Because it is my name (The Crucible, Act 4)
John Proctor says the above quote, which simply reinforces everything I wrote earlier. John does not want to give up his name; he cannot have another in this life. Better to have one unblemished name. Than to have hundreds of names all tainted in one way or another. John does not want to give up his good name; he would rather give up his life, which we see in the rather gruesome and sudden ending of the play.
This shows John Proctors personal struggle with himself. He wanted to live, yet he also wanted to keep his good name. He couldn’t do both and in the end he chose his name. He was fighting with himself right up to the last minute, trying to understand the right thing to do. Live or Die?
It is evil is it not, It is evil (The crucible, Act 4)
John Proctor said this to his wife, Elizabeth. He at the time was speaking about the Salem witch trials and confessing himself to the court. He knew it was the wrong thing to do. Evil as he so aptly put. It was an evil thing to do, yet he made amends by refusing to give another name, and in the end not signing his name. However despite this he was still prepared to do this in order to live with his wife and children.
His natural instinct was telling him to run, to confess, yet he knew in his conscience that it was the wrong, indeed evil thing to do. Almost everyone would choose life, don’t you think? So why didn’t he?
I have come to believe that John Proctor chose death because he isn’t like you or me, John’ special. We might be able to live our life being shunned and whispered about, but John couldn’t. He was an honest person, and couldn’t live the rest of his life as a lie; he would rather die than live his life as a lie. John didn’t deserve to die yet he died because the court was corrupted by Abby’s lies.
Damn The Village, I confess to God (The Crucible Act 4)
John Proctor, once more however this time he was considering signing his name, yet he didn’t. John didn’t sign his name again because it was his name. He didn’t want his name to be blackened in the village. Not just for his sake but also for his children’s sake. He was not confessing to the village but confessing to God. As it was to him the confession was going, not the court. The court wanted to take his name and put it on the church door. Yet John believed that his confession was going to God, therefore he thought he could do both, confess and keep his name, yet the court said that he had to sign his name. In which John believed he would be losing his good name.
Therefore John decided to go against the village, damning them, and sent his confession straight to God. This in turn caused Johns death, yet he died with honour and pride, as deep down inside, where it counts, he knew he had done the right thing. Died, yet kept his name and he’d done it without lying.
I say-I say-God is Dead (The crucible Act 3)
John Proctors very nearly cracked here. He knows quite well that there is a God and he is alive, yet he shouts out this lie anyway, as he knows now that he will have to die, this proves that John Proctor is only a man, as he here loses his temper, you can imagine him, arms waving, nostrils flaring, shouting the words at the members of the court in anger. Despite the fact that he resists the witchcraft scam for longer than the others, all he is is a man.
God is a pivotal character in the play, the fact that we don’t actually see him lessens the fact not at all, because the entire play is run on the theme of God, and how loyal the people are to God. The ‘witches’ hate God, they detest him and work for the evil devil, yet any who were accused of being a witch and denied it, were put to death, this system cannot work.
This play also has a lot of biblical illusions inside its words, to name one the gallows at the end, when the most important person (John Proctor, Jesus) and on either side of him are two others, in this play Martha Corey and Francis Nurse, in Jesus’ time two robbers. Yet the set up was the same. With the central person in the middle, as well as this at the end of the film, which Arthur Miller helped to produce, the people on the gallows began saying the ‘Our Father’, this again is a symbol of faith, showing once more Gods influence in the play.
(With a cry of his whole soul)
Because it is my name! (The Crucible Act 4)
This quote is now being used for its stage directions, in the play, when being read, this line can easily be read normally, yet it should really be screamed to the mountain tops, with all the air in the readers lungs, as he is spending all his effort in just getting the point across that is his name it belongs to him, and the council have no right to drag it through the mud. This shows just how much John Proctor valued his name, it was his and the one thing no-one could take from him. No-one could take his name. This is what his conscience was telling him; don’t give up your name its yours. No-one can take it from you. This is but one of the reasons he died rather than lived, John Proctor would not, could not live a lie.
During the time when Arthur Miller was writing this play, America had gone crazy with the attempt of trying to hunt out communists. This was the same kind of craziness shown in 1692 during the hunting of the witches in Salem. It was a case of mass hysteria, everybody was scared for their lives, so began blaming others, these people in turn blamed others, and thereby a large majority of the population were at risk. This play was a way for Arthur Miller to get across to his readers what he believed, I believe he was trying to show that if one person, one brave person refused to be pulled into the trap, and said no! They wouldn’t name any others then the wave would quickly pass, yet as it was it took many years for the hysteria to pass over America.
It was Senator Joseph McCarthy, who began by proclaiming that he had a list of 205 names of people in America who were communists. This list was later reduced to 57, yet that is still a large amount of people to be charged with ‘shaping policy in the state department.’ Like the Salem judges he continued to extend and repeat these charges even after they had failed. Refusal to give other names was seen as contempt of the committee and could be punished. Very few of McCarthy’s victims had the strength and courage shown by John Proctor in the play.
I wish to conclude by saying John Proctor’s conscience was telling him to die, to keep his name, yet at the same time it was telling him to live, and grow up with his children. He was having a real struggle, trying to decide which to do. Most people would choose life and not look back at what they were loosing, yet today you can move to another country, and start a new life, in those days if you moved you would be followed with suspicion wherever you went. Even a city further away would be suspicious of a traveller moving for no reason, especially after hearing about the witch trials.
I believe that John Proctor did the right thing in refusing to give in to the court, even though he was going to give in his conscience kept him in check, so he eventually did what was best for him and for the entire community of Salem, as if he hadn’t who can say what would have happened, the community of Salem might have being totally destroyed.
Words 1740
Chris Neal 10mpi
