The Crucible

    "Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!" (John Proctor, 144)
    Proctor's plea demonstrates that personal integrity and honesty are worth dying for and shows that without individuals being honest and sincere the community cannot survive. Arthur Miller's The Crucible shows that personal integrity is paramount to maintain a stable society as well as living a personally fulfilling life.   In 1692 Salem, Massachusetts experiences what can happen to a society when people leave behind their honor to follow the crowd. A group of young girls lead by Abigail Williams, for reasons still being debated, claim to have had dealings with the devil and that various women in the village have also consulted with him and "signed his book." Accused "witches" are forced to confess themselves and others, very quickly paranoia and hysteria ensue.

    As waves of irrational persecution sweep across Salem and surrounding villages, almost everyone is caught up with the hysteria. A court is established to try and to persecute accused "witches." The presiding judge, Danforth says about the nature of the crime and trial, "... which-craft is ipso facto, on its face and by its nature an invisible crime... as for the witches, none will deny that we are most eager for all their confessions." (Act III, 100) In effect, a mere accusation of witchcraft is tantamount to a death warrant, for there is no need for evidence and no witness beyond the accuser. When a person is accused of witchcraft he or she has two options: to deny the charge and face execution, or admit to something he or she didn't do and be spared. Many accused witches choose simply to confess before the court so that may save their lives. But although they keep their lives, they are forever marred by the admission. The accused man's name and reputation in the town are destroyed, and he has to live with his untruthful admission for the rest of his life.

    Not surprisingly, when faced with this choice, most choose to live. Reverend Hale says in Act Four, "... life is God's most precious gift... Let him [John Proctor] give his lie. ... for it may well be God damns a liar less than he that he throws his life away..."
But by confessing to witchery they did not commit, the innocent people of Salem fuel the fire of mindless persecution and provide precedent for further mania. The confessions of the innocent are the driving force behind the persecution that is revenging Salem village. Hale explains the devastation caused by the trials and arrests of so many people:

... there are orphans wandering from house to house; abandoned cattle bellow on the highroads, the stink of crops hangs everywhere, and no man knows when the harlot's cry will end his life... (Act IV, 130)

    This excerpt illustrates how the mass hysteria of the witch trials not only devastated many innocent people personally, but brought about numerous horrors to everyone in Salem, even those not directly involved with the trials. One of the main components to having a believable (and thus live-saving) "confession" is to name the names of other people with whom you have seen the Devil. What occurs is a chain reaction of accusation and confession and further accusation which eventually tarnishes the names of everyone in the village except those honorable enough to defy the judges and thus are executed.

    When asked to give the names of others that he has seen "with the Devil," John proctor refuses. He knows that by lying he might spare his own life, but he realizes that if the fires of persecution are fueled by lies alone, then they have no place in Salem and he becomes resolved not too let the threat of hanging impair his sense of honor or duty. Also, he refuses to allow the judges to post his confession upon the church door for the town to gaze upon. Proctor knows that if his confession is truly a confession before God for a sin, than God has already witnessed his confession and Proctor does not need to further throw away his good name and perhaps lead others into believing they have sinned when they are innocent.

    Giles Corey is another man who refuses to bend to the will of the judges. He does not confess and so is sentenced to death by pressing under heavy stones. This public and very gruesome execution lead many others to see the horrors being committed because of the ignorance, fear and complacency of the people of Salem.     Without the confessions of the innocent, the trials could not continue. Eventually the hysteria died down. The court was disbanded and official apologies were made to the families of the persecuted, but none of this would have been possible were it not for the resolve and personal integrity of those who would not offer false confession. It was only when people stood up to the court, often sacrificing their own lives, that people finally heard the voice of reason. It may be that "God damns a liar less than that he throws his life away for pride," but in retrospect, we see it is clearly a virtue and a necessity to not give in to the pressure of the masses. While the sacrifices of John Proctor and the many others who did not forfeit their personal integrity were tragic, their deaths were necessary to reestablish order and reason in a community gripped by paranoia and delusion.