How does Miler create a sense of tension and conflict between John and
Elizabeth Proctor at the beginning of Act Two?
In Act Two, John and Elizabeth Proctor are conversing and there are
signs to indicate that there are tensions occurring in their marriage.
Although the main theme of the ‘The Crucible’ is Witchcraft, this Act
concentrates mainly on the relationship of John and Elizabeth. Miller
uses a variety of dramatic devices, like stage directions to promote
this point. Prior to this act the girls have named the witches and
John has returned from Salem. Considering that this is where Abigail
(whom John had an affair with) resides, it does not improve his dying
marriage and relations with his wife.
Miller begins by setting the tone for the scene and describes the
front room of Proctor’s house. The room is described as ‘low, dark
and rather long’; this immediately gives the impression of a
threatening and hostile place. Coupled with the empty room, this could
signify loneliness and symbolize the emptiness and lack of affection
within the marriage. The word ‘halts’ is used to depict an image of a
shocked John as he hears his wife singing, upon his entrance to the
house. Miller could have decided to include this piece of information
in order to show the audience how Elizabeth is rarely in a good frame
of mind – perhaps due to her failing marriage. John then proceeds to
add further seasoning to the food that Elizabeth has already prepared.
This action is one of many devices used demonstrating the lack of
satisfaction and need for more within the marriage.
When Elizabeth does eventually enter to meet John, Miller is quick to
show through her first line of speech “What keeps you so late? It’s
almost dar...
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... be more romantic and Miller shows an opposing side to his
character, the pause indicates their discomfort and when Elizabeth’s
‘back is turned to him’ this is yet another effective way of making
the audience notice the increasing distance between them, both
physically and emotionally.
Finally John then gives up and decides to try and address the problem
that is bothering his wife. Miller’s stage directions ‘she doesn’t
want friction, and yet she must’ portrays an image of a woman caught
in two minds. Elizabeth wants to remain a good, obedient wife however
she cannot resist challenging John about his whereabouts which led to
his late arrival. The place of ‘Salem’ is mentioned and this could be
Miller’s way of Elizabeth inadvertently or perhaps indirectly showing
her distrust towards John.
When John learns of Marry Warren’s presence in Salem his anger.
When the play sets in to action, John has had a past affair with his servant Abigail Williams. His wife, Elizabeth Proctor is very forgiving of his sin, but John has his mind set that he will not confess to anyone else, in fear of ruining his good name, and reputation. The affair between John and Abigail caused the start of chaotic witchery and accusation. After the affair, Abigail became horribly jealous of Elizabeth Proctor. Proctor realizes there is only one way to stop all the witch hysteria in Salem, and that would be to confess his sin of adultery. Although he knows he should, he continues to be determined not to confess. Also in the beginning Reverend Paris is new to town, and John insist continually that he is only speaking of hell, and hardly ever of God, as Proctor goes on to say to Parris, "Can you speak one minute without we land in Hell again? I am sick of Hell!" (Miller 30). In the drama, Mary Warren places a needle in a poppet she gave to Elizabeth; John firmly demands that Mary Warren tell the courts that she really put the needle in the poppet that day. Proctor says to her, "You're coming to the court with me, Mary. You will tell it in the court." (Miller 80). Furthermore, at the end of the play Proctor is persistent by saying that no matter what anyone says to convince him differently, he would rather die an honest man and save his name. John Proctor took pride in his thoughts, feelings, values, and his name. It took persistency to make his intent clear to others.
This shows how he is a hippercrite against being a Puritan. Even though he is a religious man he still has the human character of having an evil side to himself.“But I will cut off my hand before I ever reach for you again.” John is talking to Abigail and how he is finished with seeing her and that he doesn’t want any part of her. John goes through from being amoral to immoral and then to moral, then back to amoral at the end. “It’s winter in here yet.” Elizabeth and John were talking about how he was working all day seeding even though he was at Salem to see what the fuss was all about. Here he shows his character toward Elizabeth by lying to her and she can’t trust him.
When people are put in tense and difficult situations, they lose control. John and Elizabeth Proctor, and Mary warren, all exhibit this throughput the play. John exhibits courage, in the sense that he found the strength to keep his name and lose his life rather than keep sinning and lie. Mary Warren displays weakness when she falls to Abby once again, in the end, instead of sticking to her story and assisting John, in freeing Elizabeth. Elizabeth illustrated how difficult it was to tell the truth in life or death situations. All three of these characters, and their traits, represent what “The Crucible,” is about, courage, weakness, and
John Proctor is an honest, though harsh, man who is clearly the protagonist of The Crucible. Before the beginning of the play, John had an affair with Abigail Williams, a girl who worked in his household, which was abruptly ended when Elizabeth Proctor, John's wife, fired her. This event causes Abigail to desire revenge against Elizabeth while she still pines for John. Once the trials are well underway, Abigail accuses Elizabeth of being a witch, which leads to her arrest. John goes to the court in defense of his wife, where he reveals that he did indeed committed adultery with Abigail in an attempt to expose her as a fraud and a liar. Unfortunately, John's appeal falls on deaf ears and he is arrested as well. While his wife manages to get a temporary stay of execution, due to the fact that she is pregnant at the time of the trials, which in the end saves her by insuring her life until the chaos, hysteria, and persecution comes to an end, John is sentenced to death. The play ends with his hanging, but his death puts an end to the trials.
In the story, “A&P” by John Updike has hidden personal struggles that Sammy deals with throughout the story. Specifically, Sammy coming to age, letting his feeling get the best of him, and personally dealing with social conflicts.
Aldous Huxley’s, “Brave New World,” explores the roles of people in society, morals concerning sexual activity, and other controversies in our reality. One of the principal characters in the novel is ‘John the Savage.’ John is a unique character in the story because unlike the other characters in the book, his emotions and morals were similar to those of the majority of our society. He felt emotions in a way others did not, and his morals can be regarded as ethically right (for example, he did not consider sex to be meaningless; in fact, he considered it an intimate act. Unfortunately, by the end of the story, John develops into a corrupt and barbaric man- the novel even finishes with the image of John whipping both himself and others, eliminating our prior perception of John’s character. This paper will analyse the themes and importance of the final moments of “Brave New World,” and explore how a person’s sexual experience is heavily experienced by their environment.
During this marriage, Logan describes Janies as a mule in terms of being powerless and voiceless. Nannie is a prime example of example of being accepted and treated as a mule. She talked about her own struggle “Ah don’t want to be used for a work-ox and brood-saw…Ah wanted to preach a great sermon about colored women sittin’ on high , but they was no pulpit for me (Hurston 1990, p.15). Logan never respected her as an individual she was property. He was not looking for the kind of love in which she was searching and yearning to have. She immediately discovered that she will be used as a mule.
Another important work Miller wrote, The Crucible, takes place in Salem, Massachusetts, during the 17th century. It is a time when jealousy and suspicion poisoned the thinking of an entire town. Neighbor turned against neighbor when events happened that could not be explained. Accusations turned into a mad hunt for witches who did not exist. One of the main characters of the play is John Proctor, a well-respected man with a good name in the town. As the play develops, John Proctor’s moral dilemma becomes evident: he must decide whether to lie and confess to witchcraft in order to save his life, or to die an honest man, true to his beliefs.
Before Abigail starts going crazy and accusing people of witchcraft a couple pieces of information are revealed about John Proctor and how selfish he is. He became involved with Abigail sometime before the play began. His actions showed he only cared about himself and didn’t care about his family at all. It is clear he is ashamed when he tries to deny his actions after Abigail confronts him. He tries to get her to forget about the things that happened between them when he says, “Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time…. We never touched Abby” (Miller 22). He is tries to get her to forget about what happened because then he will be able to move on with his life and protect his reputation at the same time. His actions in this scene are selfish and he is just thinking of how to protect his name in the town and erase his past transgressions and by the end he does several things that help the town. People in the town begin to look up to him and he takes up the role of a leader despite his normal behavior of shirking away from the spotlight. Proctor is the one who has to step up and put Putman in his place and he tells Putman “You cannot command Mr. Parris. We vote by name in this society, not acreage....
S.E. Hinton’s novel, The Outsiders, is a story about a series of struggles and conflicts in a community in which people have been divided into two groups, the Socs and the Greasers, that are poised against each other. The tension reaches a level so high that one of the main characters, Johnny, kills a Soc to save his friend Ponyboy from drowning. This causes them to have to hide in the country until the pursuit dies down. One of the many things I learned from this is novel is that people have much more to them than what is on the surface, such as the Socs Cherry and Marcia. They are classified as mean, but they are really no different from greaser girls. Another thing I learned from this story is that a mix of emotions can lead to more trouble
The most important scene in the play was act two, scene three, where John Proctor is able to talk with his wife, Elizabeth, one last time. He decides that he will "confess" to the crime of witchcraft, thereby avoiding being hung. He says to Elizabeth:
...n his path to redemption. In order to save his life, he is tempted into admitting that he is indeed in league with the Devil. But if done he would be telling a terrible lie and is also blackening the names of all the other prisoners who've refused to give in. When John is asked to actually sign his name, he refuses. The act of putting his name to paper is just too much. By signing his name he would have signed away his soul. Though he would have saved his life, his goodness would've been forever out of his reach.
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, exemplifies the idea that in an ever-growing modern world, one who demonstrates traditional values about love will be unable to cope up with the questionable morals and differentiating, controversial values present, seen through John’s difficult experience in the Brave New World. In the novel, there is a severe disconnect between what John was taught and the ideals of the Brave New World, which encouraged ruthless, unemotional, and quick interactions with someone found attractive instead of a stable relationship with a loved one. As a result, John struggled greatly to try to adapt to the Brave New World while still trying to maintain his own values, and proved to be unfit to stay there. It is evident that John could have never survived in such a society, due to the great difference in between both of their morals, and the Brave New World’s disapproval of his own values, seen through John’s reaction to the recreational activities, the people in the Brave New World’s mockery of his most favorite pieces of literature, which formed his ideas on love, and finally in his own relationship with Lenina. However, while John’s downward spiral of his mental and emotional state in the Brave New World and his unwillingness to accept their values cause him to leave London, his final conformity and unwilling acceptance to the Brave New World ideals cause the final tragedy at the end of the novel, revealing that he would have never been able to survive in this society, for he was bound to be tainted by their values.
One example is Dally, Dally acted really tough and as though he didn’t care about anything but he actually really loved and cared about Johnny. “‘Oh, damnit, Johnny, don’t die, please don’t die...’ He suddenly bolted through the door and down the hall.” (Hinton 149) This supports the theme because it shows how Dally loved Johnny. “Dally had spent three years on the wild side of New York and had been arrested at the age of 10. He was tougher than the rest of us — tougher, colder, meaner.” (10) The gang thinks of Dally as a cold and bitter person. These quotes prove that Dally acted tough and cold but on the inside he loved and cared about Johnny a lot. Another example is how when Bob was drunk he just looked for trouble and to beat people up
Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, is a statement to the 17th century witchcraft. The Crucible renders John Proctor as a puritan, a husband, and a highly respected man. His name is his prime possession. John Proctor is a farmer and a villager who is faced with intense dilemma. He also commits adultery, which becomes his tragic flaw. Therefore he is to make a decision to tell the truth and ruin his name or lie and save his most prized possession. By this John Proctor is portrayed as an honest, tenacious, and faithful man.