Belonging Essay – the Crucible

Some people will go to extraordinary lengths to achieve a sense of belonging; whether it to be a group, culture or city, some people will try anything. Techniques such as stage directions, hamartia, and dialogue are used in the set text Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” to display belonging and not belonging. Other techniques such as symbolism and camera shot are used to exhibit belonging and not belonging in the supplementary text Your Favorite Martian’s “Zombie Love Song” film clip.
In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”, stage direction is used to demonstrate belonging and not belonging. This technique is used throughout the text to show both belonging and not belonging, stage direction shows the audience, what the characters are doing, such as their movements and emotions about what has happened. Without stage direction the characters would appear motionless and with a blank face. Examples of this technique can be seen throughout the text, but only some demonstrate belonging or not belonging.
An example of when it is demonstrating not belonging is in the first scene of Act one when Tituba is about to talk, in parentheses it says that she is already moving backward, like she already knows she isn’t wanted. Another example of how stage direction is used is when Abigail and John are alone together, in Betty’s room. In the beginning the stage direction leads us to believe that they belong together, then it quickly turns around and it is evident that they do not through the use of stage direction. These examples are how stage direction is used to demonstrate belonging and not belonging in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”.

Hamartia is used in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” to reveal not belonging. This technique is used throughout act one and two to show that John Proctor doesn’t belong with Abigail, hamartia shows the audience the fatal flaw within John’s personality that consequences in him not belonging. An example of how hamartia is used to reveal not belonging is also when John and Abigail are alone together. John’s flaw is that he has lusted after Abigail, and because of this he now feels like he doesn’t belong with either his wife or Abigail.
This is apparent as he shy’s away from Abigail when she tries to get closer. Another example is when he is at home with his wife and straight away we can tell that they do not feel at ease with each other because of his lust for Abigail. These examples are how Hamartia is used to reveal not belonging in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”. In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”, dialogue is used to expose belonging and not belonging. This technique is obvious through the entire text as this is what and how people talk to each other.
Dialogue shows the audience how the characters feel about each other through their words and particularly how they say them. An example of how dialogue exposes not belonging is also when Tituba is first speaking, Parris yells at her “Out of here! ” and she says something back then he yells again “Out of my Sight! Out of my – “. The next example of how Dialogue exposes belonging is also when john and Abigail is alone. The dialogue of the two characters highlight their belonging together, when only looking at what their saying.
They stop belonging together when he says “child” then an argument starts which displays a sense of not belonging. These examples are how Dialogue is used to expose not belonging in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”. Symbolism is used in Your Favorite Martian’s “Zombie Love Song” film clip to display belonging. This technique is predominant in the middle of the text when the two characters are chatting online. Symbolism shows the audience, when referring to this text, how the characters interact with each other before they actually meet in person.
Examples of this technique can be found when the characters are chatting online, the use of hearts to symbolise love is evident. Another symbol is when they use themselves as emoticons and dance with each other, this symbolises that they can be together when one character is not even breathing. Also there is another example of symbolism is when, while chatting online, the zombie is chasing two people and then stopped when seeing the girl, and then gives her a flower which turns her into a zombie which symbolises that they should be together.
These examples are how symbolism represents belonging in the supplementary text “Zombie Love Song” In Your Favorite Martian’s “Zombie Love Song” film clip camera shots are used to present not belonging. This technique is used throughout the text but does not present not belonging until later in the text. Camera shot shows the audience what is happening, without proper camera shot the audience could miss out what is happening, but since this is a cartoon it has perfect camera shot. Not belonging that is presented by camera shot is given by examples when the female character is running away.
When she opens the door to find a zombie, the camera is zooming in to give a close up of the zombie’s face when it smiles, the camera goes back to the girl’s face when she screams and runs away. While she is running away the camera zooms out from a mid-shot to a long shot to emphasise how far and fast she is running away. She runs to the back door and the zombie is there, the process is repeated twice to emphasise how much the zombie doesn’t belong. These examples are how camera shot represents not belonging in the supplementary text “Zombie Love Song”.
In conclusion belonging and not belonging is represented in various ways in many different texts. Varied techniques are used to represent the belonging and not belonging. In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” Stage direction and dialogue are the main technique used while hamartia is hardly used, only with one character and mainly only in the first two acts. In Your Favorite Martian’s “Zombie Love Song” symbolism is more predominant than camera shot in representing belonging or not belonging.