According to Plato, one's senses are bound to the "material world" ; Thus, anything learned or perceived by his or her senses is ultimately illusory and subordinate to the spiritual world of "forms and ideas" above. The only way one is able to perceive the eternal truths of the supernal world of "forms and ideas" is to go beyond his or her senses and use his or her mind and intellect to discover the eternal ideas from above. Therefore, by using one's intellect one can determine what is eternally true, good, and just. According to Plato, this will naturally lead to attaining virtue throught virtuous actions and behavior. According to Aristotle, as it is stated in The Poetics, all tragic heroes must possess this trait. The Crucible's tragic hero, John Proctor, displays this trait as often seen in modern tragic hero's through the capability to penetrate the social pretenses, hypocrisies, and weaknesses in his society. After Danforth agrees not to hang Elizabeth until she has given birth, Proctor, even though he has received all he wants, as a result of his true goodness and virtue continues to defend the other women that were accused, because as he said about the other husbands in the courtroom, "These are my friends. Their wives are also accused"(92). Another proof of John Proctor's goodness is when Elizabeth says that " I never knew such goodness in the world!"(137). When Proctor is demanded to tell names of other people that were with the Devil he responds, "I speak my own sins; I cannot judge another. I have no tongue for it."(141) This is a perfect display Proctor's true goodness because now, he has the opportunity to take revenge on anyone he wishes, but does not because he can see through the hypocrisies and evils of the world and has the ability to perceive the eternal truths.
According to Arthur Miller, as stated in "Tragedy and the Common Man", "... the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing-his sense of personal dignity. Tragedy is the consequence of man's total compulsion to evaluate himself justly...The flaw, or crack in the character, is really nothing, and need be nothing-but his inherent unwillingness to remain passive in the face of what he conceives to be a challenge of his dignity, his image of his rightful status." When Proctor pleads to Danforth he says, " A man may thing God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you-see her what she is...She thinks to dance with me on my wife's grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore's vengeance"(110). Proctor knows from the beginning that the witch trials comprise of nothing more then Abigail's revenge for ending their affair, but Proctor attempts to hide this knowledge from the public because it would lead to a total disgrace of his name and reputation. This is a pivotal point in the play, in which Proctor's concern for justice surpasses his concern for his reputation. He then continues and says, "I have made a bell of my honor! I have rung the doom of my good name"(111). After ripping up the paper with his signature of his confession he proclaims, "I have confessed myself! Is there no good penitence but in public? God does not need my name nailed upon the church! God sees my name; God knows how black my sins are!" According to James Martine, "For the seventeenth-century Puritans, the worst sin was to lie, which represented a breaking of one's faith, one's reputation, one's "name." But name for Miller's characters means not only one's reputation but being true to oneself. Miller feels so strongly about this that at the court acquittal in 1958 of his contempt of Congress charges, he said, " Nobody wants to be a hero...but in every man there is something he cannot give up and still remain himself-a core, an identity, a thing that is summed up for him by the sound of his own name on his own ears. If he gives up, he becomes a different man, not himself"(64). Toward the end of the play John Proctor proclaims, "Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave my name!"(143). Proctor utters these lines when he is fighting with his conscience over whether to confess to witchcraft and save himself from be hanged. He has almost been convinced to confess himself, but the last step to confession is his signature on the confession, which he cannot bring himself to do. In part, this reluctance reflects his desire not to dishonor his friends who were also accused of witchcraft and he would not be able to live with himself knowing that other innocent people, his friends, died while he looked death in the eyes and fled. James Martine agrees that this is one reason he did not ultimately confess in his critique, Name, when he writes, "Looming large before him are the examples of Rebecca Nurse and Giles Corey. Rebecca, who is brought in at the penultimate moment, is an exemplum of courage and unwavering integrity. She will not lie-that is, compromise her name-and damn herself. Ashamed of what he is doing by signing the confession to save his life, Proctor turns his face to the wall in her presence"(65). More significantly, it exemplifies his obsession with his good name. Earlier in the play, Proctor keeps from testifying against Abigail to preserve his good name. Now, he experiences part of his anagnorisis because he has come to a true understanding and knowledge of what a good reputation means -specifically, that he tell the truth, and not lie to save himself. Proctor's last statements in the play are to himself when he says, "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." White symbolizes his honesty, purity, and his angelic state, which evinces that he is now at peace with himself and prepared to accept his death.
Arthur Miller's play The Crucible can be considered a tragedy not only to Miller's definition of a tragedy, but also Aristotle's. " The play's action, first of all, is universal, applying to the lives of the entire community and not necessarily to one particular man. The historical events of 1692 and the 1950's make the fact eminently conspicuous. The plot of The Crucible is dramatic, complete, and unified"(Martine,82). Proctor's harmartia, tragic flaw, is obviously his affair with Abigail Williams. His perepetia, reversal of circumstances, is that he went from living a almost normal puritan life to being accused of witchcraft. As for an anagnorisis, realization, "" that is a matter both simple and complex. John Proctor certainly and clearly achieves his profound recognition. Miller had especially chosen his ambience with his mind. He has said " In The Crucible I had taken a step, I felt, toward a more self aware drama. The Puritan not only felt, but constantly referred his feelings to concepts, to codes and ideas of social and ethical importance"(Views, vi-vii). This tragic self-awareness is the sine qua non to Proctor's situation and character""(Martine, 83). The audience experiences a purgation of the soul, a catharisis, of their pity and fear because of Proctor's deep-seated disposition, which is his "" own essential humanity and [this] demonstrates him to be "a man like ourselves""(Martine, 83
Within the Crucible, there lies a complex story involving the accounts and happenings surrounding the 1692 Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Act 1 of the Crucible sets up the unfolding of events which lead to witch accusations and increasing superstition among the puritan community. The Crucible reveals the intriguing and malicious character of Abigail Williams to be a manipulative and unabashed liar, who possesses the remarkable quality of self preservation even among what seem to be insurmountable odds. The character of Abigail Williams demonstrates domineering behavior throughout the act in such events as Abigail’s threatening the girls to remain silent regarding events in the forest, Abigail’s attempts of seducing John Proctor, and the repeated unsubstaincle accusations of Abigail placed on people within the Puritan community. Throughout the community, word of the supposed “witchcraft” begins to leak out under the immediate concern of Rev. Parris. Rev. Parris fears that the incident could taint his reputation among the other Puritans. As a result, Rev. Parris continually interrogates Abigail with the intent of getting what he feels is the truth. Abigail continually acts innocent in order to eliminate the suspicion of Rev. Parris. To keep the incident a secret, Abigail threatens the girls involved in the incident, so that they will not talk. More specifically, she threatens the girls with death by her hands. Her logic for this is quite clear, she wants to be cleared of all suspicion, and by putting fear into the girls, she feels that this is a adequately accomplished. As a result, Abagails tatics of manipulation keep her from receiving harsh persecution and accusations. Another act of domineering behavior on part of Abigail is her repeated attempted seducing of Mr. Proctor. Abigail’s reasons for this are not quite clear, but one could conclude that it is purposed for the reason of separating Mr. proctor from his wife Elizabeth Proctor and take her place as his wife. It seems as though Abigail and Mr. Proctor had previous intimate relations, and Abigail’s seducing of Mr. Proctor is an attempt to rehash this past relationship. It is for obvious reasons extreme megalomania that Abigail takes this course of action. Lastly, Abigail show herself to be an even more mischievous character by accusing Tituba of Witchcraft, and wrong doing. Tituba in turn is held in suspicion of being a witch and is threatened with the taking of her life if she refuses to talk about her supposed involvement with the devil. Tituba reluctantly gives in to the accusations after the realization that it was necessary in order to save her life. This action on part of Abigail helps shift blame and suspicion from herself solely to that of Tituba. Tituba invents lies and sends the witchcraft fear further into a sense of fear for the Puritan community. This incident is a vivid example one of Abigail’s most remarkable character attributes, her ability to manipulate those around her as she sees fit. The false accusations of Abigail confirm her character as being domineering and untruthful at the expense of others. Abigail emerges from act 1 of the Crucible as an evil-spirited, manipulative young girl. The callous behavior of Abigail most likely stems from her childhood. She observed her parents being murdered by Indians at a young age and was orphaned as a result. No matter the reason for her violent nature, Act 1 clearly defines Abigail as a person bent on crushing those who oppose her. Abigail’s domineering acts of threatening the other girls with death for talking of the events in the forest, seducing of John Proctor, and her false accusations of witchcraft serve as substantial reason for classifying Abigail as such an evil person. To conclude, Abigail Williams arrives in Act 1 as one of the most complex and intriguing characters of the Crucible.
The theme of this play was rising over adversity, and standing for truth even to death. This is the theme for many stories and is always an exciting one. john, in the beginning, wanted to keep distant from the trials. he did not want to have a part, whether good or bad. When Elizabeth was arrested, he was forced to become a part of it. Through the trail, he confessed of his affair and cleansed himself of his sin. He stood for what he knew to be the truth, and died as a martyr learning what truth meant through his sufferings.
Through Proctor’s struggle, Miller displays the struggles within each of our own hearts. Many times we have witnessed some wrong happening to some person and wished not to get involved. Proctor was forced into it and stuck to his guns throughout.
There is also another theme about the frantic hysteria of the mob. They were easily manipulated by Abigail’s lies and easily maneuvered into murdering many of the townspeople. Their hysteria was unfounded and absurd. Through this theme, Miller comments on the similar McCarthy trials during his time.
Syntax
In The Crucible, the characters do not speak in fragments, and some do occasionally string together phrases. Also, they do form their thoughts carefully before speaking. The sentences are simple and the structure does not vary too much.
In the first passage spoken by Reverend Parris, the speech is more formal that speeches spoken by other characters. This displays that Reverend Parris is more educated than the others. It has a somewhat fatherly, yet commanding tone.
The second passage spoken by Abigail is markedly different from the first passage. The sentences are less thought out and more fragmented. She repeats the phrase “I know you” several times. This shows less education but more deep emotion than the first passage. The tone for this line is moving, but when compiled with Abigail's character, becomes deceiving.
The third passage spoken by Elizabeth shows a clearly though out idea. It shows that while Elizabeth may not be as educated as someone like Parris, this is a subject that she has thought about a long time. This gives a tone of something like a bottom line or an ultimatum. While Elizabeth does not give a specific choice to Proctor, it is obvious that he must make a decision on what to do.
10. Imagery
Miller does not rely too much on imagery. There are few cases of imagery in this play. One remarkably memorable one is the statement by Abigail about the way John Proctor “sweated like a stallion.” While this statement is also a simile, it provides an unforgettable image in the minds of the audience.
11. Symbolism
This work is not highly symbolic, but simply tells a story with the items and character it provides. There are several cases of symbolism that Miller uses, but were set by the people of the 17th century and not by himself. An example of this sort of symbolism is the doll. The doll symbolizes witchcraft, and when found in Elizabeth’s possession, she is accused of witchcraft.
12. Figurative Language
The most memorable case of simile is the line, “I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I came near!” This statement compares Proctor with a stallion.
Miller rarely uses metaphors or personification in this work. His people generally referred to as people and items as items. Occasionally he alludes to some portion or person in the Bible, but rarely to anything else. For example, while John Proctor is speaking with Rebecca in prison, she alludes to the martyred apostles. Rebecca says, “Let you fear nothing! Another judgment waits us all.” This is an allusion to idea from the Bible that man is judged by God in heaven.
13. Ironic devices
Miller has few cases of verbal irony. He uses it in act 3 while Elizabeth tell she court that Proctor did not sleep with Abigail she knows that he did.
All parts with the girls lying about witches and ghosts are cases of dramatic irony since, while the audience knows that the girls are lying, most of the characters do not. For example, in court, Abigail and the other girls pretend to be attacked by spirits and the people in court fear them to be in danger. However, the audience knows that they are faking it.
14. Tone
Miller’s attitude towards witchcraft is satirical. The tone is serious, cynical, and formal. He achieves this tone by the terrible tragedy of the innocent people executed, and the mental struggles of John Proctor. Miller shows the irony and the unjustness of the witch trials, and thereby the irony and the unjustness of the McCarthy trials.
