Personal Integrity (reputation) Flashcards
What does miller reveal about this big idea?
- Personal integrity (reputation)
- those who have personal integrity within a theocratic community end up suffering
- Integrity and reputation is a highly valued subject in Salem, these features in a person are extremely important and define their position in society
‘He is a sinner, a sinner not only against the moral fashion of the time, but against his own vision of decent conduct.’
- Interpolations
- Act 1
- referring to Proctor. By committing adultery, not only did he sin against the moral principles of a Puritan society (the Ten Commandments), but he also sinned against his own personal values, revealing that he initially does not have good personal integrity as he cannot uphold his own morals nor society’s principles. However, the community does not know this at this point of the play, therefore it does not affect his reputation among the people of Salem
‘Let either of you breathe a word…and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you’
- Abigail
- Act 1
‘There be no blush about my name’
- Abigail
- Act 1
‘Let you look sometimes for the goodness in me, and judge me not’
- Proctor
- Act 2
‘But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again.’
- Proctor
- Act 1
- Hyperbole
- Proctor values his reputation, though he made the mistake of having an affair he will not risk his reputation again
Na
‘I may blush for my sin’
- Proctor
- Act 2
‘I am a stranger here […] I find it hard to draw a clear opinion.
- Hale
- Act 2
- Hale is being just and fair by allowing his opinion to form based on his own personal interactions. He will not be pressured by the court or by other accusation based on vengeance and Hale ultimately chooses to uphold his own morals and beliefs in the eyes of God.
‘I have rung the doom of my good name […] My wife is innocent.’
- Proctor
- Act 3
- Metaphor
To your own knowledge, has John Proctor ever committed the crime of lechery?
Elizabeth: No, Sir’
- Danforth and Elizabeth
- Act 3
- Elizabeth is morally faltering as she lies for the sake of her husband’s good name. This results in Elizabeth’s morals being challenged in an attempt to save her husband’s name and integrity. Elizabeth chooses to lie to ultimately uphold Proctor’s reputation.
‘In her life, sir, she have never lied… I have paid much to learn it, sir’
- Proctor
- Act 3
- Proctor demonstrates his confidence in informing the court of his wife’s good nature and inability to lie, illustrating her high personal integrity, which unfortunately leads to her and Proctor’s downfall.
‘Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!’
- Proctor
- Act 4
- Hyperbole
- Imagery
‘I dare not take a life without there be proof so immaculate no slightest qualm of conscience may doubt it’
- Hale
- Act 3
‘I confess to God, and God has seen my name on this. It is enough!’
- Proctor
- Act 4
‘He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him.’
- Elizabeth
- Act 4
- She is being selfless by allowing John to follow his morals and die a martyr. She will not succumb to the pressure of the court to make John confess to his false accusations, and stays strong against the temptation of keeping her husband so they could together raise their children and future child together.
There is blood on my head!’
- Hale, Act 4
- Metaphor
- Hale is morally and emotionally feeling the pain of his actions which is illustrated through the guilt felt. Hale evidently demonstrates personal integrity as the pain felt is based on his responsibility to commit innocent people. From the beginning of the play, Hale has been a “stranger here” in Salem who understands the integrity behind forming a non-prejudicial opinion of a citizen in Salem.
‘Now, remember what the angel Raphael said to the boy Tobias. Remember it.’
- Proctor
- Act 3
- Biblical Allusion
- Miller employs biblical allusion as Proctor attempts to maintain Mary’s personal integrity, demonstrating the importance of God and Bible, within the Puritan community. Proctor attempts to keep Mary pure, by alluding to her Christian faith, despite Mary lying, and turning away from God.
I nailed the roof upon the church, I hung the door’
- Proctor
- Act 2
- Proctor is attempting to uphold his reputation and prove his Holy intentions and dedication to the Church, showing that he helped build the church so he can’t be against it
