Abigail: “Give me a word, John. A soft word.”
Proctor: “No, no, Abby. That’s done with.”
Abigail: “You come five mile to see a silly girl fly? I know you better.”
Proctor: “I come to see what mischief your uncle’s brewin’ now. Put it out of my mind, Abby.”
Even by just looking at this short extract it can be seen that Abigail still cares for Proctor and she still thinks that deep down he cares for her. She doesn’t believe that he would travel five miles to see a ‘silly’ girl fly, so she thinks that he has another motive, namely her. Also in this extract you can see that Proctor got to know her well, as rather than calling her Abigail, he refers to her as Abby. Both of Proctor’s comments in this extract are to try and convince Abigail that he no longer cares for her. The entire scene with Abigail and Proctor is more of the above, Abigail telling Proctor that he loves her and then once again Proctor denying this and saying he doesn’t care for her any more, Proctor still finds Abigail exciting and attractive. There is admiration in his voice when he addresses her, but he sticks to his principals, for example;
Abigail: “John – I am waitin’ for you every night.”
Proctor: “Abby, I never give you hope to wait for me”
Abigail: “I have something better than hope, I think!”
Proctor: “Abby, you’ll put it out of mind. I’ll not be comin’ for you more.”
This entire scene shows Proctor’s remorse and the fact that he wants to now stay with his wife and be honest and loyal to her. However this has left an emotional scar, and we shall explore how the events of the play move to bring reconciliation between them, a little later. Further on in the play Proctor shows another sign that he has once been an adulterer. This is when Hale asks Proctor to recite the Ten Commandments, when saying the commandments Proctor forgets the commandment that, “thou shall not commit adultery”. Proctors wife Elizabeth has to remind him of this commandment:
Elizabeth: “Adultery, John.”
Proctor: “Aye. You see, sir, between the two of us we know them all. I think it be a small fault.”
Perhaps Proctor deliberately wishes to forget this commandment. Certainly it would be better for himself and his wife if his adulterous affair could be put behind them.
Proctor is powerful and assertive. He doesn’t “suffer fools gladly” and is not afraid to speak his mind. Proctor has offended many people; the first person he offended was Mr Parris. Proctor does not like the way in which Parris preaches as a minister and he thinks that Parris talks to often about Hell, damnation and what could happen if the people are bad, but he does not talk kind words as a minister should;
Parris: “Man! Don’t a minister deserve a house to live in?”
Proctor: “To live in, yes. But to ask ownership is like you shall own the meeting house itself; the last meeting I were at you spoke so long on deeds and mortgages I thought it were an auction.”
Throughout the play Proctor shows many signs that he does not like Parris and also I think these signs show that really, Parris doesn’t like Proctor either.
One of these signs is the fact that Proctor talks badly of Mr Parris to other people, for example, when he talks to Hale about ploughing on the Sabbath, he says that he ploughs in the fields only because he does not like it in the church as Parris preaches Hell and damnation;
Hale: “Mr Proctor your house is not a church; your theology must tell you that.”
Proctor: “It does, sir, it does; and it tells me that a minister may pray to God without he have golden candlesticks upon the altar.”
Hale: “What candlesticks?”
Proctor: “................. But Parris came, and for twenty week he preach nothin’ but golden candlesticks until he had them. I labour the earth from dawn of day to blink of night, and I tell you true, when I look to heaven and see my money glaring at his elbows – it hurt my prayer, sir, it hurt my prayer” etc
Soon after the above declaration Hale questions the fact that only two of Proctors children are baptised, once again it is the fact that if he wanted his third and youngest child to be baptised, then it would have to be Parris who performed the service. This is something that Proctor does not want. This shows just how much Proctor does not like Parris if he will not even let him touch him in order to baptise him;
Proctor: “I like it not that Mr. Parris should lay his hand upon my baby. I see no light of God in that man. I’ll not conceal it.”
From this judgement, Proctor shows the reader that he does not trust Mr Parris from the start of the play. This could develop throughout the play.
Proctor is willing to isolate himself from the church in order to prove his point. It is this that brings disapproval from others and gives his enemies a reason for charging him with witchcraft.
Not only has Proctor offended Parris, he also has offended Putnam. The thing that they disagree about is land! The whole argument starts when Proctor is dragging some wood from a forest on his land, but the Putnam says that the land is his as his grandfather willed it to him, but Putnam’s grandfather is well known for willing land that is not his to give away. The ‘squabble’ ends by Putnam threatening to fight Proctor if he takes just one piece of timber, which isn’t his:
Putnam: “That tract is in my bounds, it’s in my bounds, Mr. Proctor.”
Proctor: “In your bounds! I bought that tract from Goody Nurses husband five months ago.”
Putnam: “He had no right to sell it. It stands clear in my grandfathers will that all the land between the river and-”
Proctor: “Your grandfather had a habit of willing land that never belonged to him, if I may say it plain.”
etc
Putnam: “You load one oak of mine and you’ll fight to drag home!”
So up to now I have talked about the affair that Proctor had with Abigail Williams and the fact that he has offended many people in Salem, but now I am going to talk about the relationship between Hale and Proctor. Over the entire play, Hale and Proctor seem to build up a relationship between them, they are not really aware of this but they seem to realise that they do not dislike one another. Hale wants to discover the truth, and he has integrity. When he realises that events are becoming out of hand, he is prepared to admit he was wrong and support honesty and reason. It is for this reason that he supports Proctor, who he recognises as being sincere. By the word relationship, I mean the fact that they respect each other. During the witch trials Hale always seems to support Proctor, not fully, but with small comments he helps Proctor put forward his case, some examples are below:
Proctor admits having an affair to the court to try and persuade them he is telling the truth about Abigail. Hale attempts to convince the court that Proctor is telling the truth, by telling them that he believes him:
Proctor: “She only thought to save my name!”
Hale: “Excellency, it is a natural lie to tell; I beg you, stop now before another is condemned! I may shut my conscience to it no more– private vengeance is working through this testimony! From the beginning this man has struck me true. By my oath to heaven, I believe him now, and I pray you call back his wife before we-”
Proctor is being taken away as a prisoner. Hale does not agree with Proctor’s arrest and lets it be known.
Elizabeth gets told that Proctor is to be hung. Hale doesn’t want Proctor to hang and he attempts to get Elizabeth to help her husband:
Hale: “Goody Proctor, I have gone this past three month like our Lord into the wilderness. I have sought a Christian way, for damnation’s doubled on a minister who counsels men to lie.”
Proctor is about to be hung. Hale wants him to admit to witchcraft, as this would mean he wouldn’t have to die:
Hale: “Woman plead with him! Woman! It is pride, it is vanity. Be his helper! – What profit him to bleed? Shall the dust praise him? Shall the worms declare his truth? Go to him, take his shame away!”
So, there are two main elements to talk about in John Proctor, his name. His name seems the only thing Proctor gets to keep close near the end of his life. When he admits to have had an affair with Abigail, he says
“I have rung the doom of my good name”
plus, when he was being asked to sign the document to say that he was part of the witchcraft, he signed it and then ripped it up and the reason for him not signing was he wanted to keep his name clean, it was the only thing he had left and he wanted to be remembered as someone who had died because he was accused of something, rather than being remembered as living for admitting something.
”It is my name”
The most important thing that can be said about John Proctor is,
‘How and Why did he change?’
John started out in this play as being an adulterer, who didn’t go to church very regularly. But by the end of the play, he is close to God, he has admitted to himself that he has done wrong with Abigail and he has kept his name clean. When asked to admit to witchcraft his first reaction is to sign the document and keep himself alive, this way he wouldn’t have to die. But then he thinks, this is the point in the play when I think Proctor completely changed. He refuses to sign anything and dies on principle. This is the ultimate sacrifice, so John has become almost the ‘hero’, if you can call his actions heroic, of the play.
Another huge change in Proctors life is his relationship with his wife Elizabeth. At the start of the play, Elizabeth knows that Proctor had an affair with Abigail, but she still knows that deep down he is a good man, but their relationship is still a bit strained, but they seem to be trying to make an effort although still ‘walking on egg shells’:
Proctor: “It is well seasoned”
Elizabeth: [blushing with pleasure] “I took great care. She’s tender?
Proctor: “Aye” [he eats]
Elizabeth also does not like Proctor seeing Abigail, but she doesn’t know that Proctor has recently been to see her and they were alone together, although during this meeting Proctor was trying to get Abigail to leave him alone, I think that deep down he still feels guilty about this. Elizabeth and Proctors relationship improves, when she is arrested for witchcraft, as Proctor focuses completely on trying to save his wife:
Proctor: “I will bring you home. I will bring you soon.”
Elizabeth: “Oh, John, bring me soon!”
Proctor: “I will fall like an ocean on that court! Fear nothing, Elizabeth.”
By the end of the play Proctor and Elizabeth’s relationship is completely saved, as she now respects him for admitting to adultery and for dying to save the family name:
Elizabeth: “[supporting herself against collapse, grips the bars of the window, and with a cry] He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him.”
Also by the end of the play I think that not only has Elizabeth forgiven Proctor for his affair, but also he has finally forgiven himself, which was the one thing that could not do:
Proctor: “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.”
I think Proctor definitely changed because if he hadn’t changed in the slightest, then I don’t believe that he would have given his life up on principal and to save his name. He would have just signed the document. If you ask me my opinion, I say Proctors change of heart was a good change, that turned him into the hero of The Crucible, without a doubt!
