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Critical analysis of the crucible
Character analysis essay the crucible
Critical analysis of the crucible
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Theme: In society, law is not always just, these who wants power from people used law to make persecutions on innocent people and judge them with lies.
The time period of the play is based on the historical event of McCarthyism Era. During the early 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy became famous for investigating Communist subversion in America. For more than 4 years, he gained power from the supporters by destroying others’ reputations and put persecutions on them.
Abigail’s playing the role of McCarthy. She is a senator who wants power from people, she accuses John Proctor by saying that Proctor is the one who participate into communism and trying to destroy the United States.
John Proctor’s playing a role of writers who against McCarthy
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Abigail! Why are you trying to lie about everything that is not truth. You are freaking insane. Shame on you!
Abbigail: I’m just trying to protect my community, It’s my duty to protect my country! (Audience yelled “Oh!”)
John Proctor: How are you going to prove it! You have no evidence!
Abbigail: Your Excellency, I’m asking your permission to check out Proctor’s house.
Judge: I give you my permission to check, and I will send my police to check out.
At this time, the setting changes from the court to John Proctor’s house. (Abbigail brings the police with her. Abbigail's looking for the communism book and she found it.)
Abbigail: Hey, John Proctor, what will you say right now, I just found out Lenin’s book about communism under your desk. You see, people, my experience never lie, I’ve never lie in my life. All I want to do is just protect our society.
John Proctor: Oh God! Save me from this evil! Don't you see that there are also many capitalistic books on the bookshelf! It doesn't mean anything, I'm a writer! I need these books! What’s the matter! You freaking devil! Go to the hell!
Abbigail: John Proctor, you want me to die, you want to destroy me because you want to destroy the country! Now, just admit the crime that you are putting persecutions on
Nothing good can come from lies, John Proctor understands this and abides by the truth. He demonstrates that he is a man of truth when he confesses to his wife, Elizabeth, that he had an affair with Abigail Williams. He confessed as him and his wife were talking about whether or not he could prove that Abigail
Firstly, John Proctor is not seen to be a good man because in chapter one is affair with Abigail is exposed. “Give me a word, John. A soft word. (Her concentrated desire destroys his smile.) From this it can be seen that before they did have an affair but now it is over. The personal pronoun ‘me’ shows how she wants him all to herself and that the meeting is held in secret. The word ‘desire destroy’ in the stage directions is then used to contradict her feelings as Miller suggests how their affair is now over but Abigail doesn’t want it to be and that she still loves Proctor. From this quote it is then shown that John Proctor can’t be a good man if he committed adultery. However, John Proctor also speaks to Abigail to mention how their affair is mentioned and how their affair to him was at his moment of weakness when his wife, Elizabeth was ill. As it was a mistake Proctor mentions how Abigail should, “Wipe it out of mind.” This shows that he wants to forget it ever happened and that he also doesn’t want anybody to find out about this. From this it shows that John Proctor is not a good and as when his wife was ill and when he was at his weakest he committed a sin. If the people of Salem were to hear...
...fess to them Elizabeth” (238). He’s thinking about giving in to the corrupt church to save his own life like everyone else. But when the Judge Danforth asks him to sign his name on a document confessing of witch craft he won’t do it because he explains, “It is my name I cannot have another in my life because I lie and sign myself to lies. Proctor finally stands up for what’s right and he shows that he won’t taint his name in order to save his own life. So they send him to be hung but he dies with his honor and his integrity.
For many reasons, John Proctor is an honest man. By no means is Proctor afraid to tell you what is on his mind.
John Proctor is a man with many secrets and fatal flaws. His lust for Abigail Williams led to him having affair, and created Abby’s bitter envy toward his wife Elizabeth Proctor. “Abby I may think of you softly from time to time but I will cut off my hand before I ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind. We never touched Abby” (Miller 177) John Proctor denied that he had an affair with Abby. Then Abigail utter these words “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge
Imagine a teacher giving a zero to a student on a test for cheating, but had no proof the student was guilty? This is exactly how John Proctor felt when Mary Warren accused him of witchcraft, with no proof. Even under these circumstances, he keeps his composure for the most part, and accepts his fate. Many of Mr. Proctor´s personality traits can be associated with my own in that he and I, sometimes stretch the truth, is not easily fooled, and fight for what we believe in.
...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.
Fear, resulting in chaos, and overturned lives affected the personal decisions of John Proctor, thus creating inner conflicts, as well as desperation in the story. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, John Proctor's stand in a society where opinion drove fate created ignominy towards him and his beliefs. At first he hid his horrible sin inside, fearing the consequences. When he finally did, he was placed in a tangled labyrinth of feelings as to what his next action should be. Lastly, it's Proctor's defiance and integrity in his own self that proved him stronger than the entire community of Salem. Proctor's tremulous feelings and general unease of the situation built up to his defining point of confession. Theocracy came together to take coerce control Salem and it's actions. Proctor saw this and feared, for diabolism was a practice unheard of. Danforth states, "You must understand, sir, a person is either with the church or against it, there be no road between. We live no longer in the dusky afternoon and evil mixed itself with good and befuddled world. Now by God's grace the good folk and evil entirely separate"(63).
John Proctor comes home from working in his fields to his wife, Elizabeth. They argue about his affair with Abigail.
See the ECB's ECB's ECB's ECB's ECB's ECB's ECB's ECB's ECB' This quote from Proctor is riddled with references to God and the judgment God passes on Proctor’s actions. Proctor also repeats the references to God earlier in the play, when he tries to convince Elizabeth he is not guilty of having an affair with Abigail. Proctor says, “I have roared you down when you first told me your suspicions. But I wilted, and like a Christian, I confessed. Confessed!
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
... integrity are among the most important things. He also uses Proctor to demonstrate what an unjust system can do to an individual with good intents. The play is a parallel to the anti-Communist McCarthy era. Through John Proctor we see the ludicrous nature of mass hysteria that exists when society has gone awry.
To explain, when John Proctor asserts, “Beguile me not! O blacken all of them (other members of the town) when this is nailed to the church the very day they hang for silence” (Miller 132) it shows him refusing to have his confession sheet nailed to the door of the courthouse. If John Proctor were to allow Danforth to post the confession to the church, his friends will be chased after by the church and possibly killed as well. John Proctor chooses to die and keep his friends safe rather than to save himself. This is in opposition to Puritan norms as Puritanism focuses on self-salvation, and he could have had the Church clear his soul and this would have allowed him to keep living; however, he protected those close to him instead of himself. This also contrasts John Proctor to the other members of this society who sold others out in trade of their own well-being. This demonstrates John Proctor’s religious progressivism by having a viewpoint focused on the salvation and preservation of others opposed to self-salvation. Due to his desire to help others before he helps himself, John Proctor is shown in a forward thinking
John Proctor is, at first, willing to offer up a false confession that his life may be spared. Inevitably, John Proctor possesses that fateful attribute known to fall fatal to many human beings - pride. While he has, indeed, been ashamed of his many sins throughout his life, Proctor's soul still clings to his pride and his good name, however soiled it may have become. On the morning scheduled for his execution, Proctor wrestles with the realization that one more sin so heaped upon the rest in his life will make precious little difference in the end; "I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint. It is a fraud. I am not that man.... My honesty is broke... I am no good man. Nothing's spoiled by giving them this lie." (126) He attempts to calm his pride by telling himself that the other accused witches who will not give false testimony to save themselves from the gallows have every right to do so; they led lives free of blame. He, however, he tells himself, did no such thing; what right has he to hang among the righteous? "Let them that never lied die now to keep their souls. It is pretense for me, a vanity that will nor blind God nor keep my children out of the wind." (126) Thus the conviction first reached by John Proctor is to save his life rather than to throw it away in mock martyrdom.
The true antagonist of the play is the town of Salem itself, because of the judgemental and self concerned peoples, and its oppressive views. Abigail;s outrageous actions are due to her desensitized views on death and actions otherwise viewed as unethical. From her youth ABigail recalls: “ I saw indians smash my dear parents’ head on the pillow next to mine and i have seen some reddish work at night” (Miller 20), because of this Abigail is numb to death and suffering and is in fact quite morbid. There is no problem in condemning other to death in Abigail’s eyes because she doesn’t see the issue with it. Abigail does not seem to comprehend that it is unethical to let people be hanged and stoned to death and has no issue telling others that she “ can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down” (Miller 20). Not only is Abigail desensitized to murder and death, she is also numb to other unethical dilemmas. Abigail is desensitized to corrupting the Proctor’s marriage because of her childish lust and obsession for John Proctor. Such desires can be seen through her encounters with Proctor. In regards to their so called “relationship” she says: “it’s she put me out, you cannot pretend it were you. I saw your face when she put me out, and you loved me then and you love me now!” (Miller 22). Abigail does not view her behavior t...