A seemingly ordinary man by the name of John Proctor was found to be at the heart of many of these suspicions within The Crucible.
John Proctor was a respected man of high status within the community, described as having a ‘quiet confidence and an unexpressed hidden force’ although his choice to defy the court and church and work on a Sunday meant he was feared and perhaps resented by many of the population. This created a metaphorical distance between him and the rest of the district which Arthur Miller emphasised by the physical separation of his farm from the township. These factors although contributing to his social appearance also work against him. His distance from the town means they do not know much about him and the way he condemns those around him leads the village to be wary of him.
In many ways Arthur miller presents Proctor as an ordinary man with a wife children and his own land, however he is also portrayed as less than ordinary as he himself is a contradiction in terms. “he is a sinner….against his own vision of decent conduct”
This shows the fact that although he proclaims to conduct himself in a decent manner; he has committed adultery with Abigail Williams. This fact has driven him mad with guilt and the fact his succumbed to her charms upsets him. Proctor is fond of Abigail, however he pushes her away when she tries to snare him for her own.” Abbey, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind. We never touched Abbey.” This means that he wishes them both to forget about the whole regrettable incident. The incident was not forgotten however, and contributed to his downfall.
Their relationship is open and honest, however, any love between the two is merely one sided and provided by the deliriously jealous Abbey. She would like to believe he loves her “you loved me then and you do now” even though all evidence points to the contrary. Abbey intensely dislikes Proctors wife Elizabeth and how he treats her kindly. “She is a cold snivelling woman and you bend to her”. This shows that Abbey believes Elizabeth to be miserable and detached. Proctor, however, does agree on Elizabeth’s frostiness. By saying that her “justice would freeze beer” he is insinuating that he believes her to be behaving coldly toward him, so cold and unforgiving that she could metaphorically ice over the most difficult to freeze substances.
Proctor and Elizabeth’s relationship is one of love that has gone slightly stale with time. They care about each other and their opinions. Proctor is trying to make it up to Elizabeth after the affair. “I mean to please you Elizabeth” shows that Proctor wishes his actions to provide no unhappiness for his wife. He speaks to Elizabeth in a respectful manner as is shown by the quote “are you well today?” However he finds it hard to control his feelings of disapproval towards her at times. Proctor: “(holding back a full condemnation of her) It is a fault. Elizabeth you are the mistress here not Mary Warren” Elizabeth looks to him for approval and blushes with pleasure when she receives it as she wishes to do anything in order to ensure his safety and happiness. Ultimately however this works against Proctor when she presents a lie as truth against her character in order to seemingly save him.
Proctor is not the only man within the book in a position of substantial power. As a Reverend Parris has a lot of influence within the community which goes to his head a little,” the man dreams cathedrals” shows that he prays for impressive Godly possessions to aid him in his role of religious leader. He does not look kindly upon those who wish to drive him from his pulpit and believes that anyone who wishes to do this may be involved in dark deeds. He wishes to know if any witchcraft has taken place within his commune as it would reflect badly on him and his enemies may use this as evidence against him and take his standing of power from him which is what he fears most of all. Parris believes that if he demolishes any evil he will be prasied and so enrols the help of Hale, who is known o be an expert on banishing the “demonic arts”.
The occupants of Salem look up to Hale when he arrives, all but John Proctor who states to Rebecca “ I like not the smell of this ‘authority’” as although he believes Hale to be a sensible man he sees no reason for his coming. Parris however is thrilled and excited by him when Hale arrives as he appears to be a welcome ally. “Mr Hale! Oh! It is good to see you again (taking some books)” Parris clamours to be of help to hale as he aspires to be like him and is in awe of him.
As head of court Danforth also holds pull within Salem and is able to make his views known and perhaps persuade a few to adopt them. He is a figure of authority yet shows much prejudice and allows no one to change his mind. Proctor and Danforth, two men of unmistakable force face each other in court when John is charged with witchcraft.
Many of those charged with witchcraft within The Crucible admit to the crime even though they did not commit it and blame others in order to save themselves, however John Proctors honesty and values lead him to tell the truth in court and admit that he believes the whole situation to be a scandal. His truth telling eventually leads to his death however if this would prove his and his friends innocence then this is a price he feels he has to pay. His motivation is his pride and his morals and to show he community the ridiculousness of the situation. He wishes to combat Abby’s revenge.
In order to prove Abigail Williams is not to be trusted and has merely set out to punish him he tells the court that she is a whore and that they had an affair together. When asked about this Elizabeth goes against every moral fibre and lies saying that he did not commit adultery to the court in order to save her husband against charges of lechery, or so she believes. This is dramatic irony as the audience knows this is far from the truth and by lying she is in fact ultimately sentencing him to death.
Proctor is angered and frustrated by the behaviour of the community and the court and he declares that “God is dead”. The court and majority of the community take this as an admission of guilt, and that this proves he is at one with the devil; however the audience know that it is to the contrary. It means that there can be no God if there is such injustice in the world.
Both Danforth and Hale wish Proctor to confess but for very different reasons. Danforth wishes to be branded a hero for rooting out those involved in witchcraft and getting to the bottom of the situation and ceasing all panic where as hale feels guilty that his teachings have lead to many innocent men’s lives being taken and he wishes to prevent this from happening if possible however he cannot prevent the other prisoners from sacrificing there lives in order to retain there self respect.
Before Proctors sentence, those put to death were of a low class and seen as socially unimportant yet this did not matter to Proctor as every life taken was a travesty to him and this contributes to the fact that he denies involvement in witchcraft after consideration.
Elizabeth is distraught that proctor will hang, they have an understanding that this is the only was forward for them. All they wish for is forgiveness from one another before the deed is done.
‘I have deeds of my own to count. It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery’ Elizabeth is finally taking some of the blame for Johns adultery. They wish to clear the air before he is put to death. Elizabeth also wishes for Proctor to forgive himself also. ‘it comes to naught that I should forgive you if you not forgive yourself.’
Proctor love for his family and wife leads him to sign the paper of admission and live for them however he realises he cannot go through with it and go against his own morals. ‘How can I live without my name? I have given you my soul, leave my name!’ This shows that he believes if he lies he would be sacrificing his name which all he has left of his pride and it would be tainted, and thus in his eyes, unworthy of life.
The fact he is sacrificing his life in order to show the ridiculousness of the whole situation is heroic even though he has partially upon himself as his intimidating status and admission of lechery lead the community to expect the worst of him.
Throughout the play Arthur Miller is trying to address the issues of McCarthyism and human weakness. He is attempting to show how small incidents can be blown out of proportion if jealousy and other human weaknesses are involved. He shows the human tendency to conform and how this can lead to downfall.
He emphasises the importance of truth and loyalty as through death proctor gains respect for himself and saves the community from even more widespread destruction. These issues are still important in contempory situations.
