The Dramatic Effect in the Crucible

If asked to write about dramatic effect, you need to show that you understand how and why this impacts a live audience.

Dramatic effects are things which happen on the stage and grab the audience's attention. The things the audience could be looking at could include the lighting, music, staging, costumes etc. They are htings that stick in the audiences' mind once they have watched it. When talking about dramatic effects, you can also answer it from the point of view of the text infront of you- questions or events that stay in your mind.

The opening of the play:

• At the beginning of the play, there is a great sense of tension. The audience sees a child lying unconscious and her father praying and weeping at her side. He orders that his black Slave Tituba leaves the room, in a state of uncontrolled fury. The audience is immediately drawn into the drama of the situation, and is curious about what has happened.
• Tension is raised even further when there is talk of 'unnatural causes' towards Betty's illness. Parris orders Abby, his niece, to hide it from the…