God-fearing people Essays

God-fearing people Essays God-fearing people Paper God-fearing people Paper Parris, at the beginning of the play, is shown not to believe in witches. However, the overwhelming authority of Danforth and the court persuades him to think otherwise, and at the end of the play, he is shown to believe in witches. By making the most religious man in the play believe in witches, and fall victim to the power of Danforth, Miller is criticising the American society, where even the most religious and God-fearing people would leave their faith in order to save their lives. John Proctor, on the other hand, is shown to be a very Christ-like figure throughout the play. In the movie version, Proctor is shown to be in water when he chases Mary Warren after she has run out of court. When everyone is against him, he stands alone in the water, almost as if he is being baptised from the old Proctor to the new Proctor. By showing us this, Miller is hinting at the fact that only the people who told the truth were the real  gods; as Jesus Christ is believed to be in Christianity, and the others were just liars, who sacrificed their friends, or in Salems case, their enemies, in order to save themselves. : At first meeting, we think that Hale is McCarthy, as he appears to be very self-confident and arrogant; they are weighted with authority. However, as we read further into the play, Hale seems to change, and realises the stupidity and injustice in the system. By changing the thoughts of one of the most respected persons in Salem, Miller is showing weaknesses in Danforth, and therefore in McCarthy. Here, Miller is also representing the fact that McCarthyism would not last for very long, and that someday people would realise that they are in the wrong, and start to protect those who tell the truth. He is attacking the American society for not doing it earlier, as Hale is only shown to realise what is happening when it is too late. Mary Warren works for proctor. She is one of the accused, and most of end of Act 3 is based on her case. First of all, she tells the court that she did not really faint, and that she was only pretending, That were pretence, sir. However, when she is asked to pretend to faint again, she is unable to. This immediately creates tension in the audience, as they, most probably, would want her to faint in order to save Proctor and Elizabeth. Her inability to faint only strengthens Abigails case, and this would only strengthen what Danforth stands for. She then changes her confession to saying that she did deal with the devil, My name, he want my name, and goes against Proctor. Miller is showing us here how people would lie to save their own lives, and kill those who have been most helpful to them, and this criticises the American society, where people would lie in order to save their own lives. This scene would anger the audience, and make them feel hatred towards Mary, Abigail and especially Danforth, who will now definitely sign the death warrant for Elizabeth. Again, by making the hero of the play suffer Miller is expressing his hatred towards McCarthy and the people who followed him. Miller constantly characterises the court officials as weak and arrogant which highlights the injustice of Salem and McCarthy. Giles is the first character to challenge Danforth and he is immediately thrown out of the court. However, Abigail is able to overpower Danforth, making him very uneasy at times, as the following stage directions show: weakening, apprehensively, dumbfounded Danforth cannot speak Danforth turning worriedly to Abigail. This is because Abigail is the only way he can prove that he is in the right, and that years of studies have not gone to waste. By making Danforths character so weak, Miller is condemning the fact that McCarthy is a weak man who has a closed mind over the things he says and does. Millers slow build up of tension during the scene emphasises the emotional disturbance suffered by the victims of both Salem and McCarthy. Abigail enters just as Danforth is questioning Mary and interruptions like these slowly build tension in the audience. Also, the faked attacks grow anger in the audience, as everyone knows that they are pretending, and yet the people still believe them. Miller is portraying the American society of the 1950s as ignorant and stupid, who will believe anything the court and McCarthy believe. Proctors confession to committing lechery, in an attempt to save his wife, is a much tensed scene. The dramatic irony of Elizabeth not knowing he has confessed, and the natural lie she tells in order to save her husbands name, all create suspense in the audience, as they know that the Proctors are innocent, and yet because of the injustice of the court, one of them, if not both, will die. Miller is again criticising McCarthy and his laws, as the innocent are dying and the guilty live. Proctors damning lines at the end of the play suggest that there were some good people in Salem and in America during the 1950s-people who would give their lives for their loved ones. In the movie, Proctor is shown to be reciting the Gods Prayer just before being hanged, and it was believed that witches were not able to recite the Gods Prayer. By showing him do this, Miller is showing everyone how blatant it was that the innocent were dying, and he criticises the citizens of Salem for not realising this, in other words, he is criticising the American society. This has a negative effect on the audience, as they appreciate the injustice of McCarthy, and how the people were not doing anything to save anyone. Having considered the dramatic nature of this scene, I believe that it criticises McCarthyism and is an attack on the American society of the 1950s. Miller does this by repeatedly showing the Salem citizens as ignorant and unintelligent. He attacks Danforth time and time again, showing him to be weak, and yet he is able to have power over the people, only because of the fact that he has higher authority then they have. The innocent characters are the ones who are killed, and the guilty characters are the ones who get away with their crimes. This highlights the very point that during 1950s America, there was no justice whatsoever, and the only people who ruled were those who were of a higher rank than the normal citizens.