The Crucible Comments

“The Crucible”
The character I picked for my summary is John Proctor. Mr. Proctor indirectly and unwittingly causes the Salem Witch Trials by having an affair with his servant girl, Abigail Williams. After discovering her husband’s affair, Elizabeth Proctor fires Abigail and forces her to leave their house. This, combined with an increasing obsession with John, forces Abigail to dance in the woods with Tituba and the village girls in hope that Tituba will cast a spell to make John fall in love with her. It is after Reverend Parris, Abigail’s uncle, discovers them dancing in the woods that Abigail and the other girls begin throwing around accusations of witchcraft. With revenge on her mind, Abigail accuses Goody Proctor of “witching” her. After having her house searched, Elizabeth is arrested for being a witch. Her husband does everything he can to prove her innocence, but thanks to the biased Judge Danforth, it is all in vain.
Irony plays an important role in “The Crucible”. One example of irony would be when John attempts to show that Abigail is not as pure and truthful as she seems. He tries to do this by confessing to having an affair with her. Ironically, Elizabeth (who has never in her entire life told a lie) , when called upon by Danforth to back John’s claim of adultery, unknowing of his confession, lies to protect her husband’s name. Eventually, John himself is accused of witchcraft, as luck would have it, by the very girl who attempts to help clear both his wife and his friends’ names, Mary Warren. John and his wife refuse to admit that they are “witches”; they both are sentenced to hang. A few months later, an extraordinary event takes place within the prison where John, Elizabeth, and their friends are being held. Elizabeth turns out to be pregnant and tells Danforth, who at first does not believe her. Not wanting to go against the Bible and harm an innocent child, Danforth decides to spare her life for the remainder of her pregnancy.
Fearing crowd riots at the execution of John and his friends, Danforth, Parris, and Hale convince Elizabeth to speak with John to persuade him to confess. After speaking with his wife and taking into consideration the future of his children, John decides to confess in order to have his life spared. As Danforth is recording John’s confession, John abruptly decides that he would rather hang than confess to something he did not do. So he rips up the confession statement, which ultimately seals his fate.
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