ween the setup and the payoff in each act as a kind of tug-of-war: some characters pull toward catastrophe, others pull away from it, and invariably the first group overpowers the second. If you think about the action in terms of this tug-of-war, the plot will be a lot easier to follow.^^^^^^^^^^THE CRUCIBLE: SOME NOTES ON READING THE PLAYThere's a difference between reading a play and reading a novel. The most obvious thing is that a play is all dialogue, whereas a novel will often have many paragraphs of prose describing what a character is thinking. In a play you have to figure out what a character is thinking by what he says, and what others say about him, keeping in mind that people don't always speak the truth, or at least the whole truth.Another difference between a novel and a play is the audience each is intended for. When a novel appears in print, it is as ready as it's going to be for its audience, the individual reader. But the script of a play is a blueprint for a performance by actors, in makeup and costume, on a stage set, before an audience of more than one. Whatever ideas a playwright has in mind, whatever words he puts on paper, the play is meant to be seen and heard, not just read silently by one person slouching in an armchair.But even if you can't actually attend a performance, and have to settle for reading the script, there is a way to get a more complete idea of what the play's supposed to be. Read some of it aloud, "playing" the different characters: How would you say these words if you were in the same situation? What gesture would you use to make this point? Maybe you can get a friend to try it with you. It may sound silly or embarrassing, but it really does help. And it's fun.^^^^^^^^^^THE CRUCIBLE: THE STORYAlthough the action is continuous in each act of The Crucible, this guide breaks the acts into what are called "French scenes." A new French scene begins every time a major character enters or exits.^^^^^...
