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In Arthur Millers The Crucible John Proctor, the main character, struggles with guilt. Arthur Miller has contributed many scenarios of good versus evil, as well as the characters that generally possess these feelings and intentions (Bigsby 48). Each character has either a good or bad intention in the play often switching from good to evil (Bigsby 48). Mary denying any witchcraft then saying that John Proctor was the devil himself or people seeing Elisabeth Proctor as a good woman, then evil because they think she made a compact with the devil (Alter 60). The town sees the girls (who actually dance, chant and get caught running naked in the woods at the start) as good, not evil for doing so (61). This could because they are deflecting their punishment for dancing by convicting many women and saying they are witches, except they are only convicting the women they do not like (61).
John Proctor, his wife and others convicted of witchcraft are seen as the evil people by the public and punished if they do not confess to compacting with the devil (61). So if they confessed to compacting with the devil, they would be lying. Instead they were hung for saying they were innocent to witchcraft charges (62). In the above case the people who are good and people who are evil have switched identities evil is seen as good and good seen as evil. In the play, the center of evil is Abigail Williams the niece of Parris (Buick 89).
She has an affair with John Proctor while working for the Proctors, and also she committed many acts against the Puritan religion. She lies many times and seems to like it when people are sent to hang. From lying she is given power and the more power she gets the more confident she becomes. But when her own friend starts to destroy her control she turns against her. She uses evil actions disguised as good to get attention (90). Therefore, the viewers see Abigail as the evil character in the play but what the characters in the play think is different (92).
Although John Proctor is convicted of compacting with the devil and became a lecher with Abigail, he is seen as the center of all that is good. An innocent man who is trying to stop a load of nonsense in his town, which gets caught up in the whirlwind of accusations (Martine 66). He is seen as the hero by the audience and carries many traits that a hero would (67). He dies at the end to saving the lives of many innocent people after his death, the witch-trials end. Proctors intentions are good but his character changes them to seem evil (Warsaw 25). Though in The Crucible, Arthur Miller has made evil victorious by the hero dying and the villain escapes unpunished (26).
In The Crucible there are many complicated connections between the characters they quarrel with. The most important three are between John Proctor and the town, John Proctor and Abigail Williams, and Abigail Williams and Parris (27). At the start of The Crucible, the town sees John Proctor as a hard workingman that loves his wife and has two children. He is a strong character and not easily exploited.
But as the play opens out, their views change. After he admits to lechery with Abigail, the judges and townspeople are shocked and amazed. And when Mary Warren and Abigail accuse him of compacting with the devil and he shouts God is dead (Miller 102), the towns view shifts entirely and they believe he is guilty. This is because if a single person said they thought he was innocent that they could be accused of witchcraft as well and the whole town had to stick together to stay safe. John is going to confess that he had made a compact with the devil but all confessors names were put upon the church door and John did not want to give his name away to a lie (Bigsby 48, 49, 50, 51).
John Proctor and Abigail Williams relationship is the most complicated and was full of changing feelings and maturity. When Elisabeth Proctor (Johns wife) accused John and Abigail of having an affair, John put Abigail out on the streets like he does not care, and she is left to go back to her uncle. Until the end of the story Abigail is still trying to be with John but he refuses. John sees Abigail as immature and nothing that comes out of her mouth is true. Abigail seems to think if she cant have John, no one will (Alter 62). And her immaturity is shown when she pretends that there is witchcraft going on in Salem.
Their characters also clash, because of their personalities, age difference and levels of their social acceptance, as well as their religious status. John did not go to church during a period of time when his wife was sick, he also could not remember the Ten Commandments when asked and Abigail was the Priests niece (Martine 67). Another of the many complicated relationships is between Abigail Williams and her generous uncle, Parris. Parris believed that Abigail was making up most of the accusations but after he started getting death threats and began to fear for his life, the situation became serious and he took to his nieces side. A good example of this is at the start of the play Parris is seen over his daughter Ruths bed praying to God. When Abigail walks in, he mentions about him seeing them in the woods.
He asked what are they doing and why was someone running through the woods naked. Later when John Proctor testified to the court that Abigail and the girls had been in the woods (dancing and how Parris saw someone naked), Paris denies that he ever saw anyone naked running through the woods and comments that they were just dancing. (West 31 - 32) The Crucible is a play with many emotional feelings between good and evil, complex relationships and, individuals and society. Arthur Miller explores the nature of all these feelings in each character, the different language and setting, and most of all the ongoing fight between good and evil that is displayed in many plays.
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Research essay sample on Good And Evil In The Crucible
