Why Is John Proctor Wrong In The Crucible

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Throughout “The Crucible”, John Proctor is tormented by his past mistakes and haunted by his wrongdoings as the Salem Witch Trials begin. His final and most crucial decision comes when he must choose whether to lie and confess to witchcraft, saving his life, or to stick by the truth and die with his name untarnished. John Proctor made the right decision by choosing to be honest and die with his dignity. In a society where your name means everything, confessing to witchcraft would ruin John. Your name and devotion to God define who you are in Salem. To admit that he had been involved with the Devil and practicing witchcraft by signing his confession, Proctor would be left to live a life of shame- not just in the community’s eyes but …show more content…

John Proctor already had so many sins under his belt, that maybe this one act of honesty wouldn’t have been enough to get back in God’s good graces. Having an affair with Abigail Williams, working on Sundays instead of attending church, and yelling out “GOD IS DEAD,” Proctor has already been damned. So why should he give his life up now? To give this false confession and to sign away his name, John Proctor would be further exacerbating his sins. He wants to live, but he also knows his life would not be worth living if based on a lie. While saving his life would only require him to give a false confession, Proctor would be eternally plagued with a guilt-ridden conscience. He would’ve damned himself for a second time if he were to profess that he had been consorting with the Devil just to evade death John Proctor made the right choice when he decided to sacrifice his life in order to recover his self-respect and integrity - opposed to the alternative of sacrificing his dignity to live a life he would have been miserable with. He is able to redeem himself while defying the court he knows to be unprincipled at the same time just as Arthur Miller defied the HUAC in the panic of anti-communists. Proctor died content with his soul instead of continuing to live his life in anguish and

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