Literary device #1:
Evidence (quotation/detail and context)
Inference—Commentary
Textual reference—
“Excellency, forgive me, forgive me. 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, and you must see it now.” John Proctor (1110)
“A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud--God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together” John Proctor (1212-3)
“You will not use me! I am no Sarah Good or Tituba, I am John Proctor! You will not use me! It is no part of salvation that you should use me!” John Proctor (1231)
Inference/Commentary/Theme:
In Act 4 of Arthur Millers, “The Crucible”, a tragic hero clearly begins to arise towards the end of the act, the hero being undoubtedly John Proctor. Miller portrays John Proctor as the Tragic Hero not only to evoke emotions of sadness upon the audience but the tragic hero plays an important role in helping the plot develop into a downfall that eventually turns into a tragic end. Arthur Miller begins introducing the tragic hero role upon John Proctor the moment that his flaw throughout the play is finally revealed in court. John Proctor purposely outs himself the moment Abigail walked into court accusing Elizabeth of witchery. “Excellency, forgive me, forgive me. 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, and you must see it now.” This quote introduces John as the tragic hero simply because of he’s admitted to the sin that he was taken part in and did so in order to protect his wife. Another quote that mainly helps this character develop is when John begins to defy the court. “A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud--God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together” By saying this, John is openly confronting Danforth for the injustices that he has made happen and accuses him of being the “true devil” because of his actions. Due to these actions John goes through a serious downfall in the play where it leads him to ultimately be hung. But shockingly, his downfall is also the reason why he’s considered a hero in the first place. “You will not use me! I am no Sarah Good or Tituba, I am John Proctor! You will not use me! It is no part of salvation that you should use me!” By saying this he shows the court and Danforth that he will not give...
