What is a crucible?

(n)a container of metal or refractory material employed for heating substances to high temperatures.
Prompts: the first choice below is the one we have been working on in class. You would have one paragraph on John Proctor's change, one on a second character's change, and one on a third character's change.
A crucible is a trial or severe test. Explain why Arthur Miller’s play is aptly named. (e.g. how were 3 different characters tested, and what was the result in each case?)

BODY PARAGRAPH 1: John Proctor

John Proctors characters experiences a crucible, helping him to realize his previous mistakes and it transforms him into a better, more moral man. In the beginning of the Crucible, John made the horrible and unethical decision to cheat on his wife by having an affair with a sixteen year girl named
Abigail. John Proctor pleated to his wife, “I am only wondering how I may prove what she told me,
Elizabeth. If the girl’s a saint now, I think it is not easy to prove she’s fraud, and the town gone so ill.
She told it to me in a room alone – I have no proof for it” (53). After Elizabeth becomes aware of her husbands affairs, John tries to justify his actions and right his wrongs. But because of what John has done, Elizabeth says that she can no longer trust him, even if she wanted to, because of the hurtful actions that he took. After Proctor realizes that he has hurt someone he loved, he takes a point of action to right his wrongs. Proctor says to Danfroth, “A man will not cast away his good name. You surely know that”(110). Proctor is explaining that by admitting what he did, it would destroy his reputation and the Proctor family name, even for generations to come. However, Proctor was wiling to sacrifice his good name with the intensions of protecting his wife from the witch trials. As guilt started to heavily come down on Proctor, this was his way of self-inflicting his own punishment for committing adultery. The conflict in Proctors life resulted in him being tested to over come the mistakes he had made and through that, he became a better person. At the trials when Danforth insisted on Proctor giving him the names of those guilty, he refused. Proctor exampled to him, “I speak my own sins; I cannot judge another. Crying out, with hatred: I have no tongue for it”(141). Proctor is saying that he will lie to protect himself but he is nowhere near willing to give the names of other people in Salem. Since Proctor refuses to throw people under the bus, it costs him his life. This shows the audience how much Protcor has changed as a person since the begging of the story into a much more godly human being.

BODY PARAGRAPH 2: Reverend John Hale

1. He starts off with really good intentions. In Act One, Miller writes of Hale: "His goal is light, goodness, and its preservation." This guy has trained and trained to be the best witch-hunter ever, and he's psyched to finally get a chance to show off his stuff. Though he's probably a little full of himself, but ultimately his goal is to valiantly fight the Devil. What could be wrong with that? Well, a whole lot.

2. In Act Two, we see that Hale's former confidence is slowly