To me, the biggest form of symbolism you will find in the
final acts of this excellent play is at the very end of the play, when John Proctor
"confesses" and signs a testimony, which says that he practised witchcraft. What is
interesting about this testimony is that when he signs his confession, Proctor then
snatches it away from Danforth. Protor says that he has signed the confession, and they
have seen him sign it, and therefore they have no need to take the paper away with them.
His sense of honour means that he does not want his friends and family to know he has
been weak on the day when others will have been hanged. Note how he argues how
symbolically significant this act of signing is:
I have confessed myself! Is there no good
penitence but it be public? God does not need my name nailed upon the church! God sees
my name; God knows how black my sins are! It is
enough!
However, in perhaps
one of the most poignant moments of the entire play, Proctor explains why his "name" is
so important to him, and thus shows us how symbolically important this signed testimony
is:
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!
Thus Proctor tears the
confession and seals his fate, and thus saves his character and his "name". Notice how
the stage directions describe him as "weeping in fury, but erect" when he destroys his
testimony, indicating that he has opted for a path that paradoxically restores his
character whilst at the same time losing his life.
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