 Hello and welcome. Now in this video we'll be looking at the character of John Proctor, who is the crucible's main protagonist. Now one of the things that you need to remember when you are writing about this play, either for your coursework or for your exams is you need to remember how to memorize key quotations, but more specifically the quotations you pick for each of the characters. It has to be very strategic. You need to add some word-level analysis and illustrate how this points to what we can learn about the character, but more specifically perhaps also contextually how is Miller using some of these characters to illustrate the wider point in terms of the idea of these witch hunts and of course how this also illustrates how life in America was during the 1950s during the McCarthy witch hunts. Now as I've mentioned, as you can see behind me, they're key quotations to remember when it comes to the character of John Proctor. So I'm going to go over why these key quotations are important and what you can think about when you're doing some word-level analysis for his character. So let's begin with the first quotation when he is speaking to Abigail and this is an act one when Abigail is professing of course her love for him and also she's speaking really badly of his wife and he rebukes her and he states, you'll speak nothing of Elizabeth. Now the word-level analysis you want to do here is when it comes to him rebuking her and stating you'll speak nothing of Elizabeth and this is an exclamatory sentence. This is a structure point you can make. And of course he also speaks of Elizabeth and this obviously shows how John Proctor really first he regrets the affair that he had with Abigail but equally he's also really angry at Abigail's lack of character in essentially trying to rekindle an affair in a very unquestioned, adulterous relationship at the expense of his wife and of course what this illustrates is just the loyalty that John Proctor has towards his wife. So do you remember to highlight and point out that this is an exclamatory sentence? This is a structure point but of course this illustrates the loyalty that John Proctor has towards his wife. The second quotation to remember is when he's speaking to Elizabeth. Now this is when he's back at home and he's really angry because he feels like he has really confessed his sin, he's done penance but he feels like his wife is still very distant to him even if he's really sorry about his adulterous affair with Abigail and he states, spare me exclamation mark, you forget nothing and forgive nothing. And of course the forget and forgive this is tied to the biblical notion of forgiving and forgetting, turning the other cheek and essentially what Proctor is accusing Elizabeth of is still holding his affair with Abigail against him so he's really irritated, he feels like he's done enough, he feels like she should basically forgive him however obviously this is also showing his underlying sense of guilt at their affair. Now the word level analysis you want to do here is firstly alliteration of Fs, forget and forgive and of course repetition of nothing and of course this illustrates the tension that exists within their relationship. The third quotation to remember for John Proctor's character is when he confesses to the men at court that Abigail cannot be trusted, she's not a pure woman and he confesses that they had an adulterous affair, what they call lechery and he says, I have known her sir, I have known her, this is his confession to the judges and of course known her which is repeated, this is a repetition, this is a euphemism for essentially him saying that he's known her too well, they've had sex, they have had an adulterous affair and of course this is John Proctor's way of showing not only is he embarrassed of this action but of course this is one of the things that really seals his fate and ultimately leads to his death but of course this also shows just how loyal he is towards his wife, he does not want his wife to die for his sins and the sins that he committed and of course also this shows how his guilt still continues to really really hurt him, the guilt that he feels for having this adulterous affair still continues to really really harm him internally. The other quotation to remember for John Proctor's character is of course when he's defending Elizabeth, he states, my wife is innocent except she knew a whore when she saw one and this is part of his confession, he's really angry at Abigail at how Abigail is willing to kill the innocent woman Elizabeth in order to just be with him and he's really angry at Abigail's character or lack of character. Now the word level analysis you want to do here is the alliteration of W so whore when and of course siblings she saw and this illustrates that John Proctor is able to see through Abigail's character and realise just how manipulative she is and of course he's accusing her but ultimately she's able to successfully distract all these accusations and this ultimately of course leads to his death. The other quotation to remember for John Proctor's character is when he's speaking to Danforth, Judge Danforth and he's a governor as well and he's angry and he's basically stating and showing them that they're more interested in doing this for their own political gain and of course these judges who are ironically trying to keep Salem really pure of witches, they actually are more aligned in their really dark deeds to the devil and he states, John Proctor states, a fire, a fire is burning, exclamation mark, I hear the boot of Lucifer and of course we can even say Lucifer in this instance when he's talking to Governor Danforth, Governor Danforth himself is being characterised by Proctor as Lucifer. He is doing really really horrible actions, his intentions in these witch hunts are not pure, he's just doing it for political gain okay and in this instance John Proctor is accusing Governor Danforth of doing things just purely for political gains not because he wants to cleanse the city or the town rather of any kind of misdeeds and of course this ties into Senator McCarthy during the McCarthyist era where actually a lot of the witch hunts that were conducted by the House of Un-American Activities, all of these witch hunts actually were more for political gain rather than actually trying to cleanse America of communist threats. Now the word of analysis you want to do here for this quotation is repetition of fire and of course the word fire burning and Lucifer belong to the semantic field of hell. The other key quotations to remember when it comes to John Proctor's character is the stage direction so these stage directions and this is Arthur Miller's way of conveying him once he has been arrested, he's languishing in jail but he's still wrestling with this, he's still wrestling with this idea of whether he should confess and essentially be released in order to live with his family but he's going to live with his family knowing he's confessed to a lie that doesn't sit well with his spirit or whether he should refuse to confess and that ultimately means he will be killed and of course his family will not have him as the breadwinner. Now the stage directions describe he moves as an animal and the fury is ellipsis in him and of course here you the word level analysis you want to do is this metaphor he's like an animal and this is conveying his internal struggle and his anger at what he sees as such an unjust witch hunt and of course again John Proctor's character in many ways contextually mimics Arthur Miller so do you remember that Arthur Miller was also implicated by the HUAC the House of House Committee of Un-American Activities, he was implicated actually for writing the crucible and for showing communist sympathies and of course he was just using the crucible as a way of questioning logically and rationally questioning all of these witch hunts but he was punished for questioning that much like how John Proctor tried to question these witchcraft elements and these witch hunts but then he was punished and he had to pay the price with his life okay. Now the final quotation to remember is when at the end Proctor refuses to sign that confession and decides to die what he sees as a noble death and he states I've given you my soul leave me my name and this is when Paris and the judges are trying to convince him to stay alive by just literally signing what essentially would be amounted to a lie but Proctor refuses on honor and he is actually ironically revealed to be somebody who seeks the truth whilst these men who are supposedly men of God they seek lies. Now the word love analysis you want to do here is the hyperbole he states I've given you my soul he's given them everything of course his body is languishing in jail however also the other word love analysis you want to do is alliteration of leave me my name so M alliteration of M and this shows his emphatic view that he wants to be remembered for his good deeds and he wants to be remembered as somebody who stood for the truth not live as a liar and as somebody who has cowardly walked away from death in order to just support a general lie that he doesn't believe in. So that's it when it comes to the character of John Proctor and do remember that contextually he represents Miller who would question the communist witch hunt and of course people like Governor Danforth who basically he condemn him to death they represent the McCarthyist supporters and of course John Proctor represents the people who rationally ask questions but they are persecuted by society for asking these rational questions thank you so much for listening