John Proctor has had an affair with Abigail Williams. This has an effect on his conscience. "He is a sinner, a sinner not only against the moral fashion but against his own vision of decent conduct." John's conscience troubles him throughout the play.
It is not all women that Proctors treats badly. When he is with and talking to his wife Elizabeth, he treats her with respect and does not boss her around. When Proctor is with Elizabeth and his children we see another side to him. A loving and caring side. When we first see Proctor and his wife talking at the start of act II we see there is a lot of dramatic tension between them. If you did not know who they were, you would just think they were two people talking who had met for the first time, not a married couple with children. You can tell things are awkward between them because at the start of their conversation they use single clause sentences that help show us that both of them feel uncomfortable together e.g. “Are you well today?” “I am.” It also tells us that they might have other things on their minds or they might want to be somewhere else. The reason for that could be that Proctor is very ashamed of committing adultery with Abigail Williams. It is dramatic irony when Proctor is asked to name the Ten Commandments and has to be reminded of adultery by his wife. It is ironic because his wife was the victim of his adultery and she had to remind him of it. In those days adultery was a very serious crime and if found out, you could get punished severely. After Act I everything gets worse for Proctor.
In Act II when his wife Elizabeth is being questioned she accidentally says something relating to witchcraft and the devil. She says “She must be ripped out of this world!” She was talking about Abigail and how she hates her, but the judges misinterpret it, think she is admitting she is a witch and wanting to put a spell on Abigail to kill her. This creates dramatic tension because the audience knows that Elizabeth is not guilty so we become more interested in the story. By doing this Elizabeth is helping condemn herself. Proctor also does the same when he says, “God is dead.” He was so angry about everything that he just said it. What I think Proctor meant was that everyone, or almost everyone had turned their backs to God and did witchcraft or lied about people doing witchcraft. I think that proctor has a good point because in the Salem witch hunt, they blamed the people who not many people liked or that were ranked low in the society, e.g. tramps or slaves. They would pick on these people because hardly anyone liked them and it would benefit their community if they were killed or put in jail. Slowly, through the play, the ranking for blame gets higher and higher. Proctor gets blamed. Then right at the top the judges get accused and they just say, don’t talk rubbish. Just because they are very important doesn’t mean that they cannot be criminals. “The peril is no respecter of persons, Mr Danforth” The person in the play who says this means that when the devil chooses someone to influence or take over they choose anyone in society. It could be a tramp or a judge.
In the play there is one person who is not scared by Proctor and it is Abigail. Near the start of the play we work out that Abigail and Proctor had an affair. The readers were not actually told, we had to work it out from what they say e.g. Proctor says… “That’s done with.” As if they did have a relationship together and he wants to forget it. When Abigail says… “ I’m waiting for you every night.” Being the hero of the story, Proctor regrets doing it and tells Abigail to forget it because he has a loving family. Abigail was not happy about it so she decides to make Proctor unhappy throughout the whole play. Proctor knows that Abigail is pretending to see the devil and he gets very angry about it. In act III Proctor shouts “Whore whore!” at Abigail. He shouts this because Abigail accuses Mary of witchcraft. This get Proctor very angry, but what made him shout out was when she said, “Oh Heavenly Father”. Proctor was angry because she had lied and betrayed God, but she tries to fake it and cries out to him. Abigail creates a lot of the dramatic tension around Proctor when she argues with him. As the readers, we know that Proctor is the good guy and Abigail is the bad guy. When Abigail and Proctor are near each other there is lots and lots of tension. Abigail using the whole situation of witch craft to her advantage, and being very manipulative and sly. For example, Abigail was using the whole situation to get back at John Proctor, she wanted him but he didn't want her, and in trying to gain his affections, she involved all of the people of Salem. During the play Abigail had one goal (John Proctor) and she didn't care how she achieved this.
Each act has its own source of dramatic tension. The tension builds up throughout each act and reaches the climax at the end of the act. In the last scene, there is a lot more dramatic tension surrounding Proctor than any of the other acts. Procter is faced with a choice, to live and lie, or to tell the truth and die. People are faced with everyday problems and try to deal with them in a morally correct way like Proctor does. Procter had been taken prisoner and tortured to make him confess. When he was talking to Elizabeth for the last time he shouted, “ I want my life…” to Hathorne. Then, when Proctor realises he has to sign his name and it is going to be put on the church he changes his mind. He does this because his whole life he has lied, e.g., about Abigail, they pretended it didn’t happen. “I cannot have another in my life!” He was talking about another name. The after he says, “Leave me my name.” This is when he wants to keep his name, not to sign it away and it to be put on the church for everyone to see. This is where the dramatic tension is at its highest because Proctor is standing up for himself and decides he would rather die a truthful, God loving man, than live the rest of his life knowing that he lied to save himself. This is when John Proctor becomes the hero of the play because, in the end he did the good morally correct thing, to tell the truth.
Throughout the play the contrast between light and dark is a main feature. It helps add to the tension around a character. In the footnote at the begging of act one Miller has used the image of light "There is a narrow window at the left. Through it's leaded pains the morning sunlight streams. A candle still burns near the bed… The room gives of an air of clean spareness." This symbolises that everything is OK, there are no bad things happening. Light throughout the play is use to symbolise good. As the story line continues the atmosphere and even the scenes become darker, even the weather becomes more depressing. Dark is used throughout the play to symbolise bad. For example, the courtroom is always dark. There are no open windows and no candles. In some cases certain characters bring light into a scene that was dark, like John Proctor. But when he is accused of witchcraft the light that accompanies him became a lot dimmer. This cause dramatic tension because we are led to believe by the lighting that Proctor is evil at one point and at others he is good.
Arthur Miller also puts the audience in a very frustrating position because we can see how wrong and how stupid the characters are being. The audience would get very angry at the fact that only John Proctor and Mr Hale can see sense, even though it takes two acts for them to see it. An example of this would be John Proctor's reaction to Abigail stumbling in with a needle in her stomach, claiming that John Proctor's wife is a voodoo witch. "Why she done it herself I hope you aren't takin' it for proof, Mister". Abigail claims this to get back at John Proctor, the audience however are led to believe that she did it to herself, even though it is not directly said in the text.
It's also interesting to see how different relationships develop as the plot unfolds. For example, the relationship between John and Elizabeth Proctor goes through almost unrecognisable changes. At the beginning of the play we see their relationship very cold. However at the end of act four we hear the warm and passionate exchange between the two characters as Elizabeth opens her heart to John. We can see and sympathise with how each of the relationships are being affected by the pressure they are being put under. This, as with the characteristics of the characters, allows us to become even more involved in the plot. This is here top make the audience take a rollarcoaster ride at one moment thinking Proctor is good and one minute thinking he is bad.
Lots of Arthur Miller’s plays are about the same kind of theme. They are all about the political system of the USA in the 20th century and Millar’s views towards them. In “No villain”, which was based on Millar’s family and “All my sons”, which opened in 1947, Miller made attacks on capitalism. Miller was unhappy about the political system. “Death of a salesman”, which was opened in 1949, “deals with an individual in society, trying to make a living and still keep his dignity.” From The Crucible book. It came from Miller’s own ideas on capitalism and the American dream. It is all about the American dream and how different people accomplish it and their idea what it is. Miller condemns the American dream in the play. There are two characters that are both salesman and have achieved the American dream in way. One of them is very rich, while another is well off but has a family and is happy. Miller is trying to make a point that there are many ways to accomplish the American dream, not just wealth.
In one of Miller’s plays, “A view from a bridge”, an immigrant want’s to marry someone. Not because the immigrant loves them, but they will become an American citizen if they do. This play deals with the policy on immigration, which is still a problem today and the American dream. It is very hard to believe that someone would marry someone just to become an American citizen. Miller had strong opinions on this as well.
Miller uses the Salem witch-hunt to put forward his views on McCarthyism-the hunting down and prosecuting of any Americans who were thought to have taken part in anti-capitalism. The accusations became hysterical and many people were asked to 'name names' of people in meetings held many years previously. Miller himself was brought before the committee led by Joseph McCarthy. Miller saw the public confessions required by the committee, as parallels with the naming of names at Salem in 1692. This incident relates to “The crucible” because anyone was accused because there was not sufficient evidence.
