Choose a character from 'The Crucible' whom you consider to be important. What is the role of your chosen character in the play?

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Arthur Miller wrote the play ‘The Crucible’ to show the historical parallel between the Salem witch trials of 1692 and the McCarthy ‘witch’ hunt of the late 1940’ and 50’s.

The character John Proctor seems to represent and show the viewpoint of a real man, unaffected by hysteria; a difficult thing to portray during the 1950’s in the USA, due to the fear and hate of Communism and the ‘witch’ hunt for communists.

John Proctor is the central character of the play. He a realistic character, the audience can relate to him and sympathize with him. He is a somewhat strong character and is described by Miller as “powerful of body, even-tempered and not easily led”, the last comment perhaps being the most important. His character earns respect throughout the play as the audience sees the moral arguments he has and internal conflicts he has to deal with. John Proctor is a man with a guilty conscience, which makes him indecisive until it is too late, audiences can relate this to their own, maybe far less dramatic lives.

John Proctor has made a mistake; he has slept with his former servant girl, teenage Abigail Williams. It is also shown in Act 1 that he still lusts after her - when she asks if he looked up at her window for her, he replies “I may have looked up”, this shows his characters weakness, but he remains strong willed. He does not give into what he obviously thinks of as great temptation, again. This shows the audience that he has recognized his mistake and is not repeating it.

John Proctor is an honest man, but has undermined himself with his one act of dishonesty. He betrayed his wife, but could not conceal his guilt for long, which gives an indication of his true honest nature. He tells his wife Elizabeth about his affair with Abigail and this is made obvious throughout Act 2 and highlighted by the tension in the scene. This shows faults in his character and the audience therefore sees his character as realistic, because no one is perfect, and therefore can relate to him.

John Proctor is guilt ridden and is therefore desperately trying to make up for his mistakes. His action in Act 2, seasoning the food to his taste without his wife Elizabeth’s knowledge, then complementing her on how well she has judged the seasoning, shows his wish that she should be happy. He also hides the fact that he was alone in the room with Abigail, proving that he does not want to hurt Elizabeth’s feelings more. However, this backfires on him by making him look worse to Elizabeth when she finds out later in the act. When it comes to the last act the audience sees that the forgiveness from Elizabeth is all he wants “I would have you forgiveness, Elizabeth”.

This shows John as a flawed character, one who thinks as himself as a sinner. The audience can relate to his internal conflicts, they can see the reasoning in his mind and this shows that he is a realistic character.

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His character is strong willed but shows a range of emotions as his character progresses throughout the play. During Act 2 the audience sees the coolness and the tension between John Proctor and Elizabeth. They can sense that what is being thought is not what is being said. Proctor and Elizabeth fear each other and this illustrates one of the features of the play-fear. Their short sentences and being silent suggests this. It also brings tension upon their marriage, and the audience. John’s relationship with Abigail obviously still comes between him and Elizabeth, with an undercurrent of resentment on John’s ...

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