“I need to know if you're alone tonight, you can't stop this feeling, I can't stop this fire, oh, I'm going hysterical, hysteria, oh can- Do you feel it?" These are the lyrics to Def Leppard's 1987 hit, Hysteria. One might wonder what a steamy love song has to do with Arthur Miller's tragic play, The Crucible If one examines the play, it will become clear that the play revolves around a twisted love triangle between John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams, which is the cause of hysteria and injustice in the village of. Salem John Proctor is the protagonist in The Crucible. Proctor is not the most pious of Salem's villagers, although he does not attend mass regularly and his relatives are not fully baptized, it turns out. that he is having problems with the minister of the church, Reverend Paris said: "I don't like Mr. Paris to lay his hands on my baby. I don't see any light of God in this man. I will not hide it” (Miller 1301). Not going to church is not what will ruin Proctor's reputation, but rather the adultery that Proctor committed with Abigail Williams, betraying his wife, Elizabeth. Proctor later confesses his sin before Judge Danforth in hopes that he can save himself. At this point in the play, Proctor is very hysterical in his language, perhaps because throughout the play Proctor has been troubled by his infidelity with Abigail. John has only one thing left at the end of the play: his name and his reputation. Proctor exclaims, “Because that’s my name!” Because I can't have another one in my life! Because I am not worth the dust at the feet of those who are hanged! How can I live without my name? I gave you my soul; leave me my name! (Miller 1357). When Judge Danforth asked a warden to sign a confession, he... middle of paper ... her friend, Mary Warren, gave Elizabeth a doll with a needle in it at church. This will give Cheever reason to accuse her of witchcraft later in the play, ultimately working in Abigail's favor to get John. Abigail has achieved a strangely high power influence for the person she's in, but she'll never achieve her true goal of having Proctor all to herself. Ultimately, all that remains at the heart of the conflict is fear. whether it's the fear of losing someone you love, your name, or the fear of the truth. Ernest Hemingway once said: "So far, in matters of morality, I only know that what is moral is what we feel good about, and what is immoral is what we feel good about it after. feels bad. ". This concerns Elizabeth, John, Abigail and all the characters in the Crucible or the real world. The quote asks what someone considers moral and immoral and it's up to them to decide.