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The parallels between arthur miller's life and his play, the crucible
The parallels between arthur miller's life and his play, the crucible
Analyse crucible by arthur miller
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A martyr is a person who voluntarily sacrifices himself or herself for a particular belief or cause. The term martyr is usually associated with certain religious traditions. When Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible, he was being persecuted by House Un-American Activities Committee. He was being oppressed for keeping names from the HUAC. Like Arthur Miller, John Proctor sacrifices his name to save many others accused in Salem. John Proctor is a martyr because he tore up his confession to protects his name therefore he is willing to die for his known truth.
When John Proctor tore up his confession, he saved his name. After John Proctor figures out what is going on with the Witch Trials, “he forces himself to face the truth… echoing his determination to confess to lies despite his wife’s disapproval” (Aziz and Qunayeer 252). When John Proctor decides to confess, many people think it would be a good thing to do. But, many people also think that him ripping up his confession is also bad because it does not save him when in all reality it does spiritually. John Proctor would
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Proctor says to the court, ¨I blacken all of them when this is nailed to the church… and they hang for silence (Aziz and Qunayeer 252), He comes to his conclusion about the confession when he realizes how he has messed up by signing the confession and he sets everyone, who was killed by the trials, free when he rips his confession. By ripping the confession, he is also protecting his name. John Proctor realizes that a confession, ¨is not just a matter of uttering some words: it is a way of saving one's life of the expense of losing one's reputation and property (Aziz and Qunayeer 246). Knowing this, Proctor tries to finagle his way out of signing the confession to save himself and the others who have died before him. Proctor´s kind heart helped save many other innocent people affected by the
After Elizabeth, his wife, finds out about his affair with Abigail he tries his hardest to prevent anyone from finding out because he doesn’t want to go to prison and doesn’t want his good name ruined. Again, that isn’t the best thing to do but it proves that Proctor has immense pride in himself and what he has accomplished in his lifetime that he doesn’t want to be looked down on after years of being a role model to all the civilians of Salem. At the end of the play, the only way to save himself from hanging is by confessing to the act of witchcraft. He almost does it, but he says, “I am John Proctor! You will not use me! It is no part of salvation that you should use me!”(pg.538, lines 879-82) He doesn’t confess because can’t handle ruining his name anymore than it has been and because he is a man of truth.
Throughout the whole play, John Proctor placed himself as a “servant” of God only and maintained that position regardless of what happened. He represented the image of a person that corresponded for God in Earth, and at the same time he acted consciously and knew what was happening in Salem. In an attempt to disengage from God, his principles, conscience, and morality acted upon him and brought him back to God. Elizabeth and his friends also affected his conscience, as the only reason why he went to the court was to try to release them. John Proctor can be considered the savior of Salem, he can be considered Jesus in that story. His name was important as it was the main reason why he decided to die with dignity instead of live for a lie; but what is the symbolism behind his name? What is conscience and why does John Proctor struggle with his?
...people his confession. If the rest of the town knew he had confessed, his image and his name would be destroyed. He wants his private life to remain private at least within the court. He begs for his privacy because it is so important to him. However, he changes his mind because his name is too important, and he is hung because of it. Proctor believes so strongly about the separation of public and private life, that he is willing to die for it.
...The repetition of the speech that ‘he will confess’ shows how it is shocking that Proctor would do something like that. To show he is a good man he admits to something that he didn’t do to save the lives of others.
Proctor’s prideful personality does not let him baptize his third son because he dislikes Reverend Parris (168, l. 516-520). Proctor withholds his affair with Abigail because of his pride, he was unable to confess it until his wife was accused. Before he confessed he stated that “a man will not cast away his good name,” this statement suggest that a man has a lot of pride in his name and therefore his confession must be true (189, l. 845-847). In addition, after confessing to witchcraft Proctor takes pride in his name and refuses to have his name nailed in the door of the church showing everyone that he confessed to witchcraft (207, l. 894-897). “You will not use me! I am no Sarah Good or Tituba, I am John Proctor! You will not use me!,” Proctor beliefs he is better than Sarah good and Tituba hence he would not sign his name (207, l. 899-701). Towards the end, Proctor thinks better of his action and rips the signed paper after declaring, “Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (207, l. 725-730). Proctor compares himself with the brave people that are about to hang and takes pride in his name by refusing to keep on lying and ripping the paper with his signature; he bravely accepted death with the thought that his name is not tainted by
...r a confession from Proctor, if only to save the life of a godly man. The world desperately seeks wise men who can see through deception. John however, even with his wife pleading, refused to name any others as a servant of Satan and damage the name of Proctor. His pride led to his death. He could not stand being a coward, and I respect him deeply for that. If John Proctor did not ascend to Heaven, then I and all others should burn in hell.
Proctor’s confession to having seen Satan is fake, and without the confession he must be executed. Proctor’s confession is soon to be revealed false when he states: “ You will not use me! I am no Sarah Good or Tituba, I am John Proctor! You will not use me! It is no part of your salvation that you should use me!” ( Act 4 Lines 281- 283). John’s decision to keep himself honest, while at the same time, wanting to confess, leaves him with a magnitude of frustration aimed at himself. With the option to save himself by lying and confessing about having Satan visit him, John feels that this is his chance to prove to himself that he is not a fraud. John’s decision to destroy the signed confession causes him to forgive himself and not to think of himself as a
So, since they won't let Mr. Proctor go, they want him to confess to saving his life, here another mini climax occurs because he does not want to sign a big lie. Since Mr. Proctor felt guilty about what he did in his past with Abigail, he decides that now he will save his name with his pride and refuses to sign the confession. So the resolution comes with John Proctor's hanging, but it does not seem like anything was resolved, just that the people who accused the innocent people feel very guilty about what they did. III. Characterization:..
...ecause it would be a lie to claim that he has never lied. Elizabeth says that she has her own sins, and only a bad wife would want lechery. Finally Proctor decides that he will confess himself, and then he asks if what he does is even evil. When Proctor agrees to save himself by admitting to witchcraft, Danforth demands a written confession and says that he must prove the purity of his soul to others, so he demands that Proctor accuse others. Hale says that it is good enough for Proctor to confess to God, but Danforth still wants a written statement. Proctor refuses, because he wants to keep his name good for the respect of his children. Danforth refuses to accept his confession, and orders that he be lynched. Hale begs Elizabeth to plead with Proctor to sign a confess, but Elizabeth claims that Proctor now has his goodness, and nobody should take it away from him.
John Proctor is guilty of both spoken lies and lies conveyed from his actions. John Proctor has to deal with the decision to stay true to himself and not let his frustration condemn him to falsify the truth. Accused of conjuring with the devil among many other innocent Puritans in the town, John has to face making the right decision to either be hanged and keep his soul pure or lie to save his life and oblige to the magistrates that he did indeed conjure with devil. The tendency to want to keep your life is within any human being on this Earth, however John is faced with the decision of saving his life or faulting his already remorseful heart by lying. As John Proctor makes the decision to lie and keep his life, he begins to doubt how others will now think of him knowing he conjured with the devil. When asked to sign his name on paper for the entire town to see he refuses and exclaims, “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies…” (143) While John passionately speaks this, his immense frustration is finally released and shows his desire to stay true to himself and others in the town. Refusing to sign the paper conveys the lie he initially told and the truth he sought for once realizing the guilt and remorse he would have for the rest of his life. John Proctor’s feeling of frustration
In this act he finds the goodness in himself to take responsibility for something he did not do just to make up for his sins. He says to Elizabeth, “Spite only gives me silent. It is hard to give a lie to dogs…” (4.136) He wants to confess, but he has to find the courage in him to confess it. He has to swallow his pride in order to confess of something he did not do. After he finds the courage to confess, Danforth makes him sign a confession statement, but he cannot. In support of this Proctor says, “I have confessed myself! Is there no good penitence but it be public? God does not need my name nailed upon the church! God sees my name; God knows how black my sins are! It is enough!” (4.142) Proctor has already confessed and he feels as if that is already enough, but he has to sign the confession or he will be hung. He finds the courage to sign it but then rips it apart before it is hung upon the church, and he could not build up the courage to re-write it. This leads him to being executed. Henry Popkin once again helps support my sources by stating, “The real, the ultimate victim in this play is John Proctor, the one independent man, the one skeptic who sees through the witchcraft "craze" from the first…This is a climactic moment, a turning point in the play. New witches may continue to be named, but The Crucible now narrows its focus to John Proctor, caught in the trap, destroyed by his effort to save his wife, threatened by the irrationality that only he has comprehended.” (143) Abigail’s idea did not go as planned because Proctor rebelled against her. Therefore Proctor was accused and died because he was not going to let Abigail ruin the pureness of his
The primary dramatic focus in the play The Crucible is the moral struggle of its protagonist, John Proctor. Certain characteristics of John Proctor's character and also the environment of the Puritanical Salem alleviated this problem for him. The main issues running through out the play are a series of dilemmas that John Proctor faces. The first and foremost of these is his guilt over his adulterous affair with Abigail Williams, the second his hesitation to testify against Abigail to bring out the truth and the third, his final decision to make the ultimate sacrifice.
During a time when Salem was overrun with witchcraft hysteria, very few people were resilient enough to stay devoted to their religion/morals. Miller frames history by demonstrating how a few individuals were devoted enough to combat the communist trials regardless of the consequences. Since the confession required John to blame another person in Salem of committing witchcraft, he chose to hang instead of betraying his comrades, for he did not want to fuel the witchcraft hysteria/blacken his name. Ethos were of high importance to Proctor and he valued his character above all else. He used an ethos tool called screw up recovery to enhance his character through his own errors. By describing how he failed to meet his own high moral standards throughout the play, Proctor corrected the mistakes he made and he appeared to be a highly virtuous character to the audience. Miller depicts John Proctor as a hero because he was able to rise above the trials/actively defy them. Although John intended to make a false confession to spare his life, he refrained from blaming his innocent friends such as Rebecca Nurse; therefore, his confession did not count and he was sentenced to hang. Proctor uses a logos tool called reduction ad absurdum to prove to Hale and Danforth that making a false confession is absurd/illogical; therefore, he justifies his decision to hang. He
John Proctor was not only in a physical state of isolation in the jail, he is also in a mental isolation.There, he pondered what he had done, what he his life has come to, but most importantly, he wondered if telling the truth (that he and his wife did not commit witchery), was right. This is apparent when he is asked to admit to witchcraft after he had been in prison for months. As Judge Hathorne pressed John for his admittance to witchcraft, he asked Elizabeth what she wanted him to do, but his was still left uncertain when she responded, “I cannot judge you John” (Miller 135) He seemingly stands alone, with no definite answer. His wife will not tell him what to do, God has not told him when he cried out and he cannot seem to convince himself what is right. Finally, he screamed his false confession of witchcraft and signs the paper, thinking only of his life. But, then he realizes it is not this life that should matter, rather the everlasting life that his Puritanical religion promised him. All his darkened, lonely days showed him the truth of who he is, that he does “see some shred of goodness in John Proctor (...) enough to keep it from such dogs” (Miller 144). He knew that the judges and people of Salem could take away his name, his pride, and his family, but he was strong enough to recognise that they could not take away his
Honesty is a matter of life and death in this story. People are accused of witchcraft and if accused and you denied to anything dealing with witchcraft, you were to be hanged. On the other hand, in order to save your life, you had to confirm to witchcraft and agree with associating with the devil. What would you do if you were accused? Would you lie and agree to dealing with witchcraft and associating with the devil just to save your life? Or, would you be honest and sacrifice your life for something you didn’t do? In this story, the protagonist John Proctor plays a role of contradiction. Throughout the story, John Proctor attempts to carry out honesty when he is brought to the courtroom to admit to committing adultery with Abigail Williams and when Hale told him to confess to witchcraft and to sign his name. John refused to sign his name, the act of putting his name on paper was just too much for him. Even though he could’ve saved his life by just lying and signing the paper, he found goodness in himself and did the right