Chapter 5 of 29 · 3'49"
The fight is about money, firewood, and who holds authority. Parris demands "a mark of confidence" — the deed to his house — and warns, "There is either obedience or the church will burn like Hell is burning!" Proctor answers, "I am sick of Hell!" and says he dislikes "the smell of this authority."
❝ Monologue · 4 lines Parris Demands Firewood
A single question builds into self-pity, so a demand for wood sounds like persecution.
❝ Monologue · 4 lines Parris Demands Obedience
Proctor Rejects the Authority
At Parris's house, Proctor and the minister argue openly. Proctor complains that the sermons are all hellfire and damnation, while Parris lists his grievances: low pay, firewood he must buy himself, and being the third preacher in seven years. He wants the deed to the house as "a mark of confidence," and warns that there is either obedience or the church will burn.
The argument looks petty — firewood, six pounds, a deed — but it is really about who controls the parish. Parris feels his authority slipping: 'I am your third preacher in seven years,' he says, and he wants a permanent hold on the meeting house. Proctor refuses to grant him that, and his dig about hellfire lands: 'I am sick of Hell!' When Parris insists that a minister is the Lord's man and must not be contradicted, he makes the scene's real claim: 'There is either obedience or the church will burn like Hell is burning!' Proctor's reply — 'I like not the smell of this "authority"' — is the first open rebellion in the play, and Rebecca's attempt to 'clasp his hand' and make peace cannot paper over it.
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“There are wheels within wheels in this village, and fires within fires!”
The doubled images make hidden plotting feel like machinery and fire inside fire.
literary
“We vote by name in this society, not by acreage.”
Setting names against acreage rejects the idea that land buys a vote.
Formal
“There is either obedience or the church will burn like Hell is burning!”
Either-or removes every middle ground and makes disagreement sound like a fire.
Formal
“I am sick of Hell!”
Four words dismiss every threat of damnation, sounding like a fist on the table.
Informal
“I mean it solemnly, Rebecca; I like not the smell of this "authority".”
Quoting authority and giving it a smell turns a political word into something rotten.
literary
Where is my wood? My contract provides I be supplied with all my firewood. I am waiting since November for a stick, and even in November I had to show my frostbitten hands like some London beggar!
I want a mark of confidence, is all! I am your third preacher in seven years. I do not wish to be put out like the cat whenever some majority feels the whim. You people seem not to comprehend that a minister is the Lord's man in the parish; - a
Up next · 06weighted with authorityThe scene: Hale Arrives With His BooksProctor resents Parris's hellfire sermons and rarely attends; Parris wants more respect, better pay, and the deed to his house. Their quarrel is about authority as much as money.
He wants the deed to the house so he cannot be dismissed at the whim of the majority. He calls it 'a mark of confidence,' but it means permanent ownership.
To show how unstable his position is. He fears being 'put out like the cat' whenever the majority changes its mind.
Proctor means he distrusts the very idea of church authority. It is his blunt way of saying he will not be ordered around.
She tries to calm the quarrel and tells Proctor to clasp the minister's hand and make peace, hoping to keep charity between them.
