John’s inner conflict is greatly used to cause suspense in the play. This suspense is shown brilliantly in the final stages of ’The Crucible’ when John is deciding whether to sign a confession of witchcraft, to save himself, or to die, saving his name and pride. This everyday conflict between John’s choice to stand up for personal values and justice or to go along with society is turned into a life or death situation. Everything is intensified in the puritanical dystopia of Salem. I found myself willing to fight for John’s right to live and remain a respected man, he faces a moral dilemma and we are on the edge of our seats all the way to his death.
Arthur Miller introduces this conflict fairly early in the play as John could have made a stand from the moment Abigail declared she had seen the devil. Cleverly Miller keeps this suspense going until he end of the play when, ironically, John can no longer stand up for the truth and get justice. Unfortunately, John’s choice to stand up for his values goes hand in hand with his death warrant, ending the suspense, and the story.
John’s conflicts also create the main emotion in ‘The Crucible’. We are cleverly positioned to be outrageously biased towards John. We are held in mid-air, supported only by a rope, solely made of our sympathy and love for John and our need for justice. At the end of the play the knife of Puritanism destroys this rope, killing all hope of justice, devastating our faith in Salem and most importantly ending John’s life. These emotions are what connect us so closely to John, and therefore the play.
Hale-”Man, you will hang! You cannot!”
Proctor-”I can. And there’s your first marvel, that I can. You have made your magic now, for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. Not enough to weave a banner with, but white enough to keep it from such dogs. Give them no tears! Tears pleasure them! Show honour now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!
This section of “The Crucible” is highly emotional as our main character is choosing between life and death. In this quote we see the desperation of Hale, as he feels guilty for letting such a thing happen and he wishes he was with John from the start. John’s words of encouragement to Elizabeth make it clear that he doesn’t want society to win. But, he has nothing left. He no longer has his private life, as everyone knows about his affair with Abigail and now John is our in the open, The have been stripped of their clothes and now have no room to hide anything. Society has invaded their personal space and private lives, which is symbolic in this play.
John also brings confusion to the play and forced me to face a puzzling question. Is John Proctor a victim or a hero? After a long deliberation I concluded that he is both. Throughout the play we are told that power is everything, but all this is crumbled by John’s situation in his last hours. I was appalled to learn that even someone as powerful, respected and confident as John can be made a victim by the power of theocracy and the distorted dream of a puritanical society. However, as I mentioned earlier, John is everything we dream of being. Even the threat of death doesn’t persuade him to put aside his values his pride and his struggle for justice.
In the Proctor household there is a great tension between John and Elizabeth, as she still hasn’t forgiven Proctor for his adultery, his short temper and her lack of trust cause many arguments. This confusion, created by secrecy and lies, creates room for the irony that seals Elizabeth's fate. When Mary Warren makes a doll for Elizabeth, as a genuine gift, Abigail persuades her to stick the needle in the stomach of the doll for safekeeping. This doll is then found at the proctor house, when Hale enters their house, ignoring their privacy he questions their faith in the church. As John doesn’t go to church on Sundays he must be a bad person, capable of witchcraft. The doll is found with the needle still in the stomach and Elizabeth is accused of witchery. This links to the fate of Tituba, because her faiths and traditions were different, they were believed to be damaging society. Practices such as Voodoo were feared and disallowed. This shows that Religion is omnipotent, and it didn’t allow for any space to be human or weak. Ironically what was meant to be a present turns out to be the evidence to justify her death warrant.
Elizabeth- (crying out) “You’ll tear it free-when you come to know that I will be your only wife, or no wife at all! She has an arrow in you yet, John Proctor, and you know it well!”
Hale-”Good evening.”
Proctor-”Why, Mr. Hale! Good evening to you, sir. Come in, come in.”
This quote shows the change in tone and atmosphere when their privacy is invaded. This is also typical, as throughout the play tone and atmosphere are driven by a change in conflict. This is symbolic and will happen again and again in the rest of the play. Theocracy believes there is no need for a private life, life is God and his church. This all adds to the audience positioning as we are pushed farther towards John and away from society and figures such as Danforth. This also adds confusion because with a figure of the church in their home it becomes harder to define what a private feeling or place is.
We are largely involved in ‘The Crucible’ and we almost take the role of god in the play. We believe we are able to make judgements about all the character and we are given numerous conflicts to judge, and then take sides on. This also puts us in a judge’s position, strengthening our will for justice. Through the use of secrecy, lies and audience positioning, we are entangled in the confusion of Salem, the ambiguity of it holds us even tighter to the exciting plot. This role and involvement forces us to think, therefore connecting us to the play and intensifying all emotions and conflicts.
In my opinion the main twist of the play was in the court scene where Proctor confesses his affair with Abigail, who doesn’t deny it and doesn’t confess to it either. Elizabeth is brought in as a witness, she could save all the living people accused of witchcraft by telling the court the truth, by removing Abigail’s power. However, her choice to lie or confess her husband’s adultery to the court is not based on her values and her morals. She is unaware of the importance of her decision and she doesn’t know that John has already confessed his crime.
Danforth-“What of Abigail Williams?”
Elizabeth-”I came to think he fancied her. And so one night I lost my wits, I think, and put her out on the highroad.”
Danforth-”Your husband-did he indeed turn from you?”
Elizabeth-(in agony): My husband-is a goodly man, sir.”
Danforth-”Then he did not turn from you.”
Elizabeth-(starting to glance at Proctor): He-
Danforth-(reaches out and holds her face, then): “Look at me! To your own knowledge, has John Proctor ever committed the crime of lechery! (in a crisis of indecision she cannot speak) Answer my question! Is your husband a lecher!
Elizabeth-(faintly): No, sir.
This scene is packed with suspense, will Elizabeth tell the truth? Dramatic irony also plays a key part in this scene, we know that John has already confessed to his lechery, but Elizabeth doesn’t. She thinks that she is saving his name, when ironically she is labelling him as a liar. She chooses to lie in the church, ignoring her religious values. She puts her husband and family first, which shows us that she is on the private side of the private life vs. the church conflict which runs throughout the play. The confess or not to confess conflict is also shown here, Elizabeth is one of the many characters forced to make this decision, along with Proctor, the girls, Mary Warren and Abigail.
The punctuation in Danforth’s speech intensifies his anger, it creates more tension and puts even more pressure on Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s sentences are mostly short, show her lack of confidence and weakness. This makes us sympathise with Elizabeth even more and involves us with her even more, just in time to intensify the hanging of her husband.
‘The Crucible’ is a play of conflicts, these conflicts make the storyline more exciting by creating suspense and tension for climaxes, create sub-plots which add to the confusion and it allows room for twists, such as when John confesses his adultery but Liz unconsciously says he’s lying. This keeps us glued to the play. The structure itself can be symbolised by a crucible getting hotter and hotter and allowing the impurities to be extracted. It puts tremendous pressure on our main characters causing more conflicts, which in turn causes, excitement, creating yet another climax.
Conclusion
I thoroughly enjoyed this play as it was exciting and highly emotional so I could get involved in the play and with the characters. I found myself in a position where I was unbelievably biased towards John Proctor without even realising how I’d been persuaded by Miller to side with him. This is cleverly done so you feel you have made your own choice, so you don't feel manipulated. I found the ending of the play almost unbearable as through the story I had attached myself to John and it was upsetting to see him victimised by the pride of Danforth, Hathorne and Parris. Pride and religion are what decide the fate of the play, the threat of reality crashes down harshly on the dream of a Utopia, confusing readers and characters alike.
