The Crucible

SQA Higher English 2022

guilt ridden

He is ________ and has a clear sense of personal integrity so regards himself as a fraud.

❥ ‘cut off my hand is biblical imagery, showing his attempt to live in the right way, as taught by the theocratic society (this is evidence that he is a character who is ridden by guilt) ❥ Proctor admits he remembers his time with Abigail fondly but they will never be together again and she should forget it ever happened ‘angered-at himself as well

Youll speak nothin of Elizabeth

❥ Ironic

they arent burning the right people ❥ While Danforth falsely condemns many people, he also does burn away Proctors lies and deception about his relationship with Abigail ‘A man will not cast away his good name

Plot

John Proctor at the beginning is a 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 of the community. He is a powerful man and he refuses to follow those he feels are hypocrites. However, his big mistake is that he has slept with Abigail. He is 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁-𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 and has a clear sense of personal integrity so regards himself as a 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗱.

Proctor 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 and is devoted to Elizabeth so he rejects Abigail's advances. Abigail is jealous of Elizabeth which sets the entire witch-hunt in motion.

Once the trials begin, Proctor realises he can stop the events but he must confess to adultery first. But he doesn't, because he is 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗱 and fears it would ruin his 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲.

When Elizabeth is accused, Proctor names Abigail as a fraud. He finally admits his adultery to save his wife but his wife lies to protect him and therefore the testimony fails. This is the 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘅.

In prison, Proctor initially 𝘀𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 to save his life by confessing, but in the end he refuses to sign the paper. This is because he cannot sacrifice the good name of others to live as he has too much integrity and he realises honour and truth is more important. In the end he is now 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁-𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 and finally 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱 to Elizabeth. His choice affirms his goodness and reveals selfish corruption of ideological forces that condemn him. His sacrifice ends Salem's hysteria.

'He is a sinner, a sinner not only against the moral fashion of the time, but against his own vision of decent conduct.'

❥ Direct characterisation
❥ It is his own conscience which criticises him, not the values of his society
❥ He is a sinner against the moral fashion because he had an affair
❥ He is a sinner against his own vision (hypocrite) because he knows what he did but nobody else does
❥ The witch trials become the crucible in which his merit is tested

'Proctor, respected and even feared in Salem, has come to regard himself as a kind of fraud.'

❥ He is respected throughout the town
❥ He is held in high regard by everyone in Salem but believes it a falsity
❥ His own opinion of himself causes him to isolate himself because of his guilt
❥ He feels he is lying to everybody about his goodness

'Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I'll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind. We never touched, Abby.'

❥ 'cut off my hand' is biblical imagery, showing his attempt to live in the right way, as taught by the theocratic society (this is evidence that he is a character who is ridden by guilt)
❥ Proctor admits he remembers his time with Abigail fondly but they will never be together again and she should forget it ever happened

'𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥—𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭: You'll speak nothin' of Elizabeth!'

❥ Proctor warns Abigail against speaking against the woman they both wronged
❥ Abigail resorts to petty name-calling in order to cast doubt in John's mind

'I may speak my heart, I think.'

❥ Shows his independent streak

'I like not the smell of this 'authority'.'

❥ John Proctor is the sort of man who thinks for himself and feels he has the right to say what he thinks
❥ This is not allowable in their society
❥ In seventeenth century Massachusetts, the authority feels that it has the right to interfere in every aspect of a citizen's life
❥ The authority expects exact obedience from citizens
❥ This creates conflict when Proctor questions their right

'We have all heard of your great charities in Beverly.'

❥ Hale is a good judge of character
❥ Hale knows Rebecca by reputation
❥ Rebecca has spent so much time in charity that other towns have even benefitted from it

'I mean to please you, Elizabeth'

❥ Proctor understands the dishonesty and tension between him and Elizabeth, he knows they are awkward in their interactions and this is something which plays on his mind
❥ He has a strong value system and knows he let Elizabeth as well as himself down
❥ A sense of Proctor trying to be a good husband and make amends

'I have gone tiptoe in this house all seven month since she is gone. I have not moved from there to there without I think to please you, and still an everlasting funeral marches around your heart. I cannot speak but I am doubted, every moment judged for lies, as though I come into a court when I come into this house!'

❥ Atmosphere of guilt
❥ Proctor is hurt and angry because he thinks Elizabeth is still suspicious of him
❥ Ironic because Elizabeth has forgiven him, he has not forgiven himself (this is the crux of his dilemma)
❥ Foreshadows the final scene when Elizabeth shares that she's realised she'd been too harsh on him

'The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you.'

❥ Elizabeth compares Proctor's heart to a courtroom and his conscience to a magistrate
❥ She is saying that Proctor's guilt is entirely self-driven and comes from his own heart
❥ She highlights the strict judgement that he has given himself
❥ Proctor can't forgive himself and he is his own worst critic
❥ Proctor is being tortured by his own conscience

'If 𝘴𝘩𝘦 is innocent! Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy now? [...] vengeance is walking Salem [...] I'll not give my wife to vengeance'

❥ Proctor knows that vengeance writes the law in Salem instead of biblical or legal principles

'I will fall like an ocean on that court!'

❥ Reflects both the community's rural setting and the vastness of the problems facing them
❥ Proctor vows to destroy the court with the ferocity of an ocean wave crashing upon a beach

'My wife will never die for me! [...] that goodness will not die for me!'

❥ Proctor begins to see that what is happening to Elizabeth is a judgement upon himself for having sinned
❥ He is ashamed of his adultery but when his wife's life is threatened because of his dishonesty, he is prepared to bare his soul to the world in an attempt to save her
❥ He has struggled to face the truth about himself, and now he must expose that truth to the world

'all our old pretence is ripped away'

❥ All self-deceit is gone and Proctor now sees himself for what he really is

'we are only what we always were, but naked now [...] And the wind, God's icy wind, will blow!'

❥ Proctor hasn't changed, only now he sees himself more clearly
❥ They are now vulnerable and exposed
❥ It is his moral duty to stop the witch-hunt and he realises how important it is to stand by his moral code
❥ It is not God's judgment he is going to face (there was never any possibility of him avoiding that), but it is the judgement of his fellow men that he has avoided and will now face

'we burn a hot fire here; it melts down all concealment.'

❥ Ironic - they aren't burning the right people
❥ While Danforth falsely condemns many people, he also does burn away Proctor's lies and deception about his relationship with Abigail

'A man will not cast away his good name.'

❥ Proves Proctor is true
❥ His attachment of maintaining a good name causes his accusation on Abigail to backfire

'God sees everything, I know it now.'

❥ Proctor is filled with shame as he reveals his guilt to the world

'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 wh0re's vengeance'

❥ Abigail wishes to take revenge on Elizabeth as well as revenge on Proctor for ending the affair

'I have made a bell of my honour! I have rung the doom of my good name'

❥ Proctor could've preserved his pristine reputation but instead does what is right and preserves his integrity, which if done earlier could've saved many innocent lives
❥ He has exposed himself
❥ He sacrifices his reputation to protect his wife
❥ Displays how difficult it was for Proctor to confess his lecherous actions as his reputation as a hard-working Christian man is integral to his life in Salem

'crying out'

❥ His agony when Elizabeth lies to protect him is clear

'She only thought to save my name!'

❥ The importance of Proctor's reputation is clear

'G0d damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together!'

❥ This comment reflects Proctor's awareness of his guilty conscience
❥ Proctor insists his sins are equal to Danforth and compares his guilty conscience to Danforth's tainted soul
❥ Proctor believes his sin of adultery will result in an eternity in hell
❥ Proctor has reached a tipping point where he fully accepts responsibility for his sins and is willing to embrace the consequences

'life is God's most precious gift.'

❥ Proctor is sacrificing his life for principle

'Quail not before G0d's judgement in this, for it may well be G0d damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride'

❥ Hale fears Proctor will be judged more by God for throwing his life away than he would be for lying

'he is another man'

❥ Embeddable

'I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint. [...] I am no good man.'

❥ Proctor has lost faith in himself
❥ He is so eaten by guilt that he feels that there is no good left in him
❥ He believes he cannot die a saint like the others, if he considers it fraud if he does (self-loathing)
❥ He feels that he is not a good man and so nothing is spoiled if he lies to save his life
❥ He knows its wrong to lie but he is already damned for his sins so lying would add nothing to his true crimes

'It is a weighty name; it will strike the village that Proctor confess.'

❥ People are likely willing to lie after seeing a reputable man's confession
❥ Highlights importance of a good name in Salem

'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 me my name!'

❥ Proctor is filled with shame that he has signed his name to lies
❥ Proctor knows that if his confession is nailed to the church door on the very day that his friends are hanged then it will cast doubt and suspicion upon them, and he will betray them
❥ He would not be able to live with himself knowing that other innocents died while he quaked at death's door and fled
❥ Proctor will not permit his own name to be sullied by allowing the false confession to be nailed up in public
❥ He feels he cannot live (or die) without his good name
❥ He realises if he signs his name to a lie, he will lose his self-respect
❥ Illustrates his obsession with his good name
❥ He has come to a true understanding of what a good reputation means and what course of action it necessitates
❥ The defence of his name enables him to muster the courage to die heroically, with his goodness intact

'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.'

❥ He accepts himself
❥ His self-respect has been recovered
❥ He has found strength and belief in himself
❥ He stays true to his moral code and dies for his principles
❥ He feels he is finally recovering from his sins
❥ There is a clear embrace of his own identity
❥ He no longer wants to live in a form of deception
❥ Proctor protects his own sense of dignity from 'the dogs'

'He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!'

❥ He has finally found his peace
❥ Elizabeth refuses to rob Proctor of his untroubled soul
❥ He goes to his death with dignity and courage, his self-respect restored
❥ He has finally achieved redemption
❥ In the end, he has made up with his wife, been forgiven by her and stood on the ground of not falsely confessing to a crime (by telling the truth about everything his has reclaimed his sense of honesty)

'new sun'

❥ Symbol of hope

'To all intents and purposes, the power of theocracy in Massachusetts was broken.'

❥ Proctor's sacrifice ends Salem's hysteria