Essay On Myah Sommerfeld In The Crucible

Myah Sommerfeld

Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible through the inspiration of his own suffering of being

accused and judged as a communist. If a tragedy was the creation of the ruin and

suffering of the work’s tragic hero, then Miller was living his own tragedy. It was this

sorrow and fear that filled his life that leads him to create the embodiment of the

common yet tragic hero John Proctor that Miller and hundreds of others resembled. In

The Crucible, John Proctor follows all the characteristics and consequences that a

tragic hero goes through due to his unchangeable tragic flaw of having excess pride,

and his fall is not only the climax of his character but also of the play, which leads to

the conclusion that his character certifies the play

as a tragedy.
In every tragedy, there must be a tragic hero who embodies someone is not only
highly respected and successful but who also follows the pattern of consequences and
emotions that his actions bring him. In a desperate attempt to prove his wife’s
innocence, Proctor states that he “have known her” (pg.68) and admits to the court that
he is a lecher. He uses the supreme pride of how a man would not “cast away his good
name (pg. 68) to bring up his credibility of his confession and emphasize the
superiority that his word has with the court and the level of commitment he has in the
pursuit to stop Abigail and the witch trials. At the same time that Proctor is lifting his
chin high with his pride, he must also swallow it as well as he takes this risk. When
Proctor confesses the crime of lechery and accepts the outcomes that this will bring,
his endurance for suffering is definitely shown because it not only proves that he is
able to carry the shame that it will bring to his name but also the literal chains that he
will have to wear. It is these characteristics that are vital to the creation of a tragic hero.
It is painful to watch how his enduring pride that had come so close to saving both his
wife and town from this hysteria became his downfall in the blink of an eye. When
questioned whether her husband had committed adultery, Elizabeth Proctor lies and
replies “No, sir” (pg.70). It is these two words that seal Proctor's death warrant, and
turn him to be one of the accused. However, he again follows the cycle of the tragic
hero as his suffering transforms him. At first, the pain is almost unbearable to him as
he struggles with right and wrong and even goes so far as to beg Elizabeth to tell him
whether he should confess or not.

A transfiguration comes across him and he realizes

that it would go against who he is if he confesses to a lie. It is this transformation that

will eventually make an impact on the people of Salem for it daunts on them that since

he did not confess then he must have been telling the truth.

This dominating characteristic of excess pride had become the cause of his downfall

and therefore his hubris. He came ever to close to giving in to the court and confessing

to a lie when he suddenly made his choice and yelled, “I am John Proctor! You will not

use me!” (pg. 89). The realization of losing his name and his legacy was certainly the

limit to what Proctor could take, and while this pride would make his name live on as

he wished, it caused his body to come to an untimely end. There is then one line that

completely captures the catharsis of the play and that is when Proctor yells, “Because

it is my name! Because I cannot have any other in my life!” According to Aristotle, the

fall of the tragic create creates a collective sense of pity and fear within the audience,

and no other want for solace is found in the play when Proctor cries out and begs

to
keep his name. There is no other release found where the audience wants to scream
at him and tell him to save his life, while also knowing they must keep their mouth shut
because they know it is the right thing to do. They know that this is his last chance at
being able to save both his name and soul. It is there where the resolution rests and
the role of the tragic hero is finished.
The whole tragedy and theme of the play follows the question that Proctor struggles
with of “What is John Proctor?” (pg. 86). He answers it in the end by refusing to
confess to what he knows is a lie due to his predominating weakness of pride. He is a
man that values the honor that holds to a name and dies for who it is. He is a man that
cannot be convinced that he is something he isn’t. John Proctor is the common man
who everyone can resemble and connect with, which is why him being the tragic hero
deeply affects