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Character and characterisation of the crucible
The intentions of the crucible play
Conflicts in the play The Crucible
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“You know my name, not my story. You've heard what I've done, but not what I've been through.” Today everyone faces there own obstacles, and how you overcome them is left to the power of your inner strength. Throughout the play The Crucible characters are accused of witchcraft, and are killed if they refuse to admit to using black magic. The court does not do their proceedings fairly, and only go off the word of Abigail, and the other girls. All the characters experience their own trials as families throughout the town are torn apart. However certain characters show outstanding strength, and refuse to take the easy way out of their troubles. A character like John Procter show us how to learn to face our choices, and stand up against others. Arthur Miller uses John Proctor's sin to fester, and test his strength as the play develops. Proctor's first major trial involves him losing his wife due to his own sin. John Proctor’s hopes to recover from his sin of adultery with Abigail, however he is …show more content…
Danforth tries to ease Proctor by informing him that Elizabeth will be safe for a year as long as she really is pregnant. Proctor has the chance to back down before he himself is persecuted by the court. He shows true courage by not backing down, and continues to persuade the court that they are mistaken. To relieve Abigail's true intentions Proctor admits his adultery to the court “ 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” (3,860-870). Proctor chooses to tell the truth, even though he knows it will ruin his reputation, “I have made a bell of my honor! I have rung the doom of my good name”(3,870-880). It would have been easy to keep his crime hidden, but Proctor shows his good nature by putting the accused before
Proctor has many character traits that contribute to him being so difficult to figure out. His crime of lechery against his wife, and his willingness to save her, are both intermixed in a tangle of ethics. After committing adultery with Abigail, John clearly has a guilty conscious. When
“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,...
John Proctor a well-respected man in the city of Salem has a deep secret that plays a major role later on in the story. He had an intimate affair with a younger single girl named Abigail which he regrets greatly. Proctor shows his disgust when he argues with Abigail by insisting, “Abby I never give you hope to wait for me” (page168). Proctor exclaims that he surely regrets his sin and doesn’t want Abigail to think that he loves her and not his own wife. Although Proctor may still have feelings about Abigail he reassures her that he will never have emotional relationships with her ever again. He had the ultimate opportunity to get back at Abigail and stop the witch trials from happening when he meets Abigail alone in the woods; upon their encounter she confesses to John, “We were dancing in the woods last night and my uncle leaped in ...
Early on in the play, the reader comes to understand that John Proctor has had an affair with Abigail Williams while she was working in his home. Abigail believed that if she got rid of Elizabeth Proctor, then John Proctor would become her own. John Proctor had an affair with Abigail, but for him it was just lust, while Abigail believed it to be true love. She told John Proctor that she loved him, and once she destroys Elizabeth, they would be free to love one another. John is horrified at this, but can do nothing to convince Abigail that he is not in love with her. Because of Abigail's twisted plot to secure John for herself, Elizabeth is arrested. John Proctor has to wrestle with the decision of what to do. He knows that he has sinned; yet he does not want to hurt his beloved wife. This is partly why he is willing to die. He knows he has already sinned.
A crucible refers to a harsh test, and in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, each person is challenged in a severe test of his or her character or morals. Many more people fail than pass, but three notable characters stand out. Reverend John Hale, Elizabeth Proctor, and John Proctor all significantly change over the course of the play.
The Crucible is in the format of a play. John Proctor is established as the hero through the use of Miller's contrast in characters. Upon his introduction, Proctor seems to be the only calm, sensible and logical character among the rising hysteria of Abigail's threats, Parris' damnations and babble of the Putnam's. Proctor is easily set apart from the other characters and the beginning of the play due to the obvious differences in character. Miller also builds up the climax throughout the book by making the conversations very quick paced and intense.
In The Crucible, John Proctor is considered the anti-hero. Honest and humble, Proctor is a good man, but one with a secret, fatal flaw. He has fallen for Abigail Williams leading to her jealousy of Elizabeth, Proctor’s wife. Once the trials begin, Proctor realizes that he can terminate Abigail’s accusations; however, he can only do so if ha admits hi own guilt. Proctor is a proud man who places great emphasis on his reputation and such an admission would ruin that. He eventually makes an attempt to name Abigail as a sham without revealing the crucial information. When this attempt fails, he finally breaks out with a confession, calling Abigail a “whore”...
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
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, various characters, whether it is from physical trials or unseen personal struggles, experience some kind of major conflict. There are those who spend every day in fear, wondering whether or not they will be falsely accused of witchcraft. There are others who struggle with more internal trials, such as forgiving those who have hurt them. The protagonist, John Proctor, was a man of strong moral constitution, and held himself to a high standard for the sake of his good name and family. As a result of this, he struggled with a major internal conflict throughout the play.
When Proctor is put on trial, Danforth brings in Elizabeth to questions about the affair. Elizabeth must feel her heart racing because his life is in her hands. The words that came out of Elizabeth’s mouth is taken seriously. When Danfourth questions Elizabeth he says “Look at me! To your own knowledge, has John Proctor even committed the crime of lechery?”(Miller 105). Elizabeth answers faintly and says “No, sir”(Miller 105). At that moment, things went terribly wrong. Elizabeth tries to protect Proctor’s name, so she does not tell the truth. Little does she know, Proctor confesses beforehand. Obviously, she does this because no matter what, she still loves him. After the trial, Elizabeth talks to John about the situation. When Elizabeth soothes John about the situation, she says “John, it come to naught that I should forgive you, if you’ll not forgive yourself” (Miller 126). Elizabeth’s forgiveness makes John want to keep lying. If he knows she is okay with it, he will deny it to others. Her opinion is so important to him because he wants the best for her. Although, he decides to confess. This proves Elizabeth does not want him to die. Finally , after everything Proctor has been through, she lies to the court, so they do not hang him. This proves Elizabeth is a loyal
John Proctor tries to avoid any involvement in the Salem witch trials. His reason for this attempt is motivated by his past fault of committing adultery with Abigail Williams. The guilt connected with his lechery makes Proctor hesitant to speak openly because he would condemn himself as an adulterer. Basically, then, in the first act he attempts to isolate himself from the primary proceedings, saying to Reverend Hale "I've heard you to be a sensible man, Mr. Hale. I hope you'll leave some of it in Salem" (Miller; 1106). Proctor tries to wash his hands of the entire affair, than to instead deal with his own personal problems. His wife Elizabeth constantly badgers him about his adulterous affair and he retorts with "Let you look sometimes for the goodness in me, and judge me not" (1117). Rather than interfering in the witch trials he is still trying to defend himself in the dangerous love triangle.
When we are first introduced to John Proctor, we learn of his affair with Abigail Williams, Abigail's involvement in the accusations of witchcraft, and of John's desire to do what is honorable. Because of John's desire to do what is honorable, he ends the affair with Abigail and begins to attempt to repair his broken marriage. Abigail's jealously of Elizabeth and desire to be John's wife leads to Elizabeth's name being mentioned in court. Abigail's mention of Elizabeth's name in court reveals her attempt to get rid of Elizabeth for she knows Elizabeth will claim innocence and be hung if she does. When word reaches the Proctors, about Abigail's mentioning of Elizabeth's name in court, John concludes that Abigail's motive is to kill Elizabeth. Knowing this information, John is faced with his first difficult decision, save his reputation, keep his affair a secret, and let the accusations continue, or ruin his reputation, tell of his affair, and end the girls' accusations. Not wanting to ruin his good name, John decides to hold his tongue and because of this the trials continue and more accusations are made, some of which lead to his wife's and his friends arrest for witchcraft and bewitchment.
The circumstance around his affair are rather intriguing because while he was expected to take care of his wife, he cheated on her with Abigail. Forgiveness in this case is paramount since the storm cannot settle if Elizabeth does not forgive her husband and if Proctor cannot forgive himself, as he says “I cannot speak but I am doubted, every moment judged for lies as though I come into a court when I come into this house” (Proctor, 52). There is a sense in which the wife feels so betrayed that she cannot properly discard judging Proctor, as indicated in the statement “spare me! You forget nothin’ and forgive nothin’ ” (Proctor, 52). Proctor cannot forgive himself because he perceives his mistakes and finds no reasons to receive any better treatment from Elizabeth who notes “I think you be somewhat ashamed. For I am there and she so close” (Elizabeth,
The play, The Crucible, is a fireball of guilt, evil, and good compiled into one magnification. It is a play with tremendous feelings, with many inside twists hidden in the archives of the true story. It is a play with emotional feelings; feelings of anger, hate, and evil, yet also feelings of goodness, and pureness. Undeniably, The Crucible is a play illustrating good versus evil. The principal characters, Abigail Williams, John Proctor, Ann Putnam and Marry Warren all contain within them elements of good and evil.
Proctor is in his middle thirties he had an affair with Abigail because he didn’t care because he is a sinner and not a sinner against moral fashion the time against his own decent conduct. Proctor is married to Elizabeth but had an affair with a girl named Abigail. Abigail is in love with Proctor but Proctor called Elizabeth name while he was with Abigail. Abigail is now obsessed with John she wants to be his wife and John feels guilty after he committed adultury.