The twisted and manipulative minds of individuals bring society to a stir. Authors John Connolly and Arthur Miller through their respective works The Book of Lost Things and The Crucible use culture and social factors to help portray and develop characters according to good and evil. Cultural and social factors help deprive the goodness of several characters, leaving the protagonist and state in a mist of confusion.
Lucifer known as the devil plays a significant role as a reference to tempter of mankind. Depending on the impact of the shedding may be, the roles of The Crooked Man, and Abigail Williams are both portrayed as the chief spirit of evil or the devil. The Crooked Man, whom desires every matter for himself, through his selfish and manipulative works, endeavours to corrupt the protagonist mind, David. Crooked Man tries to achieve this throughout the novel in such way so that David can build up hatred towards his newborn step brother, Georgie, whom had been causing conflict ever since his arrival, so that David would sell his soul to The Crooked Man (devil). The persuasiveness of The Crooked Man is the same as how the devil would take an individuals soul, granting, promising and tempering mankind, by all means, using any force; mentally and physically. It is shown throughout the novel, that The Crooked Man mentally attacks David, after his mother’s dead, sparking confusion and loneliness in David’s life. In the play, Abigail Williams and her friends are seen as dancing, drinking chicken blood, and chanting spells, all worshiping black magic to Lucifer (the devil) which is forbidden in their strictly followed Christian community. After being caught, Abigail Williams influences the high Christian morale community into believing that it was the entire devils fault, freighting the girls and corrupting society. Abigail Williams uses black magic for her own desires as she wants John Proctor, as she cast a spell to kill his wife, Elizabeth Proctor.
John Connolly and the producer of the play, Nicholas Hytner, through their works of art, do not directly distinguish the evil being referenced to the devil. Reading and viewing the novel and play in depth, the audience slowly starts to understand the works that show the characters of the evil being showed through The Crooked Man, and Abigail Williams. Therefore, the evil isn’t introduced as evil at first, but further on the development, the audience will start to understand who are evil and good. Events that build up in the The Book of Lost Things, The Crooked Man is viewed as an outsider, who follows David on his journey to escape the dilemma he is trapped in, and helps David on several obstacles facing death. The handiness and kindness of The Crooked Man are only motives so that he can eventually get what he wants, thus making The Crooked Man act in a certain way. Abigail Williams through her attitude and mentality display her two sides of evil and goodness. Her goodness is shown as her trying to get the society understand that the devil has been playing with the girls mind, and her evil is shown through varies events such as threatening the girls if they tell what they did in the forest and blaming the Barbados slave, Tituba for being possessed by the devil. In both the novel and play, costumes and attires don’t give away the characters personality, but the lighting and setting, displays some factor. Where the Crooked Man is seen and talked about, are at the times of dusk, and night, where David at first gets a glimpse of this small dark figure watching him through his window. The description and the setting where he The Crooked Man is seen, gives a show case of his ideology.
In the play The Crucible, Arthur Miller based it on the past events that occurred in 1622 Massachusetts, where it was known as the Salem Witch Trials. This setting through the respective lightings foreshadows the play according to the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials were country court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft, and in the play, several cast members throughout society are accused of witch crafting and possessed by the devil. The ones that practise black magic, are shown as evil, as they have a motive to kill or want something, hence practising black magic will get them what they desire. Abigail Williams tries to use the setting of the Christian believed community to bring fear and anxiety for her advantage, as the town fears this type of disturbance. Lighting is incorporated where the practice of black magic was taken place at a dark, night forest. The Book of Lost Things, the setting of darkness prevails as a time of evilness, where the protagonist is always being bombarded with obstacles facing evil.
In the novel and play, the culture and social factors help develop the characters according to good and evil. Depending on the circumstances, the views upon evil can be discovered later on, as at the ending of both the play and novel, the audience discovers what characters are evil and which are good.
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