Marshall Herrick enters and wakes up Goody Good and Tituba so that they can be moved to a different cell.
Tituba tells Herrick that they await the Devil, who will fly them to Barbados.
The Reverend Hale arrives and tells the prisoners that they must confess to being witches in order to thwart the ridiculous Court and avoid being hanged.
Reverend Parris discovers that Abigail and Mercy Lewis have disappeared after robbing Parris and he suspects they may have boarded a ship. Parris delays telling Danforth this news because he fears that there will be a rebellion in Salem similar to the recent uprising in Andover. There they threw out the Court, as the people were unhappy with the proceedings.
When Danforth learns about the disappearance of Abigail he still considers that the evidence stands and will not postpone the executions for it would be a sign of weakness. Hale pleads with him to reconsider or at least give him time to persuade the prisoners to confess. Reverend Hale is having difficulties in persuading the seven condemned to death to confess, and he pleads again with Danforth for more time.
He senses that Proctor is considering confessing, so he asks Elizabeth to talk to her husband stressing the future in store for their children if he is hanged. Elizabeth feels responsible for Proctor’s situation because she lied in Court. She also feels guilty for being suspicious about her husband after the affair with Abigail. She tells Proctor that she totally forgives him for the affair. Proctor hopes that if he makes an oral confession in Court, that will be sufficient for his Judges, but they require it in writing and it will be posted on the Church door. He cannot face this and, therefore, retracts his confession. He would rather die, and preserve his good name.
He asks himself,
“God in heaven, what is John Proctor, what is John Proctor?”
He is lead out and hanged. John Proctor after much confusion and influence by other characters finally decides his own fate and is happy knowing he is being honest and truthful to himself and to God. During this scene, when Elizabeth tries to persuade John to lie for the sake of their future together they both develop a higher level of respect for eachother (which is what John Proctor had always wanted Elizabeth to do) and all past misunderstandings seem irrelevant to their situation. Proctor has already performed one great lie in his life, that being his affair with Abigail. He does not wish to make another lie. A small one he could have lived with, but the fact that a large written lie in plain view of everyone was required, is unthinkable. If his written confession were to appear on the Church door, he would be betraying all those who have refused to confess. There would be no honour in this and he would end up a broken man with no name. Elizabeth supports Proctor despite her sorrows.
Scene 21 of “Blackrock” sees Jared, Ricko and Tiffany on the beach.
Jared gets some waves in before night, Ricko arrives in his van and pulls up, and he is drinking.
Ricko inquires about Jared’s visit to the cops to tell them where Ricko was the night of the murder. Ricko seems to be slightly drunk, talks vigorously, both swear frequently.
Tiffany arrives with doughnuts; neither boy’s are impressed. She is angry with Ricko for trashing her work place. She hands him his surfing trophy resentfully. They continue to talk and Ricko offends Tiffany and implies she is a whore. When Tiffany refuses to do what Ricko says Jared has o hold Ricko down and they start to fight. Jared then pathetically tries to persuade Ricko to confess and tell the truth.
“I’ll take over now. You got to tell them the truth.”
They argue about keys to the van. Soon a police officer shows up, expecting them, and takes them both away.
In this scene you get a general understanding about what the characters a like. Ricko and Jared specifically. They way Ricko behaves, his speech and actions (particularly with Tiffany) show what sort of person he is. Jared doesn’t seen to be as abrasive as his friend Ricko.
The characters in Act 4 of “The Crucible” and those three in scene 21 of “Blackrock” face different situations. Both John Proctor and Jared have a decision to make, and based upon their beliefs act accordingly. We do not see what Jared does after he is taken away.
The characters in each play are fairly developed and the audience of each can see what kind of people and personalities they have by the way they present themselves to others and their actions.
John Proctor, on surface is about 29, is a farmer has a wife and two sons whom he loves dearly. He is hard working and a good person although is guilty to having an affair with Abigail Willaims.
“Abby, you’ll put it out of mind. I’ll not be comin’ for you more.”
He is very remorseful and wishes to do right by his wife from now on although he is still tempted. He gets caught up in the awful situation and tries to fight for the truth, tries to get his ‘good name’ and reputation back. Eventually, stands alone to tell the truth. From this we can infer that he is genuinely a good, decent person, who has been merely mislead by human fault.
Jared Kirby, the main character of “Blackrock”, again on surface is 17, a student, part time surfer, lives with his mother Dianne and is loyal to his friends. His and his friends attitudes towards life are based upon ‘live for the moment’ theories. When he is faced with this situation we can see how difficult it is for him to make a decision when he has to consider so many other things. What will his friends say? What will happen to him if he does lie? What if he doesn’t? Being brought up to live and die for your friends clouds his judgement.
Similarly to John Proctor he is caught up between doing the right and honest thing, and the wrong thing but saving your own skin. They both have to make decisions alone based on what they think to be right.
Obviously characters motives and actions are not just affected by the other characters around them but the time and place.
“The Crucible” was set in England at the time of Puritan life. Puritans being extremely religious Christian people. They were strictly against adultery, thieves’ etc. (10 commandments) and to commit any of these was a grave sin/crime. They are hard working people, who work 6 days a week and if they dare work on Sunday instead of attending church, it is again a sin as God rested on the seventh day and so should they. Most forms of entertainment was also disallowed. Dancing, singing, use of cosmetics having long hair. Due to the nature of this very strict religion is it inevitable that the most likely group of people in the religion to commit these types of sins are they children. Who are naturally curious and inquisitive. Women are also looked upon as the inferior sex. Not worth much, and never allowed to a mans job.
“Blackrock” on the contrary, looks at Australian surf culture. Where your friends are absolutely everything to you. Loyalty to your mates gets to the point of life and death. Many teenagers in this time and culture were often drug and drink abusers who were more concerned with surfing then anything else. Having a girlfriend was again fairly important but not for a relationship more for pleasure reasons. Women were seen as ‘whores’, they had to do what heir boyfriends told them to do and if they didn’t, off they go.
The main similarity between the two cultures is the role of women. Both cultures see woman and inferior and lesser then the male figures. Differences being the language used at the times. No swearing would be permitted at the Puritan time because it was seen again as a sin. Whereas every second word from teenagers at this time was more then likely to be some sort of derogative comment about one thing or another.
Both plays mainly revolve around the central character, who in turn eventually comes to a realisation about what is right and truthful, and what is the honorable thing to do when faced with a life and death situation.