arthyism) wherever you find it, and do it now, before it's too late. if you're looking for the "message" of the play, here it is.Others see more here than just the author using Proctor as a mouthpiece. Of course, what Proctor says is important. But isn't there something familiar about his emotional state when he makes this speech? Haven't we heard someone sound like this before?Look at Tituba's "confession" near the end of Act I:...Mr. Parris must be kill! Mr. Parris no goodly man, Mr. Parris mean man and no gentle man, and [the Devil] bid me rise out of my bed and cut your throat!Even closer to hand, just moments before there was a similar outburst from Mary Warren:Don't touch me--don't touch me!... You're the Devil's man!... I'll not hang with you! I love God, I love God.... "I'll murder you," he says, "if my wife hangs! We must go and overthrow the court," he says!... He wake me every night, his eyes were like coals and his fingers claw my neck, and I sign, I sign...There is even a kind of echo of the rhythm of Mary's speech in Proctor's "A fire, a fire is burning!" and "we will burn, we will burn together." We have the same explosion of pent-up fury, and the same calling down of destruction. Tituba rages at Parris; Mary attacks Proctor. Proctor, caught in the same trap, turns his wrath on everyone. He is saying, in effect, "the world is insane. Blow up the world."NOTE: This is almost pure "nihilism." The word nihil in Latin means "nothing." Proctor is calling for annihilation, not just of himself, but of Danforth, the court, and the entire community. This interpretation says that there is no simple or easy way to stop the spread of this kind of madness once it starts. The only way to save Salem now is to demolish it.However you look at Proctor's speech, it definitely marks the conclusion of the main story. The suspense is over. The forces of madness have triumphed, our hero is destroyed, and the witch-hunt will continue. It may burn...
