Crucible Act IV

During The Crucible: Act IV, most of the time it talked about John Proctor and him admitting to being apart of the witch trials. The book talks about how John thought that God would forgive him more likely if he didn't have material proof with his signature stating that he was apart of them. First things first, I found this interesting and sad that he didn't understand that you don't take anything to heaven with you, meaning that having a sheet of paper with his signature on it, also called PHYSICAL proof, is just the same as saying it. God hears everything and sees everything. Back to what I was saying about John's outlook on life, he felt that admitting to his sins was great and the correct thing to do, but at the same time was afraid that being in association with witch trials meant automatic damnation. He felt that he would not be given the chance to go to heaven. After pondering and weighing out the odds, he decided to choose to admit verbally about the trials, but not in pen on paper. As I said earlier, he felt that if he signed his name he would be rejected into heaven because God takes words more lightly that an official PHYSICAL document. Relating the story of The Crucible and "Sinners in the hands of an angry god" was very easy and quite simple in the fact that they both kinda made sense and played on each other in the overall story or theme of the two. During "Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God," Jonathan Edwards basically says that if you do anything that is against the will of God or what God has rules against, you will be sent to hell. He puts in a complicated way, that if you simply break any of Gods rules or do anything different than what Gods says you will be punished with eternal damnation. I feel that when he said this it wasn't 100% what he believed, and more of an exaggeration to scare the people so that they would follow God's word more easily and freely exercising it. It was almost like what John Proctor did, in going around Gods word, in order to follow Gods word. That might be a little confusing, but if you think about it, it will make sense. They were so worried about following the rules of God and so devoted to Him, they forgot to check their own actions and make sure they were following His rules. Both found out when it was too late that they had screwed up. If they would have read their bibles in more depth, they would have realized that God does forgive, and he will accept their forgiveness and give them a second try/chance at everything, they just have to put in more effort at exercising the truth and not their own twist on things. John Proctor needed to realize that a signature on a sheet of paper is no different than a verbal signature or plea. Admitting to something verbally is of the same importance and value as that of a signature on a piece of paper, in Gods eyes.

Edwards, Jonathan. "From Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 97-99. Print.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts. New York, NY: Penguin, 2003. Print.