How much sympathy does the character, John Proctor Essay Example

How much sympathy does the character, John Proctor Essay Example How much sympathy does the character, John Proctor Paper How much sympathy does the character, John Proctor Paper Essay Topic: Literature Although there is enough evidence proving the fact that John Proctor is entirely responsible for his marital difficulties and his own downfall, the playwright, Arthur Miller, makes it hard for the audience not to sympathise with Proctor, when he decides to hang rather than sign his name to his confession. The audience first meets John Proctor in Act One, where he is portrayed as a powerful man. I forbid you leave this house, did I not. Now get you home! This mood changes when Mary Warren leaves and he is left alone with Abigail. She flirts with him, Gah! Id almost forgot how strong you are, John Proctor! His response is evident to the audience through Arthur Millers use of stage directions, looking at Abigail now, the faintest suggestion of a knowing smile on his face. He now completely changes the subject, Whats mischief here? Although John Proctor has ended their affair, he cannot restrain from teasing her and saying things, which she may see as a come-on, being the impressionable teenage girl that she is, ah, youre wicked yet, arent y! She is not ashamed of this fact, but is proud instead, a trill of expectant laughter escapes her, and she dares come closer, feverishly looking into his eyes. As Proctor starts towards the door, she springs into his path. She then says, give me a word, John. A soft word. Abigail believes she can tempt him, as Elizabeth is a sickly wife. Her dream is shattered when he replies, No, no, Abby. Thats done with. Abigail starts to become angry, and says things about Elizabeth, She is a cold, snivelling woman, and you bend to her! This has hit a nerve, and whilst shaking her John says Do you look for a whippin? In tears Abigail replies, I look for the John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! This shows that she has adult feelings for John, which he had taught her and cannot be forgotten. Their affair took her strict Puritan innocence away and if anyone were to find out, their honest reputation would be severely damaged. Although both John and Abigail have intimate feelings for each other, they cannot return to being lovers, as John has greater feelings for his wife. John also has a sense of guilt, as Elizabeth is willing to forgive and forget his affair, which he does not deserve, and to go back to her would be a big mistake. Arthur Millers stage directions give the audience a real feel for the emotions emitted in the play, as they can imagine what is happening in the speech. Without shaking her and in tears the audience would not know how the characters are feeling. Act Two begins with some detailed stage directions. It is explaining a typical Puritan family of that time; the husband, John, comes home from working on the field, and the wife, Elizabeth, singing to the children. He enters the house and notices a pot in the fireplace. He smells it and is not quite pleased. He then drops a pinch of salt into it, tastes it again. The one pinch of salt would not have made the slightest of difference, but he still wants to be the head of the house, despite his affair with Abigail, which would have destroyed their family. This proves John is still the dominant member of the family. When he hears her footsteps on the stairs he swings the pot back into the fireplace. They then have a strained conversation, which mainly involves John asking her questions and Elizabeth replying in short or one-word answers, Are you well today? I am. She brings the stew to him and as he tastes it he says, Its well seasoned. Later on he says to Elizabeth, Let you look sometimes for the goodness in me, and judge me not. She replies, I do not judge you. The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you. This means that she cannot forgive him until he has forgiven himself. She then says he is bewildered, and he responds whilst laughing bitterly, Oh, Elizabeth, your justice would freeze beer. John somehow thinks that she has judged him harshly and hadnt shown him enough justice. During Act Four, the tension and coldness from Act Two has gone, as John is talking to Elizabeth after being parted. Once they have discussed the events of the trials, John says to Elizabeth, I have been thinking I would confess to them, Elizabeth. What say you if I give them that? Elizabeth replies, I cannot judge you John. She believes that John is one again righteous as he has the courage to face the injustice of the court. John now is trying to make their relationship better, and communicates with her as he would have done before he affair, I would have your forgiveness, Elizabeth. She replies, It is not for me to give. John, it come naught that I should forgive you, if youll not forgive yourself. John still feels guilty for what he did to Elizabeth, but she is telling him to forgive himself. She then puts part of the blame on herself, It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery. This is to make John feel better about himself, and perhaps change his life-altering decision. John decides to confess as he wants his life back, but Danforth demands he write his confession, which he agrees to. However when he is told his confession would be bailed on the church door, he protests once again: (With a cry of his soul) 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 my life without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name! Johns emotional response is evoked by his innocence in the crime he is accused of, and he is willing to die to keep his good name. This shows that he deserves the sympathy from his emotional outbursts John then tears up his confession weeping in fury. This is the noblest thing John has done in the play. Hale says to John, Man, you will hang! You cannot! with desperation, but John replies his eyes full of tears, I can. And theres your first marvel, that I can. Even he is surprised by his actions that later cost him his life. John is finally forgiving himself and making amends, and not even Elizabeth can change his mind. Hale pleads to her to stop her, Go to him, take his shame away, but she replies, he have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him. Although she loves John and doesnt want him to die, she is allowing him his penance, to make up for the wrongs he has done and the hurt he has caused. During Act One, John deserves no sympathy whatsoever, but by Act Four, he does everything in his ability to bring justice to the court, and to save the life of Elizabeth, even when it means making his affair with Abigail known to the village. Despite all the hurt and sin John caused, he makes amends by standing with those who refuse to confess, and hangs with dignity and pride.

The Directory, Consulate End of the French Revolution

The Directory, Consulate End of the French Revolution The Constitution of Year III With the Terror over, the French Revolutionary wars once again going in Frances favor and the stranglehold of the Parisians on the revolution broken, the National Convention began to devise a new constitution. Chief in their aims was the need for stability. The resulting constitution was approved on April 22nd and was once again begun with a declaration of rights, but this time a list of duties was also added. All male taxpayers over 21 were citizens who could vote, but in practice, the deputies were chosen by assemblies in which only citizens who owned or rented property and who paid a set sum of tax each year could sit. The nation would thus be governed by those who had a stake in it. This created an electorate of roughly a million, of which 30,000 could sit in the resulting assemblies. Elections would take place yearly, returning a third of the required deputies each time. The legislature was bicameral, being comprised of two councils. The lower Council of Five Hundred proposed all legislation but did not vote, while the upper Council of Elders, which was composed of married or widowed men over forty, could only pass or reject legislation, not propose it. Executive power lay with five Directors, which were chosen by the Elders from a list provided by the 500. One retired each year by lot, and none could be chosen from the Councils. The aim here was a series of checks and balances on power. However, the Convention also decided that two-thirds of the first set of council deputies had to be members of the National Convention. The Vendà ©miaire Uprising The two-thirds law disappointed many, further fuelling a public displeasure at the Convention which had been growing as food once again became scarce. Only one section in Paris was in favor of the law and this led to the planning of an insurrection. The Convention responded by summoning troops to Paris, which further inflamed support for the insurrection as people feared that the constitution would be forced onto them by the army. On October 4th, 1795 seven sections declared themselves insurrectionary and ordered their units of National Guard to gather ready for action, and on the 5th over 20,000 insurgents marched on the Convention. They were stopped by 6000 troops guarding vital bridges, who had been placed there by a deputy called Barras and a General called Napoleon Bonaparte. A standoff developed but violence soon ensued and the insurgents, who had been very effectively disarmed in the preceding months, were forced to retreat with hundreds killed. This failure marked the last time Parisians attempted to take charge, a turning point in the Revolution. Royalists and Jacobins The Councils soon took their seats and the first five Directors was Barras, who had helped save the constitution, Carnot, a military organizer who had once been on the Committee of Public Safety, Reubell, Letourneur and La Revellià ©re-Là ©peaux. Over the next few years, the Directors maintained a policy of vacillating between Jacobin and Royalist sides to try and negate both. When Jacobins were in the ascendant the Directors closed their clubs and rounded up terrorists and when the royalists were rising their newspapers were curbed, Jacobins papers funded and sans-culottes released to cause trouble. The Jacobins still tried to force their ideas through by planning uprisings, while the monarchists looked to the elections to gain power. For their part, the new government grew increasingly dependent on the army to maintain itself. Meanwhile, sectional assemblies were abolished, to be replaced with a new, centrally controlled body. The sectionally controlled National Guard also went, replaced with a new and centrally controlled Parisian Guard. During this period a journalist called Babeuf began calling for the abolition of private property, common ownership and the equal distribution of goods; this is believed to the first instance of full communism being advocated. The Fructidor Coup The first elections to take place under the new regime occurred in year V of the revolutionary calendar. The people of France voted against the former Convention deputies (few were re-elected), against the Jacobins, (almost none were returned) and against the Directory, returning new men with no experience instead of those the Directors favored. 182 of the deputies were now royalist. Meanwhile, Letourneur left the Directory and Barthà ©lemy took his place. The results worried both the Directors and the nation’s generals, both concerned that the royalists were growing greatly in power. On the night of September 3-4th the ‘Triumvirs’, as Barras, Reubell and La Revellià ©re-Là ©peaux were increasingly known, ordered troops to seize Parisian strong points and surround the council rooms. They arrested Carnot, Barthà ©lemy and 53 council deputies, plus other prominent royalists. Propaganda was sent out stating that there had been a royalist plot. The Fructidor Coup against the monarchists was this swift and bloodless. Two new Directors were appointed, but the council positions were left vacant. The Directory From this point on the Second Directory rigged and annulled elections to keep their power, which they now began to use. They signed the peace of Campo Formio with Austria, leaving France at war with just Britain, against whom an invasion was planned before Napoleon Bonaparte led a force to invade Egypt and threaten British interests in Suez and India. Tax and debts were revamped, with a two-thirds bankruptcy and the reintroduction of indirect taxes on, among other things, tobacco and windows. Laws against à ©migrà ©s returned, as did refractory laws, with refusals being deported. The elections of 1797 were rigged at every level to minimize royalist gains and support the Directory. Only 47 out of 96 departmental results were not altered by a scrutinizing process. This was the coup of Florà ©al and it tightened the Directors grip over the councils. However, they were to weaken their support when their actions, and the behavior of France in international politics, led to a renewal of war and the return of conscription. The  Coup of Prairial By  the start of 1799, with war, conscription and action against refractory priests dividing the nation, confidence in the Directory to bring about the much-desired peace and stability was gone. Now Sieyà ¨s, who had turned down the chance to be one of the original Directors, replaced Reubell, convinced he could effect change. Once again it became obvious the Directory would rig the elections, but their grip on the councils was waning and on June 6th the Five Hundred summoned the Directory and subjected them to an attack over its poor war  record. Sieyà ¨s was new and without blame, but the other Directors didnt know how to respond. The Five Hundred declared a permanent session until the Directory replied; they also declared that one Director, Treilhard, had risen to the post illegally and ousted him. Gohier replaced Treilhard and immediately sided with Sieyà ¨s, as Barras, always the opportunist, also did. This was followed by the Coup of Prairial where the Five Hundred, continuing their attack on the Directory, forced the remaining two Directors out. The councils had, for the first time, purged the Directory, not the other way round, pushing three out of their jobs. The Coup of Brumaire and the End of the Directory The Coup of Prairial had been masterfully orchestrated by Sieyà ¨s, who was now able to dominate the Directory, concentrating power almost wholly in his hands. However, he was not satisfied and when a Jacobin resurgence had been put down and confidence in the military once again grew he decided to take advantage and force a change in the government by use of military power. His first choice of general, the tame Jourdan, had recently died. His second, the Director Moreau, wasnt keen. His third,  Napoleon Bonaparte, arrived back in Paris on October 16th. Bonaparte was greeted with crowds celebrating his success: he was their undefeated and triumphant general and he met with Sieyà ¨s soon after. Neither liked the other, but they agreed on an alliance to force constitutional change. On November 9th Lucien Bonaparte, Napoleon’s brother and president of the Five Hundred, managed to have the meeting place of the councils switched from Paris to the old royal palace at Saint-Cloud, under the pretext of freeing the councils from the – now absent – influence of Parisians. Napoleon was put in charge of the troops. The next stage occurred when the entire Directory, motivated by Sieyà ¨s, resigned, aiming to force the councils to create a provisional government. Things didn’t go quite as planned and the next day, Brumaire 18th, Napoleon’s demand to the council for constitutional change was greeted frostily; there were even calls to outlaw him. At one stage he was scratched, and the wound bled. Lucien announced to the troops outside that a Jacobin had tried to assassinate his brother, and they followed orders to clear the meeting halls of the council. Later that day a quorum was reassembled to vote, and now things did go as planned: the legislature was suspended for six weeks while a committee of deputies revised the constitution. The provisional government was to be three consuls: Ducos, Sieyà ©s, and Bonaparte. The era of the Directory was over. The Consulate The new constitution was hurriedly written under the eye of Napoleon. Citizens would now vote for a tenth of themselves to form a communal list, which in turn selected a tenth to form a departmental list. A further tenth was then chosen for a national list. From these a new institution, a senate whose powers were not defined, would choose the deputies. The legislature remained bicameral, with a lower hundred member Tribunate which discussed legislation and an upper three hundred member Legislative Body which could only vote. Draft laws now came from the government via a council of state, a throwback to the old monarchical system. Sieyà ©s had originally wanted a system with two consuls, one for internal and external matters, selected by a lifetime ‘Grand Elector’ with no other powers; he had wanted Bonaparte in this role. However Napoleon disagreed and the constitution reflected his wishes: three consuls, with the first having most authority. He was to be first consul. The constitution was finished on December 15th and voted in late December 1799 to early January 1800. It passed. Napoleon Bonapartes Rise to Power and the End of Revolution Bonaparte now turned his attention to the wars, beginning a campaign which ended with the defeat of the alliance ranged against him. The Treaty of Lunà ©ville was signed in France’s favor with Austria while Napoleon began creating satellite kingdoms. Even Britain came to the negotiating table for peace. Bonaparte thus brought the French Revolutionary Wars to a close with triumph for France. While this peace was not to last for long, by then the Revolution was over. Having at first sent out conciliatory signals to royalists he then declared his refusal to invite the king back, purged Jacobin  survivors and then began rebuilding the republic. He created a Bank of France to manage state debt and produced a balanced budget in 1802. Law and order were reinforced by the creations of special prefects in each department, the use of the army and special courts which cut into the crime epidemic in France. He also began the creation of a uniform series of laws, the Civil Code which although not finished until 1804 were around in a draft format in 1801. Having finished the wars which had divided so much of France he also ended the schism with the Catholic Church by re-establishing the Church of France and signing a concordat with the Pope. In 1802 Bonaparte purged – bloodlessly - the Tribunate and other bodies after they and the senate and its president – Sieyà ¨s – had begun to criticize him and refuse to pass laws. Public support for him was now overwhelming and with his position secure he made more reforms, including making himself consul for life. Within two years he would crown himself Emperor of France. The Revolution was over and empire would soon begin