In the passage spoken by John Proctor in The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Proctor speaks in a frantic and frenzied manner about the unjust accusations in Salem. Mary Warren has just announced to Danforth that Proctor did make her sign her name many times at night. She indicates that Proctor is working with the devil and Danforth immediately begins to question Proctor and his alliances. Proctor has now gone insane with unbelief. Seeing the ridiculousness to the situation and how Abby has been able to trick the judge and others with just her words. He cannot believe these occurrences have developed and begins to yell “God is dead” in a maniacal way. He cannot imagine that God is truly with these people when lies are believed so willingly. Proctor
“ I say- I say- God is dead!” Yells John Proctor as Danforth asks him if he will confess himself to hell. John Proctor lives in Salem, his wife has been accused of witchcraft by Abigail Williams who John Proctor had an affair with. A short while after Elizabeth is accused, John Proctor also gets accused by Mary Warren.
John Proctor: “God in heaven, what is John Proctor, what is John Proctor”. John is a man of strong moral beliefs, concerned only for the safety of his family and personal welfare. He cares of nothing for the beliefs of any of the other people in the town and what his supervisor which is the Reverend, thinks either. After trying to avoid involvement in the witch trials he is later prosecuted for witchery and sentenced to hang. John trys to avoid any involvement in the Salem witch trials. His reason for doing so is to protect his image because he is afraid he will be committed of adultery with Abigail Williams. Following these events he trys to save everyone’s lives by admitting to this horrible offense adultery and ends up losing the trial along with his life. He did have a chance to live but instead of signing away his name and his soul to keep his life, he wanted to die honorably with his friends not without a name, a soul, and with guilt. “John Proctors decision to die is reasonable and believable”. Reverend Parris, the Salem minister and Proctors immediate supervisor, which says “ there is either obedience or the church will burn like hell is burning.” “The church in theocratic Salem is identical with the state and the community and will surely crumble if unquestioning obedience falters in the least.” Proctor, on the other hand, “has come to regard his self as a king of fraud,” as long as he remains obedient to an authority which he cannot respect.
John Proctor depicts a courageous individual with an image of a sincere and an honorable man, not only in minds of the Salem community, but also in his own. His death implies more than a “tragedy”, but rather a strong action that inspires and encourages citizens in Salem to follow his footstep for change. Proctor is frustrated at how the court for believing Abigail and not the innocents. He says, “My wife is innocent, except she knew a whore when she saw one! You are pulling Heaven down and raising up a whore!” (Act III). He is infuriated that the officials in the court believe the ridiculous pretenses and acting of the Salem girls, that everyone’s the belief in god seems to be deteriorating.
John was a cherished man, a man that no one can replace. I stand before thee to bid my beloved John Proctor one last goodbye. John if you are listening to this, let me tell u, I had never seen such goodness in this world till the day I set my eyes on you. God has you in his arms now John and I in my heart. Oh the sorrow of bitter justice, if only there was such a thing, my husband would still be alive and well today to see his creation brought into this world. He is under gods wings now, a white knight who stopped the pillars of Salem from crumbling down to the cinders of 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).
According to many experts of both history and literature, Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero is used to describe many protagonists in both American and world literature. There are many aspects to Aristotle’s definition, and each idea helps to explain the structure, purpose, and intended effect of tragedy. Many of Aristotle’s ideas can apply to multiple characters in The Crucible. Although Proctor unarguably represents the tragic hero of this novel, Reverend Hale’s story fits surprisingly well with the criteria that Aristotle believes to define a tragic hero. Hale is a character of noble stature, suffers with his tragic flaw of arrogance, yet has a reversal of fortune that is not fully deserved and not fully
Danforth tells Proctor “Courage man, courage-let not her witness your good example that she may come to God herself. Now hear it, Goody Nurse! Say on, Mr. Proctor. Did you bind yourself to the Devil’s service?” (Miller 128).
The Crucible is set in a Puritan theocratic society, where every citizen is concerned with religious piety and purity. Thus, there is imagery tied in with biblical images when a character decides to lie or when a character decides to be honest. For example, when Proctor decides to confess his affair to the court he says, “A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you-see her what she is…” (II. 131-133). 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 first you told me your suspicion. But I wilted, and like a Christian, I confessed. Confessed! Some dream I had must have mistaken you for God that day” (II. 67-69). The repetition of the words “God” and “confession” reveals the connection Proctor places between being honest and having religious piety. On the other hand, when Abigail is deceitful, her quotes are surrounded by evil or devilish imagery. The devilish imagery can be seen when Abigail tries to persuade Betty and Mary Warren to lie about her actions in the forest. Abigail says, “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will pointy reckoning that will shudder you” (I. 131-133). The imagery of the “black of some terrible night” (I.10) and darkness relates back to devilish acts Abigail committed. Abigail can be seen as the evil in the play, as her decision to accuse others for committing witchcraft is the cause of the witch trials. Also, the forest, where Abigail drinks blood to condemn Elizabeth Proctor to death, is seen as a devilish area to many of the Salem
When John Proctor chokes Mary to testify in court, she responds by saying “She 'll kill me for sayin ' that! Abby 'll charge lechery on you, Mr. Proctor!I cannot, they 'll turn on me—”(Act II; 80). Mary Warren is extremely scared of defying Abigail because she knows what Abigail can do to her. Mary claims her friends will “turn on [her]” if she testifies in court, which is why she decides to take the safe route. Mary’s previous encounters with Abigail are what lead her to think that Abigail will actually “kill” her if she goes against her orders. Mary’s reluctance to testify in court shows how deeply she cares about other people’s perceptions of her and her need to shape her actions correspondingly. Mary’s intense fear also comes out when she openly reveals Proctor’s sins to save herself from being accused for witchcraft. She does this by telling the court “You 're the Devil 's man! My name, he want my name. "I 'll murder you," he says, He wake me every night, his eyes were like coals and his fingers claw my neck”(Act III; 119). Mary constantly repeats that Proctor wants her “name” because she wants to prove to the court that Proctor is a bad man who is indeed guilty of performing sins. She mentions his “eyes were like coals” to show just how intense he was about harming her if she did not comply. In both these situations, Mary
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
In the crucible, I believe reputation and respect was interwoven in the term of the play the ‘‘crucible’’. Reputation and Respect can also be a theme or a thematic idea in the play, reputation is very essential in a town where social status is synonymously to ones competence to follow religious rules. Your standing is what enables you to live as one in a community where everyone is bound to rules and inevitable sequential instructions. Many characters for example, john proctor and reverend parris, base their action on the motive to protect their reputation which is only exclusive to them. People like reverend parris saw respect as what made them important or valuable in a town like Salem, this additionally imprinting to his character as a very conventional man.
“Danforth:... You will sign your name or it is no confession, Mister! His breast heaving with agonized breathing, Proctor now lays down the paper and signs his name… Proctor has just finished signing when Danforth reaches for the paper. But Proctor snatches it up...His breast heaving, his eyes staring, Proctor tears the paper and crumbles it, and he is weeping in fury, but erect.” Not once in his time from that moment in the court, or jail, or at Gallows Hill did he confess to witchcraft, despite Reverend Hale’s attempts to persuade him otherwise. Proctor stood against the court, the girls, and some of the townsfolk, and although he was in the right, and his claims were accurate,...
Judge Danforth, the deputy governor of Massachusetts and leading judge of the Salem witch trials, is described as a man who can do no wrong. The innocent citizens listen and obey to everything that Danforth requests. Part of the reason why Danforth believes he can do no wrong is because he feels he is guided by God, “The law, based upon the Bible, and the Bible, writ by Almighty God, forbid the practice of witchcraft, and describe death as the penalty thereof” (46). Danforth must follow God’s instructions and execute the accused citizens of witchcraft in Salem. As the play progresses the population of Salem decreases due to the amount of hangings, Danforth realizes Abigail is the one at fault. Danforth is put on a problematic situation. Danforth knows he’s killed so many innocent citizens but if he steps down from the court, he would be admitting to all his wrongdoings and he’s reputation would be ruined. When Danforth finds out Proctor is going to be hanged due to witchcraft he says, “Mr. Proctor, you have been notified, have you not? I see light in the sky, Mister; let you counsel with your wife, and may God help you turn your back on Hell.” (58). In this quote, Danforth is trying to persuade Proctor to confess of witchcraft even though he is innocent of it, just because he doesn’t want to be the one to hang him. Danforth is put in a very complicated
Analysis of The Crucible by Arthur Miller ‘You have made your magic now, for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor.’ Assess the developments in John Proctor’s character that validate this statement. How does Miller create a sense of tension and suspense in the build up to this climatic moment in Act 4? In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible he has used many dramatic devices in order to create tension and build up to the climaxes of the story.
She used to serve me in my house, sir. A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you—see her what she is. My wife, my dear good wife, took this girl soon after, sir, and put her out on the highroad. And being what she is, a lump of vanity, sir— Excellency, forgive me, forgive me. She thinks to dance with me on my wife's grave! … God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore's vengeance, and you must see it now” (3. ). The fact that Proctor came clean when it really came down to it speaks volumes about his character; he chose to try to save his wife instead of saving himself. He sacrificed his good name to save his wife’s name instead. He then goes on to try and show the court the wickedness of what they are doing, “A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud—God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together!” (Miller 596-601). This quote shows that Proctor is no longer afraid to see things how they are and take responsibility for the things he is