However, within the image there is an extremely interesting contrast between the frail body, characterised by the nudity, the soft curve of the shoulder, the suggestion of breakable bones underneath the skin, and the pale whiteness of the body (even if stained by dirt). Nudity already denotes vulnerability, but the pose emphasises it further, alluding to defencelessness: The pulled-back right shoulder suggests that Proctor’s arms have been cuffed behind his back. Observe how the right upper arm is pulled back. It is not dangling down in its natural position but allows a view of the chest, hence must have been pulled backwards – for his wrists to be bound. The expression on Proctor’s face however, does not evoke defencelessness or frailty. There is a look of concentration on his face. The frown is combined with an intense gaze to the bottom right. The look downwards might usually indicate the loss of hope or the succumbing to an inevitable fate, but the eyes here contradict that. They are very clearly focussed on something, bright with energy, they are not turned inwards to a helpless acceptance of fate but turned outwards. They communicate a sense of the character’s inner turmoil, a possible horror at the events that are threatening to culminate, or an intense attempt at remaining unbroken and to behave with integrity in the face of madness. SPOILER: With my limited knowledge of the play I see this image unfolding as a scene in which Proctor is led to the gallows, bound for his own execution, staring at the madly shrieking, blood-thirsty crowd, half-unbelieving that *this* is really happening, and happening to *him*. I imagine the hand of a warden pushing him in the small of his back, forwards, to the gallows, a relentless cog in the mad machine of murder.