In a society of decrepit imagination, those will arise who find satisfaction in suffering, for they have a mind’s eye for nonconformity. Arthur Miller, author of The Crucible, writes of two such characters, which seem to defy every restriction of independence and free will, and their names are John and Elizabeth Proctor. Hence their being main characters in Millers play, they are both dynamic characters; especially John, who realizes what’s really in a name: his name. Miller reveals the dynamics of both characters through exploitation of diction, and development of tone, in conversation between them.

In the first passage, Proctor is discomfited in the intuitive presence of his wife, Elizabeth; as far as diction goes, he seems to think that she is a gray cloud hovering over. He desires to please Elizabeth as an attempt to make her forgive him of his wrongs. Proctor continuously reveals his thoughts and attitude through his words, when asks her “how would that please [her]?” referring to his question about buying a heifer cow (Miller 850). Miller makes Proctor the protagonist of the conversation at this point, and as one can see, Proctor says the most and tries to keep the channel of communication gold. The diction in this excerpt is most assuredly not low and relaxed, but very standard. Overall, the tone is perhaps heavy, but very transient and undeveloped, such as the preceding citation about rabbit for dinner, “Proctor: It’s well seasoned. Elizabeth: I took great care. She’s tender?” (850). The set tone is cold and uninspired, like plant unable to grow for the frost.

The second passage leads one to assume that Elizabeth and Proctor are closer now than they have been in the past few weeks. Elizabeth looks to help Proctor gain courage to free himself from the scaffold, but when he asks for her advice, Elizabeth simply tells him “I cannot judge you John.” (883). Elizabeth wants John Proctor to live, but with the internal conflict that she faces, she knows that it is not her soul that lies on the verge of deceit or death, but John’s. Nonetheless, Proctor is discouraged and believes that he cannot die with as a hero with valor. He says, “I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint. It is fraud.” (883). The use of connotation thereabout the saint, signifies Proctor’s real heroism anyhow, for the reason that he knows his sins, and he humbles himself to the depths of despair to plead for Elizabeth’s forgiveness. Ironically, she is the one asking forgiveness of him, and she confesses, “I have sins of my own to count. It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery.” (883). Miller uses the denotative diction to make Elizabeth, not only forgiving, but humble just as Proctor. The mood emitting from this passage is an ominous and irrevocable thundercloud, foreshadowing a grievous fate for them both.

The husband and wife were both cold and uninspired in passage one, but in the second segment-both carrying great weight-Elizabeth is passionately forlorn and forgiving, and Proctor feels dreadfully vain and despicable to his family. “It is pretense for me, a vanity that will not blind God nor keep my children out of the wind.” The details in the diction, extracted from Proctor’s dialogue summarize his self-loathsomeness.

Diction in the first segment portray Elizabeth as though she would have wanted Proctor to be punished; however, after she has suffered humiliation, she thinks it good that he tries to keep his pride, when she says, “And yet you’ve not confessed till now. That speak goodness in you.” This quote confronts the reality (with concrete diction) that Elizabeth would rather Proctor save his only unbroken, artless name than live a deceitful lie.

Miller brings to attention the relationship of the two characters with his proficient usage of diction. He never openly states that Elizabeth and Proctor had trials and tribulations throughout their marriage-not even in the narration-but the passage is clear that they did have problems. Miller also never asserts that Elizabeth forgives Proctor; but through the passages unique diction, that fact is evidently understood. Furthermore, because of the change in sentence structure and language, Elizabeth develops a sense of extreme “goodness,” and John arises in an eternal credibility to integrity, as well truthful judgment.