Miller uses three characters who clearly manifest this internal battle. First, Mary Warren's whole personality turns upside down when she is torn between telling the truth and surviving the trials. John Proctor is the next who is forced to contemplate a choice between the importance of his family and his own name. The third, Reverend Hale, battles with himself about whether or not to carry out his job requirements or to do what he knows is right. All three characters face difficult choices that are eating away at each one's conscience. Should they do what they believe is right, or w

Mary now faces yet another grueling internal conflict. Should she do what she knows is right and probably die for it or return to her old ways? Mary finally succumbs to Abigail's hypnosis and accuses John Proctor of forcing her to lie. Clearly, the battle that Mary Warren faces from the very beginning is enormous. She must deal with the decision of life and death. She has the choice to tell the truth and die, or to lie and live. This decision is similar to the torturous internal conflict that John Proctor suffers throughout the play.

John Proctor, like Mary Warren, also faces inner turmoil. A farmer and village commoner in Salem, John commits adultery with Abigail and has absolutely no intentions of joining the witch trial unless his pregnant wife should also become involved. This unwillingness in John to join the court proceedings shows when his wife tries to convince him to go to the court and let them know Abigail is a fraud. He loftily tells her, "I'll think on it" (53). After his wife becomes involved, John cannot accept the fact that she may die for his sin of adultery so that Abigail may be pacified. John is an upright and dignified man and because of these characteristics, he believes at first he cannot hang and die a martyr for his God when he has this sin of adultery looming over him every waking moment. John later says to Elizabeth when they discuss what he is going to do about the accusations made against him that, "My honesty is broke, Elizabeth; I am no good man. Nothing's spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten long before" (136). John finally reaches the critical decision to confess to witch craft and live, rather than die for something he has not done.

to aid all the people wrongly accused by encouraging them to confess and save themselves from these false proceedings. Hale, attempting to repent his own sins by trying to make people confess states, "I come to do the devil's work. I come to counsel Christians they should belie themselves... can you not see the blood on my head!!" (131). This shows that he is feeling the effects of his inner conflict because he is trying to lessen the feelings of guilt he is experiencing.

Everybody throughout his life may face inner conflicts. Although the inner conflicts of today are nothing like what Mary Warren, John Proctor, and Reverend Hale face during this play, they are forced to make a decision based on what they think is right and true. Should they let innocent people die to save themselves, or should they allow their own persecution by denouncing the proceedings and possibly ha

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Approximate Word count = 1739
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)