Finding the most important thing in life

I think the “crucible” in the play was the court. The conversation in the court was hot as a fire. We can see the differences in characters through the court hearings. John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, and Reverend John Hale were the most significant characters in this play as they changed a lot in the court. Did they become pure? I think they did.

John Proctor has had an affair with Abigail Williams when she was the servant of his house. His wife, Elizabeth knew it, so their relationship was tense and strained. After Abigail accused Elizabeth, however, he tried to save his innocent wife.

In the court, he wanted to state that the accuser was telling lies. Mary Warren, the servant of the Proctor’s house and an accuser in the court, had never seen any spirits; neither had other girls. John asked Mary to corroborate him. When Mary told the truth in the court, Abigail denied it. Then, John got angry about Abigail’s diabolical acting and he called her a “whore.” He admitted that he had an affair with her and that his wife fired her for being a harlot. Danforth brought Elizabeth to the court and asked if John is a lecher. She denied it, as she didn’t know that her husband had confessed his adultery. She thought that telling a lie would help her husband. Furthermore, Mary’s revulsion let her betray John as she was too scary to be hanged. John and Elizabeth were jailed.

On the day of John’s hanging, Danforth, Hale, and parochial people tried to save him after Abigail had vanished. They asked him to confess, and he actually confessed. He also signed his name for testimony when he was asked to, but he tore it up and said, “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life!”

He chose an honorable death rather than a miserable life. He died for his sin. And yet, he died as a pure person. He found his goodness through the trial in the court, which was in fact the “crucible.”

After Elizabeth knew her husband’s affair, she was cold to John. She thought that John didn’t love her anymore. Then Abigail accused her, hoping to have John back.

In the court, Elizabeth told a lie when she was asked if John was a lecher. She didn’t know that her husband had confessed the truth. She denied it because she thought it would save him. It was the first lie of her entire life, according to John’s comment. Her love for John became the cause of his hanging. This is very tragic.

On John’s hanging day, Elizabeth was asked to persuade him to confess. As a good Christian woman, she refused to ask him to confess. She thought it would be against the will of God. When she talked to John, however, she asked him to forgive her as she kept the house cold, and couldn’t express her love to John. She let him decide whether he would confess or not. When he finally chose not to confess, she said, “He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!”

I understand her perpetual love for John from these last sentences. She used to be a jealous, cold woman, but at last, she could love her husband truly and she could express her feelings well. She became pure by letting her husband die a Puritanical death.

Reverend John Hale changed sides in the middle of the story. First, he tried to find every witch in the town, but later, he found that the accusers were telling lies. He tried to save people who were accused, especially John Proctor. He asked Elizabeth to counsel him to confess as he said, “Life is God’s most precious gift. Prevail upon your husband to confess; let him give his lie.”

It sounds a little strange. Mr. Hale was a minister who was summoned to determine if there was witchcraft in Salem. The same person asked to encourage a man to tell a lie. I think he became a great minister as he had learned what is the most important thing in human life: Not Christianity or God, but life itself is the most important thing. He became pure through these trials.

I conclude that the “crucible” is the court. People discovered what is the most important thing for them from the “crucible” and they became pure. John Proctor found goodness, Elizabeth found true love, and Hale found human life is the most important thing. John is hanged as a saint at last. He died for his good name. Elizabeth let him die, as she truly loved him. Hale tried to save John from hanging, because he found that life is the most precious gift from God. They found their pureness out from the “crucible.”