Integrity In The Crucible

The play, ‘The Crucible’, Arthur Miller explores the universal message of the fragility of society. The play is a dramatization of collective social madness or commonly known as mob mentality, in the 17th century America, which is an analogy of the twentieth century cold war era of McCarthyism. The Salem community is governed by a theocratic society devoted to uphold the beliefs of god, with no room for ‘un-puritan’ action, which are deemed actions of the devil. The main theme of the play is personal integrity, which is clearly displayed in the characters of Abigail Williams, John proctor and Deputy Governor Danforth.

The main protagonist John Proctor exemplifies the quality of personal integrity. He portrays this in his sense of conviction, honesty and resolute in his belief. “She thinks to dance with me on my wife's grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. 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.” (John Proctor, III.374-384) As he berates Danforth that Abigail is just out for revenge, he

sacrifices his personal integrity for his beloved Elizabeth so she may not hang for another women’s jealousy.

In contrast, Miller cleverly opposes John Proctor and Abigail Williams, as she is the complete opposite willing to keep her integrity by swearing that she is being haunted by the demons of Mary Warren, Elizabeth Proctor and Tituba who dispute her personal integrity. Having no remorse to prosecute whoever may sway Danforths decision out of her favour. She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer! Don't lie! (To Hale:) She comes to me while I sleep; she's always making me dream corruptions!” (Abigail Williams)

Deputy Governor Danforth is officer of the state who governs both civil and religious law and order, whilst the governor himself is absent. He is quickly portrayed as an egotistical power fanatic. Due to his egotistical manner, he uses his position to bolster his influence and glories in his power as if he is the man of the hour. His narcissistic attitude makes it hard for the defendant to waver his attitude in court as his reputation is more valuable than justice, continuing his prosecution of the innocent

In the examination of these characters and their Personal Integrity that they have displayed, the audience must consider the sociocultural and affiliation of Salem’s Puritan community.

Puritanism was the given name of the extreme believers of the Protestant Church of England, who sought to eliminate any trace of Christianity from their society. They believed that God is the centre of their life; they went so far to establish theocracy as their government. A feature in the playbook is that once someone was stricken by an illness no one had any medical knowledge on it and turned their minds towards a religious meaning of this illness blaming the enemy of the state, Satan. Gile Coreys states this when he concludes that his inability to pray was due to his wife reading books. If anything went wrong, in which they could not explain how it went wrong the blame was aimed towards the

devil.

Through the characterisation of John Proctor, Abigail Williams and Deputy Governor Danforth, Arthur Miller has recreated the image of the 1690’s Salem. Its volatile climate has positioned the audience to question the concept of personal integrity. The ideas of truth, honesty and belief have been corrupted within the fictional characters. Miller has mirrored the same social context of McCarthyism into a Puritan society