John Proctors Speech on the Gallows

Dear villagers,
Dear people living in Salem for generations, I want yall to hear me today. I have hardly stepped
off my farm for the last seven-month, but I will not, I will not keep quiet no more!

Life It meant a lot more to me in the past years. Nevertheless, the biggest obstacle is that I
never knew the value of it. It is humorous how careless my appearance is now, for the man who
lost his good name, is it not? My name meant everything to me. Let me be open with you; I do
not expect much from this world, where a person is not given a liberty to speak unless he tells
what others expect him to

I assume, you now are interested in how I feel being on the verge of death?! Well, dear villagers
raise your hands if you would ever sell your friends, your good name and lie just to stay alive. I
did it not! And what see you now? Ill be hanged in a moment However, what I perceive now
is happiness, because I have friends and family to die for. Im proud of those who did what I am
doin now and never gave up standing behind their own truth. And I want my children to be
proud of me, when Goody Proctor will be tellin them how their father died.

Oh, the things that I ever wished for were love, warmth and happiness. And it is horrid, that even
the weather is bitter cold today, on my last day. Why, GOD, why? I know I should have never
cheated on my wife, my family, my life. But I did and that was my own sin. If it is the cause
why, I am standing here today, then I have nothing more to say. Because I will never forgive
myself anyway.

My wife this goodness will never be hurt because of my sins again. That is the thing I am
thankful for. Today, by coming to talk with me despite on everything I have done to her she
proved that there is still goodness left in Salem. The most painful thing right now is realizing that
I will never have a chance to hug and kiss that beauty again, and knowing that I did not do it
often enough when I still had a chance is even worse. That is why GOD took away from me a
joy to see my son at least for once, for once

I was querying myself while I was in the jail Am I angry at Mary, because she be foolish
about me, because she is the reason why I am here when I could be at home with my lovely wife
and children, waiting for our new child to be born? My answer was nay, not at all. Mary has
been in my house for quite a long time. This is why I could not expect foolishness from her,
whereas with Abigail I am not surprised because we all know she is the eye of the evil. My wife
trusted Mary; she has been doing most of the work in the house. She is as confused as
everybody else in this village. And I will not judge her for that. But I hope she will understand
that she should have never done what she did to me and my family. But my heart is calm, God
sees everything, I know it now. I know that at the end he will punish them all. The first to be
punished will be Abigail - merciless of all. I, dear villagers, know that. GOD will not forgive
them.

Unfortunately, I am not the first person to be hanged for nothing Twelve of us, dear villagers
are already dead for nothing and seven of us are going to die in a few seconds. How many more
deaths do we need to be witnesses of? What will it bring us to? Among the dead were my
friends. I felt a lot of pain for them. Now when me and six of my friend are here, on a place
where they stood, I want all of you to know that I am happy, and I need no tears after I leave
your world. This speech was the best thing I have ever done in my life. I hope it will open your
eyes and bring my good name back to me. And I hope my life and my destiny will be a good
example for you and for my followers in the future.

My comrades all of you know me very well. You all know who John Proctor is. I am not a witch
and I never was, if I may say it plain! I never let anyone say the opposite unless they have a
proof. But today- something strange happened to me, I almost signed a paper full of lies. Forgive
me dear GOD. I do not know what will happen after my death, but anyway, I do not want to be a
cause for it. Now, dear villagers when you go home think twice before you decide to continue to
live as we all used to do until now. Today is the best day of my life, because I now understood all
my mistakes and all my sins also I understood why we were given a life and who has the power.
I wish no one after us would step on this gallows. This world has a beautiful beginning when you
are born but it had a tragic ending for me, for John Proctor. Whatever you do in your life, always
be honest, first of all to yourself, and then to everybody else around you!!! Goodbye my dear
villagers, friends and my beloved family

Rationale:
First, I have a short introduction, more like an attention grabber, where I used double negative,
because Miller has used many of those in the play. In the actual introduction, I started
introducing Proctors views on life and his character and the things that he values in life. I tried
to make introduction the most interesting part by getting the audience involved. Then comes the
actual introduction. After that, five paragraphs and a conclusion of the speech. I tried to touch all
the main things happening in the story. That is why for every point made by Proctor I have a
separate paragraph. In this speech, John Proctor is explaining how he feels right before death.
For this purpose, I tried to use the language that was used in the play, by Miller himself. At last,
he has the will to speak up. He remembers his dead friends to calm himself down and not to
worry. He talks about his regrets, his attitude towards his family, and about Mary who blamed
him for bewitching her. He explains how he is more offended by Mary, rather than by Abigail.
He is trying to be heard, but he does not want to name judges or anyone else, he is just calling
people to think and to be more careful. He knew that if he gives out the names he might be a
cause for the war and protests in the village, and he did not want to sin anymore. Throughout the
speech, I kept asking rhetorical questions to keep the attention I have gained. I was addressing
the audience as my dear villagers or my dear friends to make them feel the warmth and to create
trust towards me, so that they would believe me.