Andrew
To fully understand characters in The Crucible and their motivation for behaving as they do, one only has to refer to Kollberg’s moral precepts for explanation.
There are characters in The Crucible that behave in a way which is best described as pre-conventional. Pre-conventional is when you behave in a certain way to obtain rewards or avoid punishment. One such example of this is Thomas Putnam. During the trial on accusations of witchcraft, Putnam tells his daughter to accuse George Jacobs because “If Jacobs hangs for a witch, he [will] forfeit up his property.” Putnam knows that he is the only man in Salem with enough coin to purchase the unowned property, making his motives clear. He wants Jacobs to perish so he can increase the amount of acres he owns. Another character that behaves in a way to avoid punishment is Mary Warren. Mary is part of Abigail William’s group that calls out witchery on the people of Salem. John Proctor wants to put a stop to Abigail and the trial, so he pressures Mary to confess the falsehoods of the trial. Mary is reluctant to confess because she knows that “Abby will kill [her] for saying that” to the judge. She does not want to be killed by Abby, hence why she refuses to speak out against her. The final character to be discussed is Reverend Parris. Throughout the entirety of The Crucible, Parris never changes the way he acts and only thinks for himself. He is initially happy about the witch trials as it distracted the townsfolk from the fact that his niece and daughter were out playing in the woods. However, when the more influential people in Salem start being called out as witches, he starts receiving anonymous death threats. Parris realizes that “there is a dagger in it for [him]” and starts acting against the trials he once supported to avoid losing his life. You can see from the examples provided that The Crucible has many characters that behave in a way to avoid punishment and obtain reward.
There are also many characters found in The Crucible that are Conventional. Conventional behaviour is when you act in a certain way to fit into a group. The first conventional character to be discussed is Mary Warren. Mary and a group of other girls follow the lead of Abigail as they falsely prosecute the people of Salem for witchcraft. Mary fully believes that “it is God’s work [they] do” when in actuality, she only behaves this way to fit in with Abigail and the rest. The next character that wants to fit into a group is John Proctor. Proctor sins at the beginning of the play when he cheats on his wife Elizabeth Proctor and sleeps with Abigail Williams. Nobody in Salem knows that he slept with her except him, Elizabeth, and Abigail. Proctor wants to keep his image as a good Christian man and delays confessing to lechery to stop Abigail. He claims that he will “think on it” but never does anything until Abigail calls witchery on Elizabeth. The last character to be examined is Elizabeth Proctor. Just like her husband, Elizabeth also wants to fit into the group of being the ideal Christian woman. Everyone in Salem knows that she “will never lie” and stay true to God and the Ten Commandments. One can see from the examples provided that The Crucible has many characters that show a desire to fit in.
The final category of characters to go over in The Crucible are the ones that behave in a post-conventional matter. Post-conventional characters internalize a sense of right and wrong. They are confident in their values and beliefs regardless of punishment, reward, and group acceptance. The first character to analyze is John Proctor. Proctor becomes post-conventional when he finally decides to confess to sleeping with Abigail. He finally chooses to expose the fact that “[he] has known her” to the court so he can stop the hangings. He no longer cares what happens to him upon confessing this if he can stop the mass delusion in Salem. The next character that is confident in their sense of values and beliefs is Giles Corey. When Giles exposes Putnam for killing people to take their land, the court demands that he backs up his claim with a source. Giles refuses to tell the court where he heard this information from. Giles is a former lawyer, and he knows that no good can happen from him revealing his source of information. The court proceeds to torture Giles by piling stones on his chest because they want to know who told him about Putnam. Giles continues to refuse to give the court what they demand and dies with his last recorded words being him asking for “more weight” on his chest. Giles died believing in what was correct and did not yield to anything or anyone. The final character to be deconstructed is Reverend Hale. Hale originally came to Salem to investigate the claims of witchcraft. As time goes on, he concludes that there are no witches in Salem and that the judge running the show, Danforth, is on a power trip. Hale becomes aggrieved with the way Danforth’s actions and announces that he “quit this court” after they rejected Proctor’s confession to lechery. Hale gave up his power because of the travesty that was occurring in Salem. It is evident from the examples provided that many characters in The Crucible behave in a way that meets their sense of values and beliefs without concern for punishment, reward, or group acceptance.
Thanks to Kollberg’s moral precepts, we are able to better understand the actions of the characters in The Crucible.
