Drawing the lines

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`Characters` [Danforth] \| [Parris] \| [Abigail] [Proctor] \| [Mary] \| [Hale] [E. Proctor]

`Senator Joseph McCarthy`	`Deputy Governor Danforth`
`Rigidity` `- Often stubborn` `-came into many arguments with other` `senators` `- Viewed the situation in America as a crusade` `which called for unprecedented firmness and` `strictness` `-”Our job as Americans and Republicans,` `is to dislodge these traitors from every` `place where they’ve been sent to do` `their treacherous work”`	`Rigidity` `- Stuck to the letter of the law` `-would now allow Giles Corey to submit` `his evidence unless it was in proper` `affidavit form` `- Viewed the situation in Salem as a battle` `requiring tremendous strength and courage to` `stand firm against an attack` `-convinces Reverend Hale that “theology,` `sir, is a fortress; no crack in a` `fortress may be accounted small. Even` `bending the law a little is dangerous` `business, especially at such a dangerous` `time like this.”`
`Fanaticism` `- Was responsible for motivating many Americans against Communists` `-was described as “no man was closer than` `he to the center of American` `consciousness or more central to the` `world’s consciousness of America”`	`Fanaticism` `- Was key to the maintenance of the court` `authority and the amassing of hysteria` `-had the strength to convict even Rebecca` `Nurse who seemed faultless` `-under a shakier hand, the court’s` `authority would surely have` `disintegrated`
`Power` `- Exercised his power to its full extent,` `controlling much of American society` `-led the Un-American Activities Committee` `as well as 4 other similar movements` `-ruined the lives of thousand who became` `outcasts once summoned by the UAAC`	`Power` `- Had the most power, and thus did the most` `damage` `-head of court, thus had authority to` `try, convict and execute people as he` `sees fit` `-nineteen people died under his` `signature`

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Senator Joseph McCarthy	Reverend Samuel Parris
`Insecurity` `- Often felt insecure about his support,` `ploughed down many who opposed him,` `especially other senators` `-censured many committees set up to look` `into his finances` `-imprisoned many fellow senators`	`Insecurity` `- Constantly felt persecuted, any opposition` `instantly became his sworn enemy` `-”I cannot offer one proposition without` `there be a howling riot of disagreement”` `-involved himself with many arguments` `with John Proctor`
`Greed` `- Took from a country which was still` `recovering from the Great Depression` `-was rumoured to have embezzled funds` `allocated to his committees and` `programs, eventually became his downfall`	`Greed` `- Asks for many things which the town is` `unable and unwilling to give to him` `-demands golden candlesticks, “can’t` `pray… …golden candlesticks upon the` `altar”` `-says that in addition to his salary,` `Salem owed him money for firewood and` `that he wanted to deed to his house, two` `things which no other minister had asked` `for before`
`Arrogance` `- Felt that he perfectly suited the “classic` `role of the corsair of democracy”` `-those who had challenged his authority` `had failed`	`Arrogance` `- Felt that since he was a Harvard graduate,` `he was too good for Salem` `-other two ministers had not been Harvard` `graduates` `-in the past few years, two ministers had` `left Salem in disgust with the town's` `contentiousness and stinginess.`

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`Senator Joseph McCarthy`	`Abigail Williams`
`Vengefulness` `- Was from an obscure and rural area; few` `expected such a powerful figure to emerge` `from such a place; he also worked under the` `banner of patriotism, and for a while gained` `respect instead of fear` `-imprisoned those who found him out and` `thus maintained his “credibility”` `- Driven by belief that it was possible for` `everyone to be a communist and in a` `conspiracy against him(see Reverend Parris)`	`Vengefulness` `- Was young and thus appeared innocent; few` `expected such evil from a child` `-killed anyone who found her out,` `maintaining her “credibility”` `- Driven by insane thirst for revenge` `-stuck a needle two inches into her` `stomach to frame Elizabeth`
`Role` `- Led the Un-American Activities Committee` `-formulated and asked the question during` `investigations` `- Intimidated everyone: public, Senate,` `Congress` `-a group of students at the University of` `Chicago wanted a coffee-machine` `installed outside the Physics Department` `and circulate a petition but received a` `cold response. Colleagues did not want` `to be implicated with the supposedly` `radical students whose names were` `already on the list. This shows the` `extent of influence of McCarthyism.`	`Role` `- Is the girls’ leader during the trials` `-brought them into court and presided` `over their “torments”` `- Intimidates everyone: girls, townfolk,` `judges` `-even before she came into “power”, she` `frightened her uncle who tried to bully` `her into submission with her rebellious` `behaviour; she also inspired a certain` `awe in such a strong character like John` `Proctor with her sexuality; after she` `comes into power, she is able to win` `back Mary Warren who was given strength` `by John Proctor and displays remarkable` `courage in that chain of events`

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Arthur Miller John Proctor

Arthur Miller may have seen himself in the rather tragic role of John Proctor. Like him, Arthur Miller was summoned to appear before the Committee only towards the late era, where it had begun to lose it support. Arthur Miller is also put through the test of public pressure, which manifests itself in critics of his plays, saying that they “lacked dramatic content” and many other untrue things which they denied once the McCarthy era was over. As John Proctor has a cold mate, Arthur Miller’s relationship with the American intellectuals was formal at best. They empathised with him but were unwilling to show their support passionately. Viewed as a forthcoming and brutally frank personality in Salem, John Proctor is not well-liked by petty characters for his outward criticism of their misdeeds. His sense of justice is strong, and is held back only by his fear of his wife’s disapproval initially to go forward and expose Abigail Williams. All these characteristics Arthur Miller had: not well-liked by the general public for his painfully real social criticisms(plays), Arthur Miller was one of few who opposed McCarthy with conviction and courage.

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Congress and the Senate Mary Warren

As the chief source of power for Senator McCarthy, the Congress and the Senate was for much of the time a puppet of McCarthy’s. Like Mary Warren however, opinion within these two houses are divided and for a time, a small uprising appears, challenging McCarthy’s authority. It is crushed only through McCarthy’s influence and the proper settlement of those concerned, after which they once again are the source of McCarthy’s power and authority. Mary Warren undergoes many changes within “The Crucible”: First seen, she is timid and shy, manipulated by Abigail Williams to gain power and a following. Mary Warren is a “loyal” follower of Abigail throughout most of the play, not because she believes in her cause, as is shown when she finally speaks up against Abigail, but because she is afraid of her. Mary Warren finally musters up the most courage when talked to by John Proctor, and she displays this as she manages to not fall before Abigail’s accusation until John Proctor himself is discredited for lying. She then quietly returns to obliging Abigail.

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The American public Reverend John Hale

Disillusioned with the fear that a great evil, Communism, had descended upon America to consume their way of life, their culture and their politics, the American public for much of the McCarthy era was its own victim. They became so involved with this ‘threat” that many other problems life starvation and poverty were ignored. The Americans thought they knew the Communists, that the Red Scare was something that they had acquainted with in the war, but gravely mistaken, they become easily taken in by the lies and propaganda spread by McCarthy and his muezzins. They were of course motivated by a crusade against that which had come to attack their lives, and for three generations people isolated those who had been summoned before the Committee, worsening awareness. However, they slowly begin to realise that what they had challenged had mutated into a monstrosity too late to amend. Thousands of their fellow Americans had suffered at the hands of a heretic and his Committee, power could not be wrested from these people. The damage was already done. Reverend John Hale is to be pitied, not hated. His has a tragic flaw within his character that ultimately leads to the most terrible fate a minister could suffer. He is a self-claimed intellectual, spending so much time with his head in the clouds the real world of human emotion and trickery become unreal to him. He know much about witchcraft, yet little about the people it is concerned with, and thus is misled to believe that he knows the truth of the situation when he is being deceived by a small band of girls. He is excited at the prospect of being” called upon to face what may be a bloody fight with the Fiend himself”, and this only adds oil to the fire. His fault lies in that he is the fool who thinks he is a genius, the fool who meddles with a bomb in Salem which explodes instantly. This results in his demise: he becomes completely crushed to discover that he, as “a minister of the light, has come to do the Devil’s work. I come to counsel Chirstians they should believe themselves. There is blood on my head! There is blood on my head!” The irony of it all is that what he started becomes too big for him to stop, and he can only bear witness to his deeds.

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The American Intellectuals Elizabeth Proctor

The intellectual of America were those who quickly realised the truth behind the sinister proceedings of the McCarthy hearings. They are however not openly supportive of Arthur Miller’s statements during the era as the realise it to be a danger to themselves should they choose to do so. However, they very quickly become targets of the McCarthy hearings due to their understanding of the situation and it is then that they begin to show their support for Arthur Miller. Cold but not undiscerning, Elizabeth initially appears to be unloving and unsupportive of John, and this frustrates him to no end. She is however, intelligent enough to tell John to speak to the court about Abigail’s lies when she realises this could become a potential threat. When she hears that her name has been “somewhat mentioned” in court, she realises that it is insufficient for John to speak to the court: he must speak to Abigail. All the while, she is one of the few who are able to unravel Abigail’s devious scheme. In a final exhibition, she does confess her support of John, when he is agonising over whether or no to confess, she says, “As you will, I would have it. Only be sure of this, for I know it now: Whatever you will do, it is a good man does it."

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