The Crucible 

by Arthur Miller 

"The Crucible" written by Arthur Miller, is a play that
takes place in the sixteen nineties during the famous but
tragic witch trials. The entire community is in pandemonium
yet certain characters are also fighting internal conflicts
of their own. Miller uses three characters who manifest
this internal battle ever so clearly. They are Mary Warren,
whose whole personality turns upside down, John Proctor who
contemplates between the importance of his family and his
own name and Reverend Hale who battles with himself whether
to carry out his job requirements or do what he knows is
right. 

Mary Warren is a girl who is obsessed with this inner
turmoil throughout the play. At the outset of the play she
is perceived to be a very shy girl who will never speak her
mind as shown when Proctor sends her home and she responds
with " I'm just going home" (21). As the play continues and
as she is influenced by Abigail, Mary begins to break this
self induced mold and does what she wants. Mary Warren,
along with many other girls gets caught up in the hype of
getting all the attention and exercising power via
initiating and adamantly continuing these "witch trials".
Finally John Proctor, the rationalist, shows that when
people like Rebecca Nurse and Elizabeth Proctor who are the
saintliest of people are accused of being witches,
something must be wrong. 

Mary Warren has a difficult decision to make. She has
realized that her whole way of life has been based on
injustice. However, how can she extricate herself from
Abigail and her friends, not to mention her new feelings of
confidence. Mary decides to speak out against Abigail and
the others for their false accusations and said that she "
tried to kill me numerous times"(57). Yet as she does this
heroic act of overcoming her " old" self, Abigail pretends
that Mary is also a witch using the poppets against
her(73). Mary is now faced with yet another grueling
internal conflict: to do what she knows is right and
probably die for it, or to return to her old ways. Mary
succumbs to Abigails "hypnosis " and accuses John Proctor
of forcing her to lie. Clearly the battle which Mary faced
from the very beginning was enormous. 

John Proctor, a farmer and village commoner, similarly is
faced with an inner turmoil. He has committed adultery and
had absolutely no intentions of joining in the witch trials
until his pregnant wife got involved. Even though she was
set free because she was pregnant, Proctor feels that an
injustice was committed.. He is a good and noble man and
wants to speak out against these witch trials but he is
afraid that his past "sin" would surface. After a while,
he decides that he might as well speak his mind and by so
doing is also accused of sorcery and sentenced to death .
John later says to Elizabeth that " My honesty is broken
anyway, Elizabeth; I am a no good man. Nothing's spoiled by
giving them this lie. . ."(136). As John confesses, he
does not allow Danforth to make it officially documented.
As Danforth asks him why John answers with a cry " because
it is my name. Because I cannot have another in my life . .
. How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul;
leave me my name(143). John feels strongly about having a
good name and not dying with a bad one. Proctor weighs both
sides of his internal conflict and realizes that he must
not make another mistake. He therefore, prescribes himself
to death, not for his own sake, but rather for the sake of
the others. As John dies Liz weeps saying " He has his
goodness now. God forbid I take it away"(145). 

Another internal conflict is evident in Reverend Hale, who
initiates these problems. At first Reverend Hale is sure
about his belief that there are witches and feels that he
is carrying out the desires of G-D himself. Yet as the play
moves on and Hale sees all these honest and good people
being sentenced and executed, he too experiences an inner
conflict. He contemplates whether to do what he is sent to
do, listen to Danforth, or listen to his own conscience and
denounce these proceedings as unjust and wrong. Hale
decides to help out all the people who are wrongly accused
by encouraging them to confess and save themselves from
these false proceedings. Hale, attempting to repent his own
sins by tying to make people confess states" I come to do
the devils work. I come to counsel Christians they should
belie themselves . . . can you not see the blood on my
head(131). Hale overcomes his turmoil by following the
truth he knew in his heart of hearts. Yet he is counseling
people to " prevail upon your husband and confess " and
says " God damns a liar less than he that throws his life
away for pride " and convinces people to lie which is
against his religion and considered a moral sin. But he
decides that earthly life is a greater gift than eternal
life. 

Everybody throughout their lives are faced with inner
conflicts. One must make a decision based on what they
think is right and true. These three characters probably
just faced the most important decision of their lives.
Whether right or wrong their went with what they thought
was the right decision within their heart of hearts.