The arrival of the other women when John Procter was going to sign his name on the piece of paper to say that he had been with the devil made him think of how honest and brave they were to go through all of the torture and certain death because they new they were innocent and they didn’t want to give up an just confess that they were witches. This makes John Procter change his mind because he did not want to let the women down and be a wimp so he tore up the piece of paper and decided he would rather die that have his name hung in shame on the church door and he wanted to let his son hold his head high and say that his dad was a hero because he fought for his honesty.
The changes from the original play script are that they are outside on the video and in the story I think they are meant to be in the prison cells. I think they do this because they might want to be near wear all of the witchery was meant to have started off in the forest. Also they have missed quite a few lines out in the film this is because by leaving out these lines it gives a different emphasis on the play.
The significance of the piece of paper is that if he does sign it not only is he confessing to witchery but also he will bring shame to his name, himself and also his family when it gets hung on the church door, but John Procter does not want this so he tears the piece of paper up so his wife and son can hold their heads high in public and say that he was a hero to a lot of people. The reaction of Reverent Hale was really bad because he says, “ Man, you will hang! You cannot!” he reacts like this because all of these witchery rumours started because of him when he came into Salem and said that he could sense the devils presence, this started off a lot of hysteria in this isolated village. The reaction of Goody Procter was that she thought he had done the right thing by sticking to his beliefs and not lying. Reverent Hale begs Goody Procter to say something to make John Procter change his mind, all Goody Procter says to him is that “He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!” There is a silence and some of John Proctors friends and family are in tears. Danforth is shown to be the bad guy in The Crucible he is killing as many people accused of witchery without any proof that they are witches. Reverent Hale is shown to be the person who is meant to know everything about witchcraft and the devil, but it turns out that he was just going by his instinct that the devil was in Salem, when John Proctor tears the piece of paper up this is when we kind of find out that Reverent Hale was lying about the whole thing because he wants to save his life.
Hathorne is the judge that comes into Salem to sentence the people being accused of witchcraft.
The play ends with John Procter denying witchcraft and tearing up the piece of paper then he was definitely sentenced to be hung.
This makes Reverent Hale realise what he has done so he pleads to Goody Proctor to take his shame away and stick up for him, the way Goody Proctor rejects his pleas to save John Proctors life creates an emotional response in the audience this is from the use of dramatic devices used from Arthur Miller to create this emotional response from the audience.
The significance of the comments in “Echoes” and Millers didactic form is that after twenty years the government accepted that an injustice had been done by the killing of innocent people and awarded compensation to the victims still living and the families of the dead. Even though the government realised about the injustice there were still people that were unwilling to admit their guilt.
The ending of the film has John Procter and the two other women who are saying their prayers before they get hung but the man that pushes them off doesn’t let them finish. This has an emotional effect on the audience making them upset.
I think Arthur Miller portrayed his message strongly because it gives a clear indication of the impact that communism and witchcraft had at this time.
