John Proctor Opposites

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1. Which two characters are opposites of each other? What purpose does this opposition serve in the play so far?
An example of a character foiling one another is John Proctor and Reverend Hale. Proctor and Hale both go through a moral journey that leads each other on the opposite ends of each other. In the beginning, Hale starts out devoting himself to find out the truth in Salem through his work and faith. In the end, he then preaches the other prisoners to lie in order for them to save their lives. When convincing Elizabeth to confess, he says, “Let you not mistake your own duty as I mistook my own. I came into this village like a bridegroom to his beloved, bearing gifts of high religion the very crowns of holy law I bought, and what I touched with my bright confidence, it died, where I turned the eye of my great faith, blood followed up.” After taking part of the mass hysteria, Hale now feels unsure and even guilty for putting religion before the truth. John Proctor, on the other hand, goes from being uncertain of telling the truth all the way to dying as an honest man. He tells Elizabeth, “Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!” He wants the town …show more content…

At first, Proctor says, “I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint.” What does he mean by this? Why does he later change his mind?
John Proctor believed that he wasn’t a truthful person to begin with, so giving in to a lie would not automatically make him a sinner in God’s eyes. When speaking with Elizabeth, he says, “Nothing’s spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten long before.” Proctor doesn’t believe he should have a heroic death due to his past sins such as his affair with Abigail. His implication was that he has lied before and therefore it would be no different if he lied again. He later decides to tear up his confession because he realizes the only way to save his soul isn’t by continuing to fall from evil, but rather get up from it and die as much as an honest man that he

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