If one reads rather than watching it, much of the directcomes
from Miller's stage directions. These are particularly important in John Proctor's case, since
Miller says more than once that he is not what he appears: "the steady manner he displays
does not spring from an untroubled soul." Later he adds,
Proctor, respected and even feared in Salem, has come to regard himself as a kind of
fraud.
One of the principal qualities which we see
throughis Proctor's quick temper. He is angry with Mary Warren as soon as he enters, and, though
he shows some patience with Abigail, he quickly turns on Elizabeth in act 2. This, admittedly,
is not a clear-cut instance, for he may have been completely patient with her for the last seven
months, but this does not seem consonant with what we see of his character in the following
acts, or his treatment of Mary Warren and Mr. Parris in act 1. In prison, we learn from a
conversation between Danforth and...
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