The Crucible By Arthur Miller: Character Analysis

Change is good. Many hear this statement being thrown around in speeches and slogans by people trying to promote that change is for the better. Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, the reader is able to infer and analyze the situations that the characters undergo making them feel uncomfortable and their need for change. The definition of crucible is “a heat resistant container in which materials inside can be subjected to great heat.” (Merriam- Webster, 190) Knowing this allows the reader to understand that the outside being the witnesses, put pressure on the adults, who are on the inside, subjecting them to change. Like the definition of crucible John Proctor, Abigail William, and Elizabeth Proctor are subject to change by outside forces throughout the play.

The reader see’s Proctor to be a selfish person but simple man, who would do whatever it takes to keep his name and hide his affair. Proctor states, “I have known her, sir. I have known her,” (Miller, 117), but this is too late. Once his wife, Elizabeth comes to testify, she claims that Proctor had not had an affair with Abigail, in which she hopes to keep her husband safe, not realizing that Proctor already confessed the affair to the court. After this occurred, Proctor is sentenced to death. The court presents John a pardon if he admits to what he has done. To protect himself, John must sign the document saying he has been practicing witchcraft. John decides to tear up the paper, and that living a life knowing he’s not guilty would be hard on him, his family, and those around him. He is faced with the “injustices of society… and at the end of the play [Proctor] affirms his moral honesty and integrity by refusing to reveal publicly his confession of guilt” (White, 148). Proctor decides to save his reputation, and name, over his