Results of Conflict in The Crucible Essay

Encountering Conflict SAC

Prompt: Conflict brings out unexpected qualities in people.

Although conflict is so often associated with difficulty and suffering, it is clear that through these debacles and controversy that it brings out unexpected and even surprising qualities in people. In The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, Arthur uses three very good characters to demonstrate and manifest the conflict in the story, and to show the readers how underlying qualities are evident in people.

John Proctor, a man of pride and dignity, is what we think off him. But it is only through all the turmoil and conflict that we actually realise that he has many unforeseen traits. Proctor gets accused of witchcraft and is up for trial. He is a farmer and village commoner and also has a wife and 3 children. He believes that because he is a good and noble person he cannot be hanged and die a victim of the witch trials. Butt latter on as we see the hidden qualities in him he says to his wife Elizabeth that my honesty is broke, Elizabeth; I am no good man. Nothings spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten long before and rather just confess than die for something he really didnt do. Proctor does confess but he can not allow Danforth to make it officially documented. Danforth asks him why and John answered him with a cry because it is my name. Because I cannot have another in my life... how may I live without my name? Have given you my soul; leave me my name. Proctor feels passionate about having a good name, rather than dying with a bad one. He weighs up both sides of his internal conflict and realizes that he cant make another mistake, akin to when he had the affair with Abigail. Because of this he literally sentences himself to death, but not for his own sake, but for the sake of the others. It is this one instance that really stands outs and shows us that he has very strong values, that otherwise would not be known, if it werent for the chaos going on around him.

Another person that really surprised me, as a reader, was Reverend Hale. At first we suspect that he believes that there are witches in Salem. Nevertheless as the play gets deeper and deeper into this dilemma, Hales starts to sees all the honest and innocent people getting sentenced and executed and he too sees an unfairly trial and variance happening. He contemplates whether to do what he was sent for, which we all suspected hed do, or to listen to his own conscience and condemn the proceedings as unmerited and wrong. Hale choose to do what no one suspected, and that was to help out all the people wrongly accused, by encouraging them to confess, and steer them clear of false proceedings, and getting hanged. Hale tries to make the people to confess in an attempt to pose for forgiveness of his own sins. Hale conquers this conflict by following the truth he knew in his heart of hearts. He says, God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride and convinces the people to lie, which is against their religion and is considered a moral sin. But he decides that an earthly life is a much greater gift than eternal life. Because of this turmoil what we see in Hale is very different than we suspected at the beginning of the play and is quite surprising in the way he does what is right, rather than his job.