come back later to get chicken’s blood, even though I couldn’t really understand about that scene in the book, from their play, I could have understood better.

[conan]

2.What did your improvisation on the dancing in the woods add to our understanding of the characters, atmosphere, and setting? Why do you think that Miller chose not to begin the play like this?

The improvisation on the dancing in the woods tells us that the characters, the atmosphere and the setting. The character in the play is showing us that the character would do anything what they are told. They even drank the chicken blood because they were told to do so. The characters in the play also do whatever they can to help the people they love. The atmosphere in the book is actually really confusing and really weird because when Betty drank the chicken blood and thought she could fly that confuse the reader because can she really fly? We don’t know that for sure and the people who drank the chicken blood are they really like that or they are just acting like that. The setting of the play is that they are all in the quiet forest and they are doing witch craft. The author of The Crucible begins the play like this because he is going to tell us what really happen during the 1692. Since they are no doctor and they only have their religion next to the people they will try their best to pray and not try to use medicine. The beginning of the play shows the setting, the character and the atmosphere.

[Xkira]

#2. What did your improvisation on the dancing in the woods add to our understanding of the characters, atmosphere, and setting? Why do you think that Miller chose not to begin the play like this?

The improvisation on the dancing in the woods was an important factor that helped me to better understand the characters, atmosphere and setting. I got better understanding in the characters like Betty and Abigail who danced in the woods. Their belief, actions and personality were found, and helped to understand them better. The atmosphere of the community was also found in the dancing in the woods. The atmosphere among the people mostly formed because of the witchcraft. I was able to know that the witchcraft is the biggest issue in the community of Salem, and it is the cause of all the conflicts between people. The power struggling in the community also builds up the tension of witchcraft. It also encourages people to blame each other, claiming that they saw certain people with the devils. I don’t think the dancing in the woods scene contributed a lot to set up the setting. But I could figure out that when, where and why they were conjuring.
I think Arthur Miller chose not to begin the play with the dancing in the woods scene, because he wanted to tell the background of the story first. Explaining the setting, atmosphere and characters without this scene may also be necessary for the readers to understand. People can have better understanding of the background of the story by explanation of the intro rather than figuring it out by reading the script of the play.

[Godsmurf]

What is the value, do you think, of doing drama work like this when studying a play or a novel or poetry? How does it help you personally, if it does? Is there anything you’d like to do in its place?

I think the value of drama work in studying a play, is that u get to see what is happening other then the words. Plus plays are made to be acted out. With actions and scenes, I think we have a better understanding of the whole play. The same goes for novels and poetry. We can also see different groups interpretation and what they want to bring out in a play, novel or poetry. For me drama,gives me a deeper understanding of the play itself. It helps me to figure out certain scene that I am not sure the meaning of. No I wouldn't do anything else in the place of drama for a play. But for novels, maybe book talk would be good in plays of drama and expression in peotry. We can talk about the book and discribe different theme and ideas.

[x.zonix]

What did your improvisation on the dancing in the woods add to our understanding of the characters, atmosphere, and setting? Why do you think that Miller chose not to begin the play like this?

As a group, we had to create a short scene where Abigail and the other girls were trying to get Tituba to conjure spirits. This activity helped us greatly in understanding the play, including the emotions of the characters and the atmosphere. Since "The Crucible", was a play and not a novel, it was mainly dialogues so I didn't really get what was happening in some of the scenes. It was difficult to picture the atmosphere at that particular scene and the feelings of each character. However, by acting out the scene by ourselves, we felt that we were the characters ourselves and are part of the actual play. The use of props, like witch hats, chicken toy and dressing up, helped us in actually setting up the play.
Moreover, as a group, each of us contributed ideas and provided information of the play that the others didn't know. The variety of different scenes by different groups let each of us approach the play differently. Therefore, I feel that acting out certain scenes of the play is the best way of getting to understand a play.
I think that Miller didn't choose to begin the play with the dancing in the woods because it wasn't really necessary. In other words, the action of dancing of the woods by the girl is repeatedly mentioned again in the play. So, people would get tired of reading the same thing again and again.

[Bert]

What is the value, do you think, of doing drama work like this when studying a play or a novel or poetry? How does it help you personally, if it does? Is there anything you’d like to do in its place?

I believe that to do a drama when studying a play helps students understand what the situation is in the scene, how different characters have their own personality, and how to creat an atmosphere and tention between certain characters in a scene. i personally believe that acting out when studying aplay helps me because, when i read a play, i just basically look at the words. i dont take in what the characters are saying and what they mean.

[choxyspace]

What did your improvisation on the dancing in the woods add to our understanding of the characters, atmosphere, and setting? Why do you think that Miller chose not to begin the play like this?

Firstly I would like to apologize for not answering one of the questions yesterday.　I was extremely sick last night and today morning. I am suffering from pneumonia.
I played Tituba in the skit. Since Salem is a very religious village the people would obviously have a strong belief in the devil as they do in God. I understand that Tituba and the other young girls have always herd about black magic, spirits and ghosts. Such superstitions are obvious results of being strongly religious. So in the scene that we depicted Tituba and the girls thought they were conjuring spirits but in reality it must have been a mental state that causes such superstitions. So I tried to show through my improvisation that Tituba is crazy and the village is very superstitious. I also showed that what they were doing was meant to be secret. I didn't understand how Parris had been spying on the girls and still wasn’t too sure of what was happening. Either he is aware of everything or he doesn't know anything. So, if the author started off with such a scene the reader would have been confused of each person's role in society, knowledge and perspective of the situation.
In the scene we basically showed chaos and it involved more action than dialogue so this scene wouldn't have been fit for a play anyway. Arthur Miller wants to show how wrong the practices in this society are and how intense the situation is. People believe in witchcraft but at the same time enemies use it as a weapon to carry out their vengeance. In Act I Arthur Miller draws the reader's attention to the rivalries in the town and the basic role of everyone in the village. Later on I think he will elaborate on how important it is for John Proctor to rebel against the immense belief in witchcraft. Arthur Miller has already proven that he doesn't believe in witchcraft by specifying the causes of witchcraft in the first few pages of the book. Starting the play off with the forest scene would not serve to accomplish Arthur Miller's goals as specified above. The forest scene would make one think that witchcraft is practiced more in the village and blindly believed in more than detested. Abigail is behind the witchcraft and I think she must have had a hard time persuading Tituba. Abigail is a courageous and clever personality. She is also very secretive and lies a lot. Arthur Miller shows in the beginning of this play that Paris is very concerned about his job and suspects Abigail. So he stresses Paris's character and the conflict that he is in due to the witchcraft but the forest scene would have stressed Abigail's courageous character and the partial freedom in the village which I think Arthur Miller wouldn't have wanted.
I think the forest scene was meant to add a darkness and intensity to the atmosphere and the mood of the play. The beginning scene of the play was also intense and involved a lot of silence and it showed how strict this society is but the forest scene would have shown the opposite: freedom to carry out witchcraft.
Due to these reasons I think Arthur Miller chose not to start the play off with the forest scene.

[Watersfish]

#2. What did your improvisation on the dancing in the woods add to our understanding of the characters, atmosphere, and setting? Why do you think that Miller chose not to begin the play like this?

Can acting out a scene help to create a better understanding of the play? Well yes and no. Yes because in some cases like in act 1 of The Crucible by Arthur Miller, some scenes are not fully described but the reader picks it up through snatches of conversations and little facts here and there like the scene in the forest. Other wise most well written stories and plays usually play out like a movie in your head when you read it and acting it out only harms the perfect scene and set you have in your mind. But when the scene is not present acting out really makes you put together little details to create an atmosphere and scene for e.g. acting out the scene with Tituba and the girls performing black magic in the forest can really be brought out by acting because that scene is not included in The Crucible but is described in the dialogues of the witnesses. So acting out a play is a helpful supplementary to reading it but it is not always necessary when you are reading it your self but to bring out the play to other people like an audience it is better to act it out. I think Arthur Miller didn’t start the play off like this to add some depth to the story.