The Crucible – The Lessons Learned
Great events, whether they are beneficial or tragic ones, bring change in a person. These scenarios can give one an entirely new perspective on life, and turn around his way of thinking. Events such as the Salem Witch Trials show the people involved what they could not see before. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Elizabeth Proctor, Reverend Hale, and John Proctor gain valuable insight into themselves, as well as others.
Elizabeth Proctor has many moments which show how she is changing throughout the play. When she is trying to persuade Proctor to tell the court that Abigail said the girls were not practicing witchcraft, Elizabeth blurts out, "John, if it were not Abigail that you must go to hurt, would you falter now? I think not." Elizabeth is confessing that she believes Proctor had an affair with Abigail. She is giving him no mercy by showing that she will never forget what happened. When Elizabeth is being accused of stabbing Abigail, she instructs Proctor to go to court, and tells him "Oh, John, bring me soon!" Elizabeth is gaining trust in John. She is forgetting his act of adultery and now has faith that he will defend her. At the end of the play, when Proctor is sentenced to death, Elizabeth says that "he [has] his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!" Elizabeth is admitting that John was righteous to confess his sin of lechery, and she should have pardoned him. She considers herself impure for not showing mercy, and does not want to take away from his glory. Elizabeth has transformed from an ignorant victim of adultery, to a forgiving, loving wife.
Reverend Hale arrives in Salem thinking that he will become a hero and rid Salem of the devil. Hale is speaking to the townspeople when he says, "Have no fear now--we shall find him out if he has come among us, and I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face!" Hale thinks that there is an actual devil in the town, and they must defeat it. He is trying to show the people of Salem that he is their savior, and that he knows exactly what to do. When Danforth accuses Proctor of lying about his affair with Abigail, Hale realizes the truth of this case, and tells Danforth to "stop now before another is condemned! I may shut my conscience to it no more--private vengeance is working through this testimony!" Hale has come to believe that people are just accusing those that they envy or seek revenge against. The entire testimony is false, and he does not want another innocent person to be convicted. Hale displays his new insight when he says to Elizabeth, "Life, woman, life is God's most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it." Hale is saying that man does not have the right to punish another man by death. He is rejecting the entire proceedings of the trial because he now believes that only God can truly judge someone. Hale learns that the only devil in Salem is the townspeople's vengeance for their neighbors, and he is powerless against it.
John Proctor starts out as a regretful adulterer unable to confess his sins. For example, John is in a heated argument with his wife when she brings up his lechery with Abigail and he replies, "Spare me! I cannot speak but I am doubted, every moment judged for lies, as though I come into a court when I come into this house!" John feels that nothing he says is taken seriously because his name has been branded with adultery. He despises being constantly judged by his wife. Later in the play, when Mary Warren states that Abigail will charge lechery on John, he replies, "Good. Then her saintliness is done with," and he goes on to say, "My wife will never die for me!" John has become willing to admit to adultery in front of the town so that his wife's life will be spared. He has realized that his name is not worth a life. At the end of the play, John is asked to confess in order to be pardoned, and he does so, but he refuses to sign the confession and says, "I have three children--how may I teach them to walk like men in the world, and I sold my friends?" By signing the confession, John is signing his legacy away, so his children's names will also be ruined. Again, John is choosing to die instead of devastating someone else's life. John Proctor becomes a man who can dishonor his name in order to save another's life, but not his own.
These ideas have been revealed to the characters by a life or death situation. They have gained much wisdom because of their situation. Unfortunately, it is too late for most of them to use their newly acquired knowledge. Our culture today needs to be more aware that such wisdom is evasive, and we need to search harder for it. If we all had the wisdom brought by life changing events, there would be no chaos on Earth.
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