By focusing on three or four scenes, examine Arthur Miller 's presentation of John Proctor's moral journey in the Crucible.

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Kim Mueller Year11

By focusing on three or four scenes, examine Arthur Miller ‘s presentation of John Proctor’s moral journey.

A crucible is defined in the dictionary as ‘a severe test or trial’. Throughout this play, John Proctor’s morals and beliefs are challenged to a great extent as we watch his character develop and admire his strength to do what is right whatever the consequences.

A moral journey is the development of someone’s morals and beliefs as they are tested by certain situations and react to them in different ways. I wouldn’t say it was a mapped out journey, more one that is likely to change without warning.  

Salem was a very religious and close-knit community. The strict creed meant that its inhabitants lived very monotonous lives and continuously feared doing wrong by God. Many people found they could not live with the pressures forced upon them by the church as religion was preached so vigorously and people were discouraged from forming their own opinion on life. This caused the community to become very repressed. The way everyone reacted to the accusations of witchcraft stem from this. People suddenly became very paranoid of everybody else’s actions and also became suspicious that they may be a witch. They also used the right to call somebody a witch as vengeance.  The fact that Proctor was willing to go against the church and the rest of the community to follow his views of descent conduct makes him stand out.

I will be studying several extracts of the play to illustrate Proctor’s moral journey. John Proctor is often seen as the main character in the play and the first point where we are given any information about him is in the early stages of Act 1. Here, Miller directly intervenes and provides us with a lengthy passage on John Proctor giving us information on his background and character. This is essential, as otherwise, we have no knowledge of his values before he enters the stage.

Miller’s script: “But as we shall see, the steady manner he displays does not spring from an untroubled soul. He is a sinner, a sinner not only against the moral fashion of the time, but against his own vision of descent conduct. 

This quote also backs up the idea that John does not need to be punished for sins he has committed, as he is his own worst critic.

At first Miller portrays him in a harsh light. When he enters in the first act, he reprimands his servant for not being at home helping Elizabeth and orders her to go immediately. The stage directions here allow us to see the effect of John on others. He obviously has a sense of authority as Miller describes Mary Warren’s reaction when he enters the room as follows:

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‘She can barely speak for embarrassment and fear’ 

After the departure of Mary, John is then left alone with Abigail and Miller presents us with a scene full of hurt, desire and tension. Abigail is a very useful character when analysing John’s morals. She is very manipulative and tests his will power to reject her. John, at first, is not aware of Abigail’s determination to win his love. He says impulsively some things that Abigail interprets in her own, yet wrong, way. She then seems very confident about what she is saying and feels she is being lead ...

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