Examine Miller’s presentation of John Proctor :: English Literature

Examine Miller’s presentation of John Proctor and the Circumstances which lead to his choosing to be executed. Although the events of the play are based on events that took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, Miller was liberal in his fictionalisation. For example, the affair between farmer, husband, and father John Proctor, and the Minister’s teenage niece, Abigail Williams, drive many of the accusations of witchcraft in the play – in fact at the time of the Witch Trials, Williams would only have been around eleven and Proctor would have been in his sixties. The play, written in 1953, was in response to Senator McCarthy and the ‘House Un-American Activities Committee's’ crusade against supposed communist sympathisers, in which Miller became embroiled. When he testified in front of a congressional committee in 1956 he refused to reveal any names and so was held in contempt. The decision was overturned two years later. One of Miller's most powerful devices in the play is his use of irony: dramatic, verbal, and situational irony. Verbal irony is a figure of speech in which the speaker intends to be understood as meaning something that contrasts with the literal or usual meaning of what he says. One example of this is when John Proctor says ‘Good. Then her saintliness is done with’, mentioning Abigail. However, Proctor does not actually believe that Abigail is a saint. The affair makes her a sinner, because he is married to Elizabeth. However, he says this line because the rest of the town, and most importantly, the courts believe that she is believable and truthful. In effect, he tries to convince the court and the people of her â€Å"unsaintliness†, by bringing to their attention her sins, but to no avail; this is one of the most important circumstances which lead to his choosing to be executed. Another example has Proctor telling his wife ‘It’s winter in here yet.’ However, it is actually spring, as in the same dialogue he asks her to go walking in the field with him so that they may pick flowers and bring them into their home. Proctor really means to tell his wife that their home is cold, that there is no sign of love. He believes that when his wife fills the home with warmth and love, he is forgiven for his sin of lechery, and only then can he continue normally with his life. By using this type of irony, Miller’s characters indirectly bring something to our attention, which could not otherwise be done. Situational irony is a discrepancy between what we expect and what occurs. This is the second type of irony used in the play.