Give them no tear! Tears pleasure them! Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!
– Arthur Miller
The Crucible, Act 4. John Proctor’s final words before he is hanged for the false crime of witchcraft are appropriately to his wife. In his impassioned plea to Elizabeth, his dying goal is the preservation of his integrity. Asking her not to cry because he is doing the honorable thing, he asks her to metaphorically make her heart a stone. John has confessed his infidelity and feels he can die without shame.