The Scarecrow (play)
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The Scarecrow is a play by Percy MacKaye, written in 1908, but first presented on Broadway in 1911. It is based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, Feathertop, but greatly expands the tale. Although it had what we would now consider an extremely short run in New York, it was filmed as Puritan Passions during the silent era, has been revived twice in New York (most recently in 2005), has been made into an opera, and has become a favorite of universities and local theatres. It has even recently been made into a children's animated film issued only on video, with the plot and characters of the original play almost totally changed. Feathertop, the story on which the play is based, has been given two television productions and several silent film versions in its own right, and a television production of The Scarecrow is now on DVD. This production stars Gene Wilder, Blythe Danner, Pete Duel, Norman Lloyd, and Will Geer, and was first telecast in 1972, on PBS.
[edit] Plot
The play takes place in seventeenth-century Massachusetts. It is in four acts. Goody Rickby, former mistress of Justice Merton, was deserted years ago by him after giving birth to a son, who has since died because Goody was unable to obtain medical help for him. In the years following, Goody has learned witchcraft from Dickon, the Devil himself. To avenge herself on Merton, she and Dickon manufacture a scarecrow, bring it to life so that it resembles a human, and take him to Merton's house, with the intention of having the Scarecrow seduce Merton's niece, Rachel, away from her fianceé just before their wedding. The Scarecrow is introduced as Lord Ravensbane, with Dickon as his tutor. Ravensbane seems to enjoy smoking a corncob pipe, but the truth is that the pipe actually keeps him alive. Unfortunately for Goody and Dickon's sinister plan, the Scarecrow soon develops kind-hearted feelings of his own. His true identity is revealed at a party, when his reflection in the Mirror of Truth, which Rachel has bought from Goody, reveals a scarecrow, rather than a man. The other guests panic and run, all except Rachel and her fianceé Richard Talbot, who both return. The Scarecrow, horrified, and finally realizing the true meaning of his "mission", breaks his corncob pipe and collapses, only to momentarily revive and see in the mirror that his love for Rachel has transformed him into a real human being. He then dies happy.
The play, while not the most profound in the world, is written in a highly literary style and is nevertheless very entertaining, as well as rather moving. Its language is written as a sort of cross between seventeenth-century and modern English.
