The Crucible

"Who is John Proctor?"

I've heard this line from time to time, and had no idea where it came from. Turns out it some sort of intellectual meme. It's actually a line from The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller. In the spirit of last week's branching out, I decided to review it. I know, you're thinking that a play is not my thing. I was thinking that too, right up until the play started. In fact, I'm still not sure that a play is my type of thing. Whatever. My friend was part of a production of it, so a bunch of us went out to see it last night.

The setting (as far as I could make out) was in Salem, during the witch trials there. I think Miller went a bit overboard, seeing as how in reality, only 4 people were killed. But at least he had them hung, not burned (nobody was burned, despite what popular media might portray).

There were four acts, or maybe three acts and an epilogue. But since the main theme came out during the last one, I'm leaning towards four. The first centered on a young woman in bed, in a coma. Her family and friends are of course worried about her, and it's clear she and a few of her friends are mixed up in something bad. It's either witchcraft, or they were pretending to do it. To make matters worse, the girl's father is the preacher (Rev. Parris), so he's reluctant to do anything to cast suspicion or dishonour on his family. He's kind of a douche. It eventually comes out that these girls were out in a field at midnight, being led by a woman (named Tituba) from Barbados who practiced witchcraft. Tituba is questioned by a minister (Rev. Hale) who specializes in discovering and casting out demons. He's actually a decent guy, condemning demons but trying to save the people they have enslaved. Eventually the girls confess, but mostly to being victims. The accuse many of the people in the village of also selling their souls.

Also, the girl in the coma (I cannot remember her name) is visited by John Proctor. The only other person in the room at that moment is one of the girl’s friends, Abigail. She used to be John’s servant, but was thrown out of the house after they had a one-night affair 7 months previously. The guilt eats at John the rest of the play, but he’s confessed to his wife and does his utmost to please her. Abigail tries to seduce John again, but he eventually rejects her and leaves, but not before more people come into the room. John doesn’t like Parris because he figures (correctly) that Parris is more interested in his own comfort than his congregation. The act closes with the coma girl waking up and naming a bunch of names, with Abigail joining in.

The second act takes place in the Proctor residence. John and his wife (Elizabeth) still love each other, although it’s a little difficult, what with John’s adultery. Eventually some cops come (or the 16^th century version of cops … “what you gonna do when they come for you?”) and arrest her, after arresting 15 or so others that night. John and Elizabeth think that it’s Abigail, trying to remove Elizabeth to take her place as John’s wife. She goes, and he gets understandably angry.

The third act takes place outside the courtroom where everyone getting accused seems to be convicted. Even the people who’ve been introduced as the most pious of the town. I’m not entirely sure anyone is left outside of the jail anymore. The judges (brought in from elsewhere) seem to be a bit zealous, but are at least willing to listen to some contradictory evidence. It doesn’t go well, though, and soon John is led off in chains, after telling the entire room that they’ll burn for abandoning God’s true way, or something like that. He’s pretty worked up, but that kind of adds to the problem.

The fourth act takes place in a tiny room near the gallows. John is advised to lie and confess, in order to save his life. If he claims innocence, he’ll be hung. It’s here that he wrestles with the question of “Who Is John Proctor?” If he confesses, he’ll keep his life (and get to be with his wife, who’s been temporarily spared), but his confession will be used to pressure more of the convicted to “repent.” It’s a lie, but Rev. Hale says that God will forgive him for this one lie. If he doesn’t confess, he’ll have his name and honour, but not his life.

The acting in the play was spot on. There were only one or two lines that had to be started again. The music was suitably ominous or creepy, and the lights and shadows were used to excellent effect.

The only part I didn’t like was in the actual story itself. John’s struggles at the end seemed to come out of nowhere. “Who is John Proctor?” he cries, but with no build-up at all. It’s like … suddenly – Angst! TVTropes calls this an ass pull, so I’ll leave it at that.

Actually, there was another part I didn't like, but I only noticed it the nest morning. The story is wrapped up with John and Elizabeth's fate. But nothing else is concluded. There is no karmic retribution for any of the girls (if they've lied), or anyone else who's a douche (there's more than one). I liked the end of the play, but I was dissatisfied about 12 hours later.

One of the things I did like was after the intermission. I remembered that this was written by Arthur Miller, probably around the time of McCarthyism, which lent a whole new air to the play. Replace Christianity with Patriotism and Witchcraft with Communism, and a ton of parallels suddenly appear. Fear and paranoia of the Reds suddenly see us finding threats everywhere. Quash them now, or they’ll grow stronger! There’s no time for due process, or it’ll be the end of us! And similarly to how the Salem witches were in a lose-lose situation, so too were the accused in the 50’s. I’m sure there are still people on the Blacklist.

I can’t really rate this play at all. I encourage everyone to go see it (one of the reasons I’m posting this so early is because the play is only being performed for a short time. So if you’re in Calgary, go to see it at the Vertigo Theatre). You can find a poster for it here. I enjoyed the presentation, and got into the story, but I’m still not sure how I feel about it. Hopefully, you’ll see it as well and we can have a nice, solid discussion about judging books by their covers, jealousy, and being trapped in bad situations. Or, you know, maybe just go back to bad movies.