Miller further Essay

Miller further continues the feeling of contempt towards John Proctor in the following Act through Elizabeth Proctor’s despair. Instantly we can see the tension and strain is the Proctor marriage as when her husband returns home late after a long day planting in the fields, Elizabeth is intensely suspicious of him. This tension is reinforced when the couple sit down for dinner as she uses a patronising tone with him and he secretly insults her by adding more seasoning to the soup she has made when she is not in the room, this is a metaphor showing how their marriage has grown bland and tasteless. This underlying tension between them is undoubtedly caused by Proctor’s affair with Abigail. When Elizabeth informs him that Mary Warren, their servant, had been in court that day as an official of the witchcraft trials, Proctor tells her how he knows the witchcraft accusations are all false as Abby told him when he was with her last week. Elizabeth is disturbed that the two were alone together, but Proctor tells her ‘I’ll not have your suspicion anymore’. He shouts at her with a ‘violent undertone’ to ‘learn charity’, as he has ‘tiptoed around the house for seven months’ since Abigail left. He tells his wife that he has honestly confessed to his sin and tells her that her ‘justice would freeze beer’. This represents him as being an uncaring man as his wife is obviously in distress and we feel sorry for Elizabeth as he is shouting at her and telling her that she is a cold woman when it is he who has been in the wrong when he had his affair with Abby. His callous way makes the audience assume that he will later not be hanged as it is thought that he will not care about admitting to witchcraft, and therefore sacrifice his family name for his life. However, this act also allows the audience to first see how Proctor is not all an evil man through his deep, utter regret, his guilt and his constant desire to cleanse himself of his previous sinful activities with Abigail. It is this break down that helps so show Proctor as no longer being wicked, but rather as being weak and pitiful. As a result, Miller represents Proctor as humanity, as he is someone who is at the same time strong and weak, someone who has made mistakes but who has the sense to learn from them, therefore becoming a better person. The inevitability of his death therefore starts to show, as his true character is honest. The audience further start to have some second thoughts about Proctor’s first cold hearted appearance in the way that Elizabeth seems to be a cold and demanding woman and Elizabeth herself believes that her chilly behaviour may have driven her husband to adultery. She is also withdrawn and distant, this has gradually given her home a silent and insecure atmosphere, and as she continues to punish her husband for his sin, their marriage becomes increasingly tenser. The tension continues to build when Mary Warren then enters, as she informs Proctor and Elizabeth of the many people that have been arrested and how some people will hang. She hands Elizabeth a poppet that she made in court that day, ‘I made a gift for you today, Goody Proctor’ and claims that Sarah Osburn sent her spirit out in court to get them, this shows how easily Abby influenced her and the increasing power Abby is getting as the girls are willing to do whatever she orders them to do. Proctor can not believe the power Abby seems to have over the girls at court and demands evidence of witchcraft from Mary Warren and forbids her to go to court again but she replies that she is ‘amazed you do not see the weighty work we do’ but he threatens her with a whip, ‘strangely she does not resist him’. This shows how although Proctor can use his strength and power to his advantage, he can also use it in a negative way. It also illustrates how Abby is gaining increasingly more power as even the girls themselves are starting to believe that there is witchcraft. Mary claims that she saved Elizabeth’s life today, for she was accused. Elizabeth then realises that Abigail wants to kill her, ‘she wants me dead, John, you know it’. Proctor underestimates Abby, as he never once thought that she would be as wicked or malicious as to accuse Elizabeth of witchery, as Elizabeth is such a good, honest woman who strongly believes in justice and sticking to moral principles. Elizabeth is a well-respected and dignified woman and to accuse her shows that Abigail must strongly hate her as it was dangerous to accuse such a honourable, devout Christian woman of sinful activities when she has such strong religious beliefs. The religious beliefs of Elizabeth and her husband are later questioned when Hale arrives at their house, ‘I thought sir, to put some questions as to the Christian character of this house’. Proctor tries to explain why he works on a Sabbath and has not to been to church as often, he criticises Parris and claims that he spends the church’s money wasteful. Hale asks why only two of Proctor’s children are baptized and asks him to say the Ten Commandments but he can only remember nine of the ten, Elizabeth instantly gives him a sharp and bitter reminder of the tenth, adultery. This is ironic as he broke this commandment when he had his affair with Abby. Proctor obviously knows how foolish he was to be unfaithful and now feels very guilty, this is shown in his constant desire to forget about his sins, and when Elizabeth reminds him, it is ‘as though a secret arrow had pained his heart’. When Proctor tries to tell Hale that witchcraft accusations are not true he does not believe him as he feels that many have confessed to witchcraft. It is here that the hypocrisy of the witchcraft hysteria is exposed as the only way for people to save themselves from hanging was to admit to witchcraft, this sent the witchcraft trials off in a vicious spiral as people would definitely confess to witchery and accuse others, if they would be hanged for denying it. This makes the audience consider if Proctor would confess to witchcraft like the majority of the village to save his life as although he has been represented as not being totally religious by not going to church all the time like the rest of the community, he has given good, moral reasons for not attending. Some of Proctor’s qualities are also helped to be further expressed in Elizabeth’s arrest on the charge that her spirit stabbed Abigail with a needle, ‘stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly he drew a needle out’. He says that he will ‘not give his wife to vengeance’ and when Reverend Hale insists that the court is just, Proctor calls him a ‘Pontius Pilate’. His deep passion and love for his wife mounts along with his anger against the charge and how he is willing to fight for what is right and moral is also expressed. This also shows how Proctor misjudged Abigail as is actually more cunning than he first thought, this seems to show how Proctor sees some good in everybody as he thought she was better than that. The poppet shows that Abigail is yet more wicked, it illustrates how she is jealous and envious of Elizabeth because John loves her so much and also shows how she is determined, unscrupulous, cold and scheming. In the first act, she behaved just in her own interests; she was ready to harm others, but only to save herself. However, in this instance she frames Elizabeth on purpose out of revenge, planting the poppet to murder her. When Elizabeth is taken away, Proctor demands that Mary Warren come to court with him, he uses his intelligence as he knows that he can use Mary to his advantage by making her give evidence against the charges of witchcraft and therefore to prove Elizabeth’s innocence. However, Miller adds irony here as Proctor can rely on one single person to save them from Abigail’s charges but this one person, Mary Warren, is one of the weakest characters in ‘The Crucible’. She alone has the power to stop the hysteria of the witchcraft trials, but does not have the strength or will to do it. Mary needs a lot of force from Proctor to even think about coming clean about the lie in court and as Proctor uses one of his qualities, power, as he is demanding her to give evidence against Abby. She sobs ‘I cannot, I cannot’ but Proctor further expresses his love for his wife as he cries that his ‘wife will not die for him’. His morals and principles allo w the audience to believe that his death will be inescapable. Act Three continues to defend Proctor by focusing on his good points. He enters the court in a powerful manner, presenting a piece of paper signed by Mary Warren saying that the accusations of witchery are false. This shows how he is a natural leader but this quality causes friction between him and Parris. This is revealed as Parris takes the evidence from Proctor as an attack on the court, and even as an attack on him, further, it illustrates how Parris is paranoid and foolish. When Proctor is told that his wife is pregnant by Danforth; although Proctor did not know if it is true or not, he tells everyone in the court that Elizabeth never lies so he believes it, this shows that even thought Elizabeth is often cold towards him, he still deeply loves and trusts her. When Abigail starts to pretend that she can feel a sharp cold wind, ‘a wind, a cold wind has come’, Proctor calls her a ‘whore’ and grabs her by the hair, finally admitting that he had an affair with her, he cries ‘I have known her sir, I have known her’. This again shows how Proctor’s energy and strength can be used negatively. However, he also illustrates deep shame and regret for his unfaithfulness but lets all of the truth be known even if it does mean that he will be charged and the once totally respected member of the community will have a dint in his reputation. He lets all the truth be known as he knows that many innocent people are dying for stupid reasons, this expresses how Proctor supports the theme of truth and justice. It also conveys how Proctor will not lie to defend himself, therefore portraying the idea that he will not later admit to witchcraft to save his own life, therefore expressing how his death may be inevitable. This scene is very ironic as to prove that he is innocent and to show that he is now faithful to his wife, Proctor has to openly tell everyone in the court about his affair. To save Elizabeth and to stop himself from being accused of witchcraft, he has to blacken his name. Even with this sin, Proctor is still shown as a martyr, as he sacrifices his good reputation in Salem, where public reputation is very important, in order to save his wife and others who have been accused of witchcraft even though they are innocent. His great belief in justice helps the audience to believe that his death will be unavoidable as it expresses how he will not carry on the accusations, which will undoubtedly cause many more unjustified deaths, and therefore his life will be lost to save other people.