How do the stage directions at the beginning of Act IV set the mood? What does the contrast between this setting and the one described at the...

At the beginning of Act IV, the stage directions indicate the characters are in a dark jail that has barred windows and a heavy door.  Marshal Herrick can now only deal with his job when he is drunk.  Sarah Good no longer even appears to be human.  As a result, the mood is incredibly dark, sad, and somber.  At the beginning of Act I, however, Reverend Parris was praying over his sick daughter, confused and...

At the beginning of Act IV, the stage directions indicate the characters are in a dark jail that has barred windows and a heavy door.  Marshal Herrick can now only deal with his job when he is drunk.  Sarah Good no longer even appears to be human.  As a result, the mood is incredibly dark, sad, and somber.  At the beginning of Act I, however, Reverend Parris was praying over his sick daughter, confused and weeping.  His slave, Tituba, seems to share his concern, although she also fears for her own safety.  The mood, then, was certainly tense and emotionally heightened in Act I, while there is almost a note of resignation in Act IV. 

The contrast between the anxiety and tension in Act I with the dark sadness in Act IV shows us just how much the trials have affected this community.  The community that was once so ready to point fingers and place blame has now been decimated, depressed, and ruined by the witch trials.  Its transition from a godly place to one run by the devilish motivations of malicious children and their greedy parents is fairly complete.