How much is John Proctor responsible for his own death.

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Katie Macdonald 10HA

How much is John Proctor responsible for his own death

“The Crucible” is set in 1692, in Salem, Massachusetts. It is written by Arthur Millar in the early 50’s. It follows the lives of a gang of teenage girls, meddling with witchcraft. Stifled by the crushing pity of their elders they end up doing strange things in the woods. The chief of the group of young ladies is a girl called Abigail Williams-her innocence lost in the bed f John Proctor, a married farmer who is the soul of the play. Suddenly the devil is let loose in Salem. The girls are discovered, spurred on by their terrified accusations and the entire village is consumed by cries of witchcraft. One by one, the blameless victims of mass hysteria are torn from their homes until, inexorably, Abigail’s vengeance is turned on Proctors wife. A timeless tale of truth on trial, the Crucible relentlessly a suspenseful drama of collective evil and personal conscience. It’s centre is a vastly moving story of guilt, love and redemption.

                    Proctor is responsible for his own death in many ways, the main reason is infidelity in relation to Abby. The other contributing factors are morality, pride, religion, law and local grievances.

                    This is the first time we see Proctor and Abby interact with each other,

             “Since Proctors entrance, Abigail has stood as though on tiptoe, absorbing his presence, wide eyed. He glanced at her then goes to Betty on the bed”(pg 17) We can tell the mood in the room instantly, Abby is stood there staring at him on tiptoes, indicating her need to attract him by making herself taller, as it is believed height is the figure of beauty. Where as Proctor is quite dismissive, and shows that he doesn’t want to be acknowledged by her by glancing at her and appearing quite cold and clinical.

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The issue of infidelity plays a major part in the lead up to Proctors death. As Abby is envious of Elizabeth and is also quite resentfully bitter towards her, regarding how Abby was thrown out of the household because of her entanglement with John.

In this quotation Abby is clueing the audience in to her past affair with him,

              “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I never knew what pretence Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by ...

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