Author's Note: A school assignment, perhaps lacking in conviction and a good ending, but it was fun to try and copy the style and diction Miller used.
Disclaimer: I have not divorced Marilyn Monroe, I have not been called before HUAC, and I am not dead. Therefore, I am not Arthur Miller, nor do I own the rights to "The Crucible."
The Crucible
Act Four, Scene Zero
The Salem meeting house, before the execution of John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse.
It is the pitch black of midnight before the first grey streaks of dawn; a single candle lights the stage. Next to the candle is Parris, who is shivering. Whether he is praying or crying we cannot tell.
Enter Reverend Hale, fresh from the road and exhausted; he has probably ridden through the night. Parris does not look up.
Hale, cautiously: Reverend Parris? Parris rubs his temples but does not look up. Reverend Parris, I must speak with you.
Parris, sharply: What would you say to me? Will you tell me of my broken ministry? He rises and paces, his temper rising as well. Will you tell me how I must change this village and its people? Have you come to tell me how God has turned his back upon Salem and let the Devil run loose? What say you? He breaks down and kneels on the floor. Hale is stunned.
Hale: I come back now not to torment you, Mr. Parris.
Parris: You need not come back to torment me, Mr. Hale. You torment me in my sleep. He moves towards Hale, almost possessed. I see the demons that you saw and I cannot fight them. I cannot find God.
Hale: God is still here.
Parris, wondering: Such conviction…where did I lose my conviction?
Hale: Your conviction lies within you, only your sleepiness hides it now. Parris sinks to his knees once more. Reverend, your charges languish in jail. You must go to them.
Parris: Man, you think I have not? His temper rises; he will not be accused of being a poor minister by Hale. I have pled with them three month and they have not said a single word.
Hale quavers a moment – is his purpose in coming broken?
Parris, gaining hope: Perhaps…perhaps since you are not so tied with the court they will hear you. Mister, you have surely come to save their lives!
Hale: He does not have the hope that Parris has. If they have not softened for you, they will not soften for me. He moves towards the door. I will pray with them for their salvation, but I will not ask them for a confession. Parris stops him.
Parris, enraged: Mister, you may quit the court, but you cannot quit the lives of these people. Hale is motionless, struck by this but dreading it. What say you, man?
Hale: The souls of these women are already with God, I think. They need not my help in this matter.
Parris: And what of the lives of the women?
Hale: Our lives belong to God.
Parris: It is the Devil works here, not God. Their lives are in the hands of demons. Hale is beginning to be convinced, and Parris pushes on. Come with me to the jail and plead with me.
Hale: I will go. What harm more can it do? My life is yet forfeit; I did sentence them to die. Lying is no more weightier a sin.
Parris: Speak not of sin. I have no stomach for it.
Hale: Nor the stomach for food, it would seem. You look not well, Mister.
Parris: I pray more than I do eat or sleep. I pray for God's mercy and protection upon this town.
Hale: It is well you do. We will need it before the end.
Parris: The trials are not evil, Mr. Hale.
Hale, with agony. He has thought much on this: Mr. Parris. I signed Rebecca Nurse's soul away. I gave her over to a wrongful court thinking I was doing the right thing. Now she suffers and will die. You do suffer. Tell me, who has come through these trials without grief? I think it be none, sir.
Parris and Hale stand. Through the window of the meetinghouse, stars twinkle and the dark grows softer. The atmosphere in the room is still tense, but easing. The guilt of the men is rolling off of them.
Hale: Let us go and pray with them that will hang. Perhaps we will save a life.
Parris: Aye, let us pray.
Parris picks up the candle, the only light on the stage. As the two men exit, he blows out the candle, and all is dark but the stars through the windows.