at rope out there. Hale said it: life is God's most precious gift. What possible reason could John have for throwing it away? Pride? How dare such a sinner as he is have so much pride?Remember Elizabeth's answer to Hale. This is the Devil's argument, and Proctor knows she would never fall for it herself. But he still thinks of her as "that goodness." He believes he knows himself better.It is evil. Good, then--it is evil, and I do it!Here is an echo of the same nihilism we heard at the end of Act II and Act III. Elizabeth's love hasn't saved him yet.^^^^^^^^^^THE CRUCIBLE: ACT IV, SCENE 8Danforth bustles in with Hathorne, Hale, and Parris. Cheever follows with paper and pen to take down the confession. Proctor is horrified at their efficiency and glee; he hates giving these "dogs," as he calls them, what they want. But though his jaws lock on him for a moment, he gets out the basics: the Devil came to him and bid him do his work on earth. Proctor won't get any further than this in his confession.NOTE: All of Act IV has been leading up to this moment. But let's stop and think. Isn't there a problem with these "confessions" in the first place? Remember in Act II, when Mary Warren first described the witch trials, she said that Goody Osburn would hang, but that Sarah Good was saved because she confessed?In most legal systems, confession is considered conclusive proof of guilt, meaning no other evidence is necessary to convict the accused. Conviction leads to sentencing, and in this case the law clearly states what the punishment for witchcraft is to be: "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Sarah Good convicted herself when she confessed. How is it that she is "suffered to live"?The flaw in the logic is obvious, as we noted in the discussion of Act II. "There are them that will swear to anything before they'll hang," as Proctor said then, and as he is thinking of doing now. If the court is really trying to get at the truth, it just doesn...
