PREMIÈRE · UPPER SECONDARY · B1+ towards B2

Text study

The extract

"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!"
Arthur Miller, The Crucible, Act IV, John Proctor to Deputy Governor Danforth, who wants his signed confession to be nailed to the church door.
Glossary: sign myself to lies: put my name on a lie · dust: tiny dirt · them that hang: the people who are executed · soul: spiritual self

Questions

  1. Situate the extract: who speaks, to whom, at what moment?
  2. Find the anaphora. What is its effect?
  3. Why is his name so important to him?
  4. Explain the antithesis between "soul" and "name".
  5. How is this scene a turning point?
  6. Link the extract to the McCarthy era.
Sentence starters
Answer key (suggested answers)
  1. John Proctor, to Danforth, in Act IV, just after signing a false confession that Danforth wants to post on the church door.
  2. "Because" is repeated four times: it builds an emotional climax and shows his inner struggle.
  3. It is his identity, his reputation and the legacy he leaves to his children; signing would betray the innocent who die.
  4. He has confessed to God (soul) but refuses to let his public honour (name) be used as a lie.
  5. He tears the confession and chooses death: he recovers his integrity.
  6. Like Miller before HUAC, Proctor refuses to give his name to a lie or to blacken others.

Commentary

Write a commentary (300 words): "How does Miller make Proctor's final choice heroic?" Introduction, two parts (the language of emotion; the meaning of the name), conclusion.

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