The Issue of Internal and External Conflict in 'The Crucible' Play

Throughout the Crucible many characters were faced with internal and external conflict that resulted in their need to surmount difficulties. The characters had different conflicts but were all sparked by one event, the Salem witch trials. In 1692, in Salem, Massachusates there was a growing amount of people that were being accused of witchcraft which caused uncontrollable hysteria within the town. The hysteria resulted in a complete remodel of the community as people were now motivated by fear to accuse one another. With all the accusations, people faced obstacles to overcome. Whether those obstacles were created due to being responsible for the hysteria or from committing sins, Rev. Hale, Elizabeth Proctor, and John Proctor were all able to come to wisdom despite their conflicts, through failure.

In the beginning of the Crucible, Reverend Hale played an active role as a witchcraft activist. He had good intentions and was a trusted person within the community because of his desire to help his community as an educated witch hunter. He encouraged people to testify because he was confident in his abilities of identifying witches. In Act three, his help ended up being an utter failure instead of benefiting the community. He began to take ‘spector evidence’ of the salem people, as liable evidence instead of investigating it himself. In Act four, he admits his early pride but later guilt and says, “came into this village like a bridegroom to his beloved, bearing gifts of high religion and what touched with bright confidence, it died…”(Miller, 32). He admits to his wrong doings, as he was manipulated by children and realized that he convicted innocent people to death. This realization led him to feel immensely guilty as he realized his intent of helping the community was a failure, and caused hysteria instead. Motivated by his guilt and good will, he made the sagacious decision to quit the court. The main event that led him to this, was when himself and John Proctor were not allowed to leave and return with a lawyer to help their case to the court, he discovered how corrupt the system is, and quit the court. He now wanted to help the people that were accused of witchcraft to confess, just to save their own lives. This change in perspective of the court, shaped him as a character as he transitioned from advocating accusations, to coming to wisdom about the evil that lies amongst the court. Thus, he failed when advocating for people to testify against witches in order to be able to come to wisdom about the corrupt nature of the court.

Elizabeth Proctor experienced failure as a character throughout the Crucible whilst her relationship was in a dishonorable state, and she committed a sin by lying in front of the court. As mentioned next, John was very remorseful and wanted to fix his relationship by admitting his sin to the court. He told the court earlier that Elizbaeth would never lie, and that if Danforth shall call on her to testify about whether or not he committed adultery, that she would indeed tell the truth. Ironically, his testimony was rejected and Elizabeth lied, and turned the court against him which triggered the downfall of John Proctor. She lied because she believed that it would help John portray a positive image, to get him out of this mess. As difficult as it was to see, she gained wisdom from her mistake and realized that by John revealing his affair in order to save her life, it was because he truly loved her. It was as if they were both trying to help each other but neither of them knew it. She also came to wisdom through this lie by even accepting some responsibility for the problems that were present in their marriage. She had the integrity to say, 'I have sins of my own to count. It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery” (Miller, 137). In other words, she blamed herself for the ruin in their relationship a little too, she felt that she did not deserve his love, and the fact that she couldn’t love him before loving herself affected it to. Once they both realized that they were trying to help each other get out of sticky situations, she battled her sorrow and realized, that all humans, even the most purtian people make mistakes. Thereby, she possessed sagacity at the end of Act four, and helped John forgive himself before his death. Thus, she failed when lying to the court court to come to wisdom about the love that he has for her and being able to forgive her husband.

John Proctor faced the most internal conflict amongst all the characters as he ended up in a terrible state with his wife and happiness because of one mistake, an affair. He lacked the ability to forgive himself for his failure, and this was mainly due to his essential value for his reputation. His name meant everything to him, even more than the sin he committed. He knew that confessing to a sin like adultery would ruin his name, but once the trials began, and the court took his wife Elizabeth away...he realized he could stop Abigail and save his wife, by confessing to his adultery. For this reason, he admitted to adultery in Act 3, “A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you—see her what she is. . . . She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore’s vengeance. . . .” (Miller, 110). He came to wisdown in this scene as he realized that saving his wife was more important to him than his reputation. He realized that he did not want to live a dishonest man with lies surrounding him, a wife who can't forgive him, and a name of a sinful man tacked onto the door of a church that he built himself. His failure allowed him to open his eyes to what was truly important to him... and for that reason, he confessed to his sin to the court to protect his wife (taken that it would reveal the subvert nature of Abigail from accusing innocent Elizabeth Proctor). He then went to his death without singing his name to a false statement, revealing his goodness as an honest, loving man. Thus, he failed whilst committed a sin in order to come to wisdom about the value of his relationship with his wife Abigail.

The lesson learnt from this essay is that a person can learn from their mistakes and become a better person. Reverend Hale made a mistake by mishandling the witch accusations, but later led him to quit the court and help people get out of the mess that he made. John Proctor made a mistake by committing a sin, which led him to realize how much he loved his wife. Elizabeth Proctor made a mistake by lying in front of the court, but later realized that he is worth forgiving because all people make mistakes, and that he still loves her. In conclusion, this message proves how if even the most religious puritan people make mistakes knowing they sinned and still become better people...so can we.