The Crucible and The Adding Machine Court Scenes in Two American Dramas of the 20 th Century

Transcription

1 Martin Mathes Elisabethstraße Essen Matrikelnummer The Crucible and The Adding Machine Court Scenes in Two American Dramas of the 20 th Century Seminar: American Drama of the 20 th Century Dozent: Dr. Nate

2 Martin Mathes Court Scenes in Two American Dramas INTRODUCTION... 3 The Adding Machine... 3 Elmer Rice... 3 The Crucible... 4 Arthur Miller... 4 COURT SCENES... 5 FUNCTIONS OF COURT SCENES... 8 Technical Purposes... 8 The Switching of Position... 9 The additional possibilities of a court scene... 9 The position of the protagonist... 9 The position of the antagonist... 9 THE LEGAL SYSTEM OF ANGLO-AMERICA THE PLACEMENT OF THE COURT SCENE IN THE ADDING MACHINE13 THE JUDGE IN "THE ADDING MACHINE" THE ACCUSED IN THE ADDING MACHINE THE AUDIENCE IN THE ADDING MACHINE The "real" audience A POSSIBLE INTERPRETATION THE PLACEMENT OF THE COURT SCENE IN THE CRUCIBLE THE PLACE OF THE COURT SCENE THE JUDGES IN THE CRUCIBLE Judge Danforth Judge Hathorn THE ACCUSED IN THE CRUCIBLE John Proctor THE AUDIENCE IN THE CRUCIBLE A POSSIBLE INTERPRETATION CONCLUSION THE PLAYS SOURCES

3 INTRODUCTION This paper attempts to examine the court scenes and their role in two American dramas of the 20 th century. Court scenes are often used as central pieces of dramas and whole dramas are even constructed around them. The two dramas that are examined in this paper are part of very different cultural periods of the 20 th century. Whereas Elmer Rice's drama is an example of the Roaring Twenties' surrealistic movement, Arthur Miller's drama from the time of the cold war is a realistic adaptation of authentic history. The Adding Machine This is a surrealistic drama by Elmer Rice. The figures are mere types and show only the most rudimentary traits. The setting of the drama is a strange society and world, unknown and unfamiliar to us. It may be a future: an unwanted and undesirable future, without a "normal" society. The protagonist - "hero" or "main character" would definitely provoke the wrong associations - Mr Zero is an account clerk in an office. He kills his boss in a temper and is brought before the court. This court scene is used as a vehicle for showing the audience the background of the society and culture in which the drama takes place. Elmer Rice A playwright with a Jewish background. Rice was also deeply rooted in the US American liberal traditions and WASP's view of the world. His grandfather emigrated from Germany in Rice attended a Reform Sunday school but later in his life he was neither active in the Christian nor Jewish religion. His biographers state that although he had ties with the socialist movement, he dreamed of a Utopian Americanism 1. He was a lawyer before he decided to concentrate on his career as a writer. Several of his dramas - including his debut drama "On Trial" from take place as 1 Belasco, D. Two from the Attic

4 least partly at court. As one of the leading authors of the twenties and thirties he was also one of the initiators of the Federal Theatre Project. 2 The Crucible This realistic drama was written by Arthur Miller in the early 1950s and is based on the real events of the Salem Witch Trials in The figures are modelled after the persons of the time. Some are slightly modified and some are condensed, artificial figures created after real persons. The puritans of Salem are driven into a witch hunt frenzy by the forbidden activities of some youngsters. Their performance of pagan rituals triggers off a deadly competition in religious orthodoxy and purity of belief. Arthur Miller As Arthur Miller is a well known artist, there is no need to give much information about his life here. For the purpose of this paper it is interesting to point out his political activities. Whereas Rice was one of the initiators of the Federal Theatre Project, Miller joined the Federal Theatre Project near its end in During the McCarthy era, Miller was one of the front men of the intellectuals against the HUAC (House of Un-American Activities Committee). 2 Belasco, D. Two from the Attic

5 COURT SCENES Judge, jury, public prosecutor, advocate, accused, accuser, witness, and crowd, locked in an - often mortal - combat to find the truth or come to a decision. A vast number of dramas and novels use these combats as a turning point in a protagonist's life. A number of plays and novels do not contain more than the depiction of a court procedure. Few other situations give that many opportunities to show the characteristics, traits and motivations of a protagonist, an antagonist and the crowd. Some of these dramas are only slightly modified - often shortened and condensed - depictions of real trials. The writers use these processes as models for a drama because they want to stress that the depicted events are important moments in the history of the world, mankind, the civilisation, society, or a specific state. Some other scenes of processes are merely products of the fantasy of the author, written to illustrate the human character, his motives, his vanity or his nobility. A playwright with contact to Christianity 3,4 will surely be familiar with two biblical court scenes that are closely connected. The first is the decision on the fate of Jesus. Pilate, who hesitates to sentence Jesus to death, as he sees no fault in his doings, finally decides on political instead of juridical motives. The second is the answer to this human judgement. It is the divine judgement described in the Revelation, where Jesus is the Judge who decides whether one will exist in a state of eternal happiness or will be condemned to eternal suffering. This decision is made based on the doings of an individual and is depicted as just and yet merciful. Most dramas which include a court scene focus on one of two crimes, either a case of murder or - more subtly - the crime of nonconformity, be it 3 Although Rice and Miller are Jewish, both have grown up in a Christian surrounding and have no strong ties to Jewish religious ideas. 4 The Old Testament has a large section of ritual and mundane laws but only one real court scene, the decision of King Solomon.

6 the performance of the so called dark arts, pagan rites, heresy, or treason. Some other historical processes that have been shaped into dramas or novels are those of Jeanne d'arc and Galileo. Real cases of murder and serious crimes are usually only dramatized, when the case is of such absurdity or cruelty or for any other reason of public interest, that it has a chance of success - be it economic or artistic. The everyday murder of a drive-by-shooting, the family homicide in a non descript suburb may occur in a novel or drama. In such cases however, the action of murder or the development towards the crime is dramatised, not the court scene itself. Dramas dealing with homicide are more often constructed and purely fictional. Depending on his intention, the author, producer, or director has the possibility of arranging the case in a way that a maximum of tension is created. Not necessarily only tension in the sense of "Who murdered Dr Black?" 5 but often to confront the audience with a moral dilemma. Akiro Kurosava's film "Rashomon" 6 may be regarded as a prominent example of the second genre. The film describes a crime of rape and murder from different points of perception. The audience 7 is confronted with the task of finding out the truth, or deciding whether there is any truth at all, while each of the involved persons - the victim (as a ghost), the woman, the criminal and the witness - presents his or her individual story. Each of the respective scenes forces the audience to switch the viewpoint and each viewpoint presents another perception of the event. None of these match the 5 The task in the Cluedo game. 6 Screenplay by Akiro Kurosawa and Shinobu Hashimoto based on the stories "Rashomon" and "In a Grove" by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. 7 Similar to the court scene in The Adding Machine, no real judge is shown, the trial is shown as seen from the judges position.

7 others. As a consequence, the audience cannot ignore any of the positions. This is a seldom-used form of total segregation of the different positions. In a conventional drama - stage or movie - all positions are presented in one scene, simultaneously and overlapping. A playwright usually has the problem of giving the audience a chance to identify with every person and position while, at the same time, getting his meaning across. It should not be overlooked that a courtroom trial itself bears a strong resemblance to a conventional drama. There is, for instance, a stage of actors, each with a known position and function. There are even texts learned by heart from each side. And there is the audience seated at the back of the courtroom watching as the drama of reality unfolds before them 8. A court is a place where a society performs a test of its own. The tested are the accused, and at the same time the society, whether the laws are just and the values are agreed by the majority. The decision as to whether an action should be considered right or wrong, criminal or legal, is made not only by the judgement - be it by a professional judge or a jury, the written and unwritten laws - but also by the people attending the court. 8 Courtroom serials real, with real cases or with made up cases are highly favored by TV viewers.

8 FUNCTIONS OF COURT SCENES Technical Purposes Court scenes may be used in many ways. One is the providing of information that would be hard or even impossible to depict on stage and, as they are presented in a court, this information seem to be more reliable than a mere narration or mention. The general experience of the audience is used to achieve this. In several famous dramas and even films 9 the crime in question is never shown. The fact that the trial takes places is taken as proof that the event in question really took place. In addition, the classic idea to give a drama a specific time scheme can often be better realised through a dramatised court scene than a multi-placed plot. A court scene can condense all the facets of an epic story into a small room. Multiple stages can be virtually created through the evidences of the witnesses. Multiple interactions of the protagonist and the other figures can be presented through the parenthetical appearance of figures and their actions in evidences. Die irreversible Linearität des Textablaufs im plurimedialen dramatischen Text, die sich aus der kollektiven Rezeption ergibt, macht die Transparenz der Informationsvergabe zu einem wichtigen dramaturgischen Problem. Pfister, M., Das Drama, p Films, in general, offer more possibilities to show the crime that is the subject of the trial.

9 The Switching of Position A conventional drama requires or forces the audience to identify with one of the figures. The identification is fixed throughout the scene and any deviation of the focus is considered a side story or a subordinated event. So any attempt to show a figure's motives from another figure's point of view is futile, as the audience, once set to concentrate on one character, may consider this a diversion. A "normal" scene in a drama invites and expects the audience to follow the main character. The audience expects to see this character's fate evolving through the respective scenes of the drama. As they identify with this one figure, the audience is unable to question or evaluate the motivations and ethics of the figure, as they are only given the artificial form of a character and are not able to see his inner motives. The additional possibilities of a court scene Switching between the position of the protagonist or main figure, the antagonist, and the - sometimes implied - audience of the trial and the real audience gives the opportunity to view the motives and ethics of the main character from another point of view. In addition, the real audience can be made a part of the drama by fulfilling the role of the - implied - trial audience of the court. The position of the protagonist The main figure gets the chance to state his inner motivations, to justify his doings and confess his doubts. All these inner activities may be important for the plot of the drama, as certain actions may seem totally uncharacteristic if the motivations are not given. The position of the antagonist Often an author is confronted with the problem of creating a convincing antagonist. The antagonist has to be a "character" and must have enough parts in the drama to become more than a flat type. An antagonist must be nearly as charismatic or enigmatic as the protagonist. A court scene is the

10 ideal vehicle for this purpose. The formalisms of a trial, a play within the play, a stage on stage, all give more than enough room for a convincing antagonist. The protagonist can be on stage, even as the direct opposite of the antagonist and yet has to follow the restrictions of the trial. The audience is forced to switch viewpoints in a court scene, as the identification with the antagonist is broken. Facts from the protagonist's life and behaviour can be given as truth or at least as possible truth that may stand in contrast to the character created so far in the mind of the audience. Often the protagonist is the accused and every figure on stage is either a supporter of the accuser or a defender of the protagonist. Every layer of the figure's character can be examined from an outside point of view. So there are more possibilities to create characters that resemble real persons. The thoughts of a character, often difficult to display on stage, can be given easily in a courtroom scene. A long monologue to describe motives can be transformed into the dialogue of an cross examination.

11 THE LEGAL SYSTEM OF ANGLO-AMERICA The legal system of the United States of America is strongly influenced by the English roots of the colonies. As a result, a case is judged with respect to previous decisions made in similar cases. The laws, given by a parliament or other legislative bodies, are considered guidelines 10. Of additional importance, is the history of the colonies that finally became the United States of America. [The colonies were] of different political constructions under the English throne. Some were royal provinces ruled directly by a royal governor appointed by the king. Others were proprietary provinces with political control vested by royal grant in a proprietor or a group of proprietors. Still others were corporate colonies under royal charters which generally gave them more freedom from crown than either of the other forms. Farnsworth, A., An Introduction to the Legal System of the United States, p 1 So the political power that created laws and installed judges and the underlying juridical knowledge varied. During the forming process of the United States of America the independent and local based jurisdiction was more highly favoured than the "royal" law and justice system. So even today local laws are strongly relied upon. The problem of a low population density and great distances between the towns in the British colonies and not enough men with a juristical training 11 leads to a jurisdiction in which elected - or in some other way chosen - 10 Blumenwitz, D., Einführung in das anglo-amerikanische Recht 11 A lot of the first British settlers of the colonies had juristic experience in the form of having been given the choice to hang or be shipped to the colonies.

12 judges decide. Therefore the judges in the colonies adhered to their own personal interpretation of the laws. Travelling judges were also common and their judgement was relied upon. A technical system [of laws] can, of course, be administered only with the aid of trained lawyers. And these were generally not found in the colonies during the 17 th century, and even far down into the 18 th we shall find that the legal administration was in the hand of laymen in many of the provinces. Reinsch, P. S. English Common Law in the Early American Colonies. p. 7 Another special feature of the Anglo-American justice system is its heavy reliance on jury decision. As a result, common sense is more greatly relied upon than written laws and rules. The common man - or woman - is the finder of the truth. The judge fulfils rather the function of a moderator between attorney, lawyer, the accused, the witnesses, and the jury.

13 THE PLACEMENT OF THE COURT SCENE IN THE ADDING MACHINE The drama begins with a monologue by Mrs Zero, describing the sad and unpromising life of the Zeros. Mr Zero's workplace - an office filled with account books, paper, pencils and numbers everywhere - and his work adding numbers - are presented in Scene Two. It is at the end of this scene that Mr Zero is fired and the murder of his boss is insinuated. This crime is the case that is brought before court in Scene Four. But before the court scene, scene Three depicts the homely idyll of the Zeros, who have a dinner with their friends Mr and Mrs One to Six. In this scene some background information on the society of this Distopia is given. Scene Five shows Mr Zero in his death cell and his execution. Scene Six is an interludium in the void, where Mr Zero makes the acquaintance of the social dropout Shrdlu, who has murdered his mother, and Scene Seven is a happy reunion with his work-mate Daisy in the void. The end, given in Scene Eight, is the damnation of Zero; he is damned to re-live his fate.

14 The Judge in "The Adding Machine" There is no judge present on stage in this drama. There are two wardens who escort and guard Mr Zero, but none of the well known figures of a court shows up. So one might see the jury as representatives of the society and consequently, judge of this crime. In addition, one might see the real audience forced into the position of the judge, as they have to evaluate the cause and correlate the events on stage with their own moral and ethics. How do they react to un-social behaviour? What is un-social behaviour? What do they see as a suitable verdict? In an American court, the decision of the case is often handed to the jury. In most cases the judge functions as a sort of anchorman or supervisor of formalities rather than one who decides in the case. So a judge may be unnecessary in a society as uniform and formal as the one presented in this drama. The jury that consists of his co-citizens one might hesitate to call them friends - does function in the very way in which they have been presented so far; they are perfect citizens of the uniform society. They proclaim the guilt of Mr Zero unison, no wonder, as he himself has confessed his crime. So, Mr Zero functions as his own judge, as he knows beforehand that he is guilty and that, as a nearly perfect member of the formal society, he cannot, must not, and does not question the society's code of conduct.

15 The Accused in The Adding Machine Nearly the whole Fourth Scene is a monologue of Mr Zero. He is shown as a desolate individual. His co-citizens, Mr and Mrs One to Six, form the jury and represent the society ruled by numerical and social precision 12. During the trial he addresses the jury, summarises the events of the trial and tries to justify his deed. So the audience is given all the events and information of the trial in a relatively short scene 13. Zero states that he is aware of the offence he has committed but that it was not his fault alone and that he was driven into the deed by the behaviour of his boss and by his rage, after being fired. In his speech he refers to the - not shown - attorneys and their behaviour, but the few facts that he gives only refer to their incomprehensible argumentation. As far as Mr Zero is concerned they are of no use to him. Them lawyers! They give me a good stiff pain, that's what they give me. Half the time I don't know what the hell they are talking about. Rice, E. The Adding Machine, p. 21 His behaviour and his line of argument make clear that he is aware of the decision of the jury beforehand. He even seems to know the punishment he has to expect. He says that he was once member of a jury himself. He even used the harsh justice system himself to get rid of an annoying neighbour. Who had the habit of walking around in her flat - in plain view of the Zeros - in her underwear. As Mrs Zero accused her husband of watching her, he used the swift and plain justice system. He denounced her to the police, she was arrested - for un-social behaviour - and so the peace of the home was re-established. 12 The Red Khmer regime in Cambodia and the Communist regime in the Peoples Republic of China - in the Culture Revolution phase - may resemble to this Distopia 13 See M. Pfister, Das Drama, p. 67ff

16 His address to the jury reveals a lot about the suppressed emotions of a society based entirely on numbers and in which all kinds of relations and social behaviour are ruled and measured by pure logic. Emotions are only part of leisure time activities and are regarded as a tolerable deviation as long as they do not interfere with real life. In Scene One Mrs Zero talks about the movies that the citizens watch; anything of shallow burlesque and comedy, one might imagine. In contrast, the display of real life emotions is considered nearly criminal in itself and therefore Mr Zero's claim of being driven to the murder by his temper will in no way lessen his guilt. The Audience in The Adding Machine The "real" audience As there is no audience present on stage, the drama's audience automatically has to fill this vacant position. As audience, the spectators become part of the drama and are expected to behave like a real-life court audience. They are required to make up their own mind concerning the case and decide whether or not the trial is just. In this drama, the audience fulfils other functions as well. On stage there are only the protagonist, Mr Zero and the jury. All other positions are omitted and are therefore to be filled by the audience.

17 A Possible Interpretation The court scene functions as a vehicle for some background information on the civilisation in which the drama is set. The values of society are given. It is a society of absolute control. Personal identity is reduced to a number that seems to be both: name and indicator of social position. Similar to the anonymous society without individuality, this court scene depicts an anonymous court; the numbered jury even strengthens this impression, cast upon a single individual. The play ends with the damnation of Mr Zero to eternal suffering - to relive his fate again and again - and the audience has to bear and judge this decision as well. Is it just to condemn a man to such a cruel fate? Is it fair to set Mr Zero back in the same track, even though one knows, he will end as a murder again? The court scene is a clear adaptation of the Judgement in the Revelation, in which the Almighty decides on each individual s fate. The drama ends in dramatic irony as Mr Zero is reset to fulfil his fate again; the audience knows his future to come whereas the figure does not. So the audience is given a glimpse of the ultimate knowledge - no one can evade his fate and nothing can make one see his fate until the moment of catastrophe. The court is beyond any lie, so Mr Zero has no other possibility than to tell the truth. This again resembles the Revelation, where Christ is seated as Judge over all deeds and knows the secret sins that each one has committed. As God is all knowing, one cannot expect to conceal any sin or deed from Him.

18 THE PLACEMENT OF THE COURT SCENE IN THE CRUCIBLE This scene is the centrepiece of the drama. In this classically constructed play, it represents the turning point of the protagonists fates. With all figures are set in their path, the audience knows that the protagonists will meet their tragic fate in the end but will nevertheless triumph over the antagonists, at least in a moral victory. Act One is the framing of the tragedy in which the atmosphere of the Salem colony is set. Puritanism and bigotry rule the community. The innocent pleasure of dancing is so revolting that one of dancers involved faints with fear and falls into a sort of catatonic state. The girls' dance in the woods is presented as their way of rebellion against the straitjacket of religious orthodoxy. The citizens of Salem are presented and developed, and background information is given on them 14, 15 - information which makes up more than half of the actual text. Unsettled grievances and annoyances are nourished by the citizens search for a crystallising point and finding it in the pagan ritual. Proctor is shown and described as a stubborn but somehow just man, searching for the eternal truth, but not accepting a truth, which does not fit his beliefs. The girls are depicted as being mostly innocent but also of a certain mischievous nature. Their "rituals" are innocent by today's moral standards - but they definitely act against the moral and ethic code of their own society. Their intention is to evade the constraints of their strict society. 14 It seems unlikely that the drama can be understood without having access to at least some of this information. Miller seems to assume that this is common knowledge in the USA. Therefore any performance of the drama abroad will have the problem of providing this information without boring the audience. 15 See Pfister, M., Das Drama, p. 70ff

19 So they commit a crime even worse than a sin: nothing is more damnable in any orthodox (theocratic, communist, or even democratic 16 ) society than sins that undermine the moral basis of the orthodoxy. The Place of the Court Scene The court scene actually takes place in an antechamber of the courtroom. All characters are appearing here, either from within the court or from the outside. This is an adaptation of the trial against Jesus. Pilate then went out unto them, and said, "What accusation bring ye against this man?" The Bible, St John, Chapter 18, 29 The actual courtroom is not shown; the crowd gathered there is not seen and can only be hinted at by the real audience. The Judges in The Crucible In The Crucible, the author has set two judges against the accused. They are of different temperament and have a very different interpretation of the law, or rather they disagree on which law should in fact be used to judge the case: the law of men, the law of common sense, or the law of God. The ideas of the Massachusetts colonists on the matter of law appear very clearly from a resolve of the general court of the year The government is there entreated to make a draft of laws "agreeable to the word of God" to be the fundamental laws of the commonwealth. Reinsch, P. S. English Common Law in the Early American Colonies. p B.C. Socrates was sentenced to death by the democrats of Athens in 339

20 In his note on the historical accuracy of this play, Miller writes that he has reduced the numerous judges concerned with the case to these two, Danforth and Hathorne, as symbolic figures. 17 Judge Danforth Danforth is aware of the grievance of the trial. He is neither a soft nor an all too "understanding" judge. He himself says that he is used to set hard judgments. Danforth: And do you know that near to four hundred are in the jails from Marblehead to Lynn, and upon my signature? Francis: I. Danforth: And seventy-two condemned to hang by that signature? Miller, A. The Crucible, Act 3 He is in search of the absolute truth. He wants to be certain that he knows the truth and has made his decision in accordance with this truth, supported by evidence and witnesses reports. Again this is an adaptation from the Bible. Danforth may be identified with Pilate, who tries to find out whether Jesus is guilty or not and he sees himself as the person responsible for making an appropriate decision. Sentencing him to the appropriate punishment or for setting him free. Then Pilate entered into the judgement hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? The Bible, St John, chapter 18, 33 Judge Hathorn Judge Hathorn represents a true bigot. Nothing and no one is without sin before his judgment. He is totally absorbed by the idea that he is the tool of 17 Miller, A. Arthur Miller's Collected Plays, p. 224

21 heavenly justice. Damnation without mercy instead of fair judgment seems to be his intention. There is no place for doubts in his heart. He has to cut out the root of sin to fulfill his holy mission. Like all fanatics, he has no mercy and is not willing to reflect on his deeds. Such hesitation would only delay the sinner's "rightful punishment". The Accused in the Crucible The trigger of the village going on a witch hunt are some young girls dancing in the woods. The person accused of having initiated this is the slave Tituba. She is the one who taught or rather showed them some minor rituals from her Caribbean origin. The girls are surprised by Reverend Parris. His daughter, who is among the girls, is so frightened that she falls in a catatonic state. Despite his efforts to calm down villagers, Parris cannot stop the rumors of dark rituals and performance of witchcraft. From that beginning, a devilish merry-go-round of accusations and suspicions evolves. Old dudgeons and grudges and an overwhelming longing for redemption through confession leads everyone to accuse his fellow-citizens. As one is released, or at least not executed, after "naming names", there is a constant flow of accused persons who march in and out of the courtroom. John Proctor Proctor is a leading character on the side of the accused in this drama. He is not one of the first to be accused but he is drawn into the vicious circle by his good intention. He enters the scene as a defender of his wife. He has forced Mary Warren to confess that the "possessing by spirits" and "bewitching" was a fraud, initiated by her and the other girls without any real reason At the time of the Salem Witch Hunt, it was common knowledge and undoubted fact that magic existed and was directly connected to worship of the devil.

22 Proctor: She never saw no spirits, sir. Miller, A. The Crucible, p. 288 He slowly changes into one of the main accused, not only for witchcraft, but also for undermining the court and the whole society. He becomes part of the small group that refuses to "name names" and therefore is regarded as not willing to help purge the society. Danforth: There lurks nowhere in your heart, nor hidden in your spirit, any desire to undermine this court? Miller, A. The Crucible, p. 290 Then he is accused, under the heavy hand of the law, of the worst crime orthodoxy can imagine: nonconformity. His crimes start with "non regular attendance to church" and "Plowing on Sunday" 19 but become more severe at the end: he has committed a major crime adultery; he had an affair with Abigail. His fate becomes even more tragic as he tries to use his adulterous practice as evidence of earnestness of the love that he and his wife have for each other. 20 The Audience in the Crucible In his article "Journey to The Crucible" Miller writes about his investigation into the town records of the trials. And then... dialogue! Prosecutor Hathorne is examining Rebecca Nurse. The court is full of people weeping for the young girls who sit before them strangling because Rebecca's spirit is out tormenting them. Miller, A. Journey to The Crucible, p. 27ff see The Bible, St. Matthew, chapter 12 Miller, A. The Crucible, p. 304 ff

23 Thus Miller had documents describing the scene in some detail. He had the actual protocol of the trial. He knew what the reaction of the audience was; he had "access" to the real audience. As in "The Adding Machine" there is no real audience present, but it is hinted at in several stage directions. Through the partitioning wall at the right we hear a prosecutor's voice, Judge Hathorne's, asking a question; then a woman's voice Martha Corey's, replying. 21 [...] Voices of townspeople rise in excitement. [...] A roaring goes up from the people. Miller, A. The Crucible, p. 285 ff The theatre audience sees a scene behind the scene of the well known trial. The audience is provided with information that the real audience did not have. So one might say, the audience gets a glimpse of the case behind the case. 21 records The following dialog might be a direct adaptation from the court

24 A Possible Interpretation Miller writes in his article "Brewed in The Crucible", that he wrote and composed The Crucible with the intention of reaching a new level in the dramatisation of life. He states that a single character can no longer be used in a play to visualise the complexity of the modern man 22. So he uses this historical event, documented in some town records, a genuine part of the Anglo-American Myth and Mythology 23, as a vehicle to bring this new formal format to life. He uses several protagonists and several antagonists. As the play ensues, the focus moves away from Parris, struggling for the sake of his daughter and the investigation into dark rituals, to the question as to whether the preservation of the society's laws and morals should be regarded more highly than the life of Proctor, who refuses to subject to these laws and morals. There is a multiplicity of characters to identify with and to evaluate. Whereas the classic drama sets the actions of the hero on stage and all others are surrounding figures, The Crucible gives at least two separate characters, Procter and Hathorne, their own motivations and development throughout the drama. As real tragic figures, both are well aware of their fate and the impossibility of avoiding the final catastrophe. Moreover, both see their tragic fate as victory. The audience has to decide who is right. 22 Miller, A. Journey to The Crucible, 23 Some novels by W. Holbein and at least a dozen films of different quality draw their plot from the Salem Witch Trials.

25 CONCLUSION Considering the facts presented, I have come to the conclusion that court dramas or dramas with court scenes as central or important elements are a distinctive subclass of the drama in general. This "species" offers the playwright a wide variety of dramatic means and is a unique vehicle to force the audience to do more than just watch the stage. The theater audience is automatically forced to become part of the real audience or even, when there is no real audience on stage, to adopt its role. The audience thus becomes part of the play and has to act according to the rules of presented case. This leads to a deeper connection between the audience and the drama; instead of being mere spectators the viewers actually become part of the play. Each drama with a juristic case forces the spectators to make up their minds on the moral and social values presented in comparison to their own. So court dramas are always critical towards society, not necessary negative, but definitely evaluating.

26 THE PLAYS Miller, A., "The Crucible" in: Miller, A. Arthur Miller's Collected Plays, 10 th ed. New York: The Viking Press Inc., 1957, 1971 Rice E., "The Adding Machine" in: Rice, E. Three Plays, New York: Hill and Wang, 1965

27 SOURCES Belasco, D., "Two from the Attic", The Jewish Week, 07/27/2001 Blumenwitz, D., Einführung in das anglo-amerikanische Recht, 3.ed. München: C. H. Beck, 1987 Farnsworth, A., An Introduction to the Legal System of the United States of America, 2 nd ed. London et al.: Oceana, 1983 Miller, A., Brewed in The Crucible", The New York Times, 02/08/1953 Miller, A., Journey to The Crucible in: The Theatre Essays of Arthur Miller, ed. and introduced by Robert A. Martin ed. London: Methuen, 1994 Pfister; M., Das Drama, 9 th ed. München: W. Fink, 1997 Reinsch, P. S., English Common Law in the Early American Colonies, Reprint from the 1899 original, New York: Da Capo Press 1970 The Holy Bible (K. J. V.). Oxford, Oxford University Press, ca. 1990