English Response: “Death!” “That’s Maggie, Grandpa.” “Oh…Death!” “That’s the cat.”

As promised, here is my response to the very exciting, nerve-racking, injust Act 3 of The Crucible.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

“Death!” “That’s Maggie, Grandpa.” “Oh…Death!” “That’s the cat.”

Where is justice in the world of Salem? Where is reason and order? In Act 3 of the Crucible, none are found. The hearing in this act is that of Proctor and Mary against Abigail. It is the goal of Proctor and Mary to save Elizabeth from certain death due to Elizabeth’s charge of witchcraft. They are trying to prove her innocence, while Abigail’s goal is the opposite. To obtain their goal, Proctor and Mary both sacrifice one of the greatest things they could have sacrificed—their good names. Proctor, in order to testify of Abigail’s motive for accusing his wife, confessed his sin of lechery to all who were present. To a grown, married man, that would have to be the most decent, dignified thing a man could do. Such an embarrassing, shameful thing, openly confessed to the town. That has to take balls of steel…pardon the French. Then to top it off, just when Proctor sees an opening for getting what he wants, he will not accept the terms. To accept, Proctor would have to accept the fact that if he and his wife stayed in Salem, his wife could still be hanged for witchcraft a year later after she had had her baby. He could have accepted the terms and fled Salem, and he and his wife would have been saved, but that would mean leaving the wives of his friends to death. Again, Proctor steps to the plate and refuses to accept the terms, though it risked his wife’s innocence. These acts define Proctor as a hero.

Elizabeth is brought in to confirm Proctor’s sin and her reason for quitting Abigail, but she lies to save her husband’s dignity, not knowing that Proctor had already confessed. Now all hell breaks loose. The judge, easily persuaded, is convinced that Proctor has lied in his accusations of his lechery with Abigail, and sentences his arrest. At the same time, Abigail begins to scream that Mary is sending her spirit to attack her and the other girls, and the judge believes all of it. He demands that Mary desist, and in the chaos and hysteria of the moment, Mary begins to scream as well. As Proctor tries to calm her, she flees from his grip and calls him the Devils man. She screams that he has consorted with the Devil, and that he has tried to make her join his evil ways. She does this in an instant, most likely without even realizing what she has said, and Proctor’s fate is sealed as the blind judge orders his arrest. Hale is not so slow, and sees the injustice, and exits the court in a rage of injustice.

Just when things were looking up, when justice was within grasp, all is brought to demise with the sympathetic lie of Elizabeth. She was only seeking justice, but through her lie, all was brought to ruin. Abigail was relentless in her accusations to Mary, and the judge, so blind and easily swayed, hurriedly decided the fate of the Proctors, sealing their fate. I don’t know what happens to the characters beyond this point, but it seems all is not well. Where is the justice in the world?

Spoilers end here.

So yeah, how intense is that? I was honestly jumping up and down while the story unfolded. Oh man, I was giddy. I hope you'alls have the same fun I did reading Act 3.