How can a man who cheated on his wife possibly be seen as a hero? Not only that, but it was also lechery - the girl that he cheated on his wife with was only seventeen years old. However, this thirty year old man is also somehow the hero of the story. His name is John Proctor, and he is the protagonist in The Crucible. Now, why would Arthur Miller, author of The Crucible, create such a problematic “hero?” If one looks at what he’s done, he doesn’t seem like a very admirable guy. However, that was Miller’s whole point. Miller used John Proctor to explain his allegory to the reader - he showed us that the victims of the Salem witch trials and the communists accused during McCarthyism were human beings - and by doing this, he reminded the reader that despite adversity, one should always remain true to themselves.
John Proctor represents the victims of
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the hysteria during both the Salem witch trials and during McCarthyism. While trying to save his wife, Proctor ended up incriminating himself and was accused of witchcraft. He was convicted and ultimately killed, despite his innocence. This is just like those who were accused of being communists during McCarthyism. Not everyone accused was actually a communist, but it’s almost impossible to prove that you’re not something once you’re suspected of it. John Proctor behaves the way he does to show the reader that the victims during both the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism were human - just like us. People often like to see the world in a black and white type of way: in other words, one is either good or evil - there’s nothing in between. It’s simpler that way - people don’t like to think about how “evil” people have done good things as well. If one thinks about how bad people have loved ones that they care about, it makes the thought of punishing them for their evil actions seem much more difficult. However, bad people do have different intentions than one might expect. This is why Miller made Proctor so problematic - he wanted to show the reader that even people who do bad things have good intentions, and one can relate to “bad” people more than they may realize. Even the heroes can do bad things, and even the villains can do good things. This is due to the fact that they are human beings, just like everyone else. John Proctor sends one message to the reader: you must be true to who you are.
Proctor is all about self respect. Before he cheated on his wife with Abigail, he has so much respect for himself and his reputation. After he made that mistake, he knew he had to redeem himself. He was known for being such a good man, and he had to prove to himself that he still was that man, despite his mistakes. He openly admitted his lechery when he stated in front of the court, “...God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore's vengeance, and you must see it now (III.374-384).” The phrase “I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat” refers to how Proctor was sexually attracted to Abigail and thus cheated on his wife, and is now facing the consequences. The “whore” that John is referring to is Abigail, so the phrase “whore’s vengeance” means that Abigail started the whole idea of witchcraft in Salem as revenge on Proctor for ending their affair. After John Proctor admitted to cheating on his wife in front of a judge, he took one step closer to regaining the self respect that he once had for
himself. The character John Proctor may not have been perfect, but he was the perfect character for The Crucible. He helped convey to the reader that McCarthyism was not so different than the Salem witch trials. Both incidents involved innocent people who were unable to prove their innocence due to how harsh the people around them were. Proctor also showed the reader that despite our flaws, we are all still human, and should be treated as such. No one deserves to die for a crime they didn’t commit. Lastly, John Proctor proved to the reader that we should always stay true to ourselves. If we don’t, we will ultimately lose who we are. Those who refused to lie and admit to being either witches or communists were killed in the end, but at least they never lost themselves.
Firstly, John Proctor is not seen to be a good man because in chapter one is affair with Abigail is exposed. “Give me a word, John. A soft word. (Her concentrated desire destroys his smile.) From this it can be seen that before they did have an affair but now it is over. The personal pronoun ‘me’ shows how she wants him all to herself and that the meeting is held in secret. The word ‘desire destroy’ in the stage directions is then used to contradict her feelings as Miller suggests how their affair is now over but Abigail doesn’t want it to be and that she still loves Proctor. From this quote it is then shown that John Proctor can’t be a good man if he committed adultery. However, John Proctor also speaks to Abigail to mention how their affair is mentioned and how their affair to him was at his moment of weakness when his wife, Elizabeth was ill. As it was a mistake Proctor mentions how Abigail should, “Wipe it out of mind.” This shows that he wants to forget it ever happened and that he also doesn’t want anybody to find out about this. From this it shows that John Proctor is not a good and as when his wife was ill and when he was at his weakest he committed a sin. If the people of Salem were to hear...
John Proctor a well-respected man in the city of Salem has a deep secret that plays a major role later on in the story. He had an intimate affair with a younger single girl named Abigail which he regrets greatly. Proctor shows his disgust when he argues with Abigail by insisting, “Abby I never give you hope to wait for me” (page168). Proctor exclaims that he surely regrets his sin and doesn’t want Abigail to think that he loves her and not his own wife. Although Proctor may still have feelings about Abigail he reassures her that he will never have emotional relationships with her ever again. He had the ultimate opportunity to get back at Abigail and stop the witch trials from happening when he meets Abigail alone in the woods; upon their encounter she confesses to John, “We were dancing in the woods last night and my uncle leaped in ...
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is set in Salem in a Puritan community. John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, Reverend Hale, Reverend Paris, and Abigail are the main characters. The book is about witchcraft or what the town thinks is witchcraft. John Proctor is the tragic hero because he is loving, loyal, authoritative, but his tragic flaw is his temper.
John Proctor plays the leading role in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. He was persistent, honest, and full of integrity. He was simply, a man with pride. A wise woman once said, "Do what you feel in your heart to be right--for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't." (Eleanor Roosevelt). Proctor was the protagonist of the dramatic piece of literature.
Early on in the play, the reader comes to understand that John Proctor has had an affair with Abigail Williams while she was working in his home. Abigail believed that if she got rid of Elizabeth Proctor, then John Proctor would become her own. John Proctor had an affair with Abigail, but for him it was just lust, while Abigail believed it to be true love. She told John Proctor that she loved him, and once she destroys Elizabeth, they would be free to love one another. John is horrified at this, but can do nothing to convince Abigail that he is not in love with her. Because of Abigail's twisted plot to secure John for herself, Elizabeth is arrested. John Proctor has to wrestle with the decision of what to do. He knows that he has sinned; yet he does not want to hurt his beloved wife. This is partly why he is willing to die. He knows he has already sinned.
John Proctor was a main character in The Crucible. As a main character, he has a special role in the story. He was a husband to Elizabeth Proctor with three children but at the same time, he had an affair with Abigail Williams - a girl of only 17 years old. John is known as a tragic hero in the story due to of a few flaws that determined his fate by the end of the story. John proctor is a tragic hero because of his tragic flaw, free choice, and his increased awareness of what was happening to him.
Despite these good qualities, John Proctor had many flaws as well. Lust was a constant struggle for Proctor in many forms. For instance, when Abigail was working for him and his wife, he lusted after her and committed adultery by having an affair. Afterwards, Proctor was extremely repentant and stopped seeing her. “Abby, you’ll put it out of mind. I’ll not be comin’ for you more” (Miller 21). This essentially lead to his demise because of the affair, Abigail became infatuated over Proctor to the point where she went into the woods with her friends and Tituba and practiced “witchcraft” to kill Proctor’s wife. “You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife!” (Miller18). When the girls were caught and the whole “witch” hysteria broke out, people were getting accused and executed, including Proctor, who wouldn’t confess to witchcraft and died because of it. If Proctor never lusted after Abigail and had an affair with her in the first place, accusations of “witchcraft” would have never happened and his death. Throughout the book unlike many other characters, Proctor never accepted the girl's story about witchcraft to be true. He on the other hand knew
A tragic hero is a noble man who commits a fatal flaw. The hero’s downfall is a result of their choices which leads to a punishment that exceeds the crime. “The difference between Proctor and Willy Loman is enormous; the former is the rather typical tragic hero who is defiant to the end, the latter is trapped in submission and is living a lie” (McGill 4). John Proctor is one of the main characters in The Crucible. he is married to Elizabeth Proctor and they live in Salem. In Arthur Miller’s famous play, The Crucible, John Proctor represents a classic tragic hero because he is a well respected man of noble stature, he is conflicted because of his fatal flaw, and his downfall is a result of his own choices.
This statement is true for John Proctor, he judges himself harshly for his sins and is disgusted with himself. John Proctor is a foil to most characters in the play. They are conformists and submissive as a result of the restrictive lifestyle they had to lead.
To admit to adultery takes integrity. To tell the truth no matter what the consequences takes integrity. To stay true to one's morals and be able to accept any punishments to keep one’s integrity, is a genuine trait. During the Salem witch trials many were unable to keep their integrity, but there were some who did. The Crucible written by Arthur Miller takes place during the Salem witch trials, when many people were forced to lie in order to live. John Proctor is looked at in the play as an adulterer, and sinful man. Nevertheless, John Proctor's public and private selves differ dramatically, but overall Mr. Proctor is truly a honest and integrity filled man.
have for him but to keep his life. To lose his dignity but to keep his
The Crucible – John Proctor the Tragic Hero What is a tragic hero? The most well known definition of a tragic hero comes from the great philosopher, Aristotle. When depicting a tragic hero, Aristotle states "The change in the hero's fortunes be not from misery to happiness, but on the contrary, from happiness to misery, and the cause of it must not lie in any depravity but in some great error on his part." In addition, he explains the four essential qualities that a tragic hero should possess, which are goodness, appropriateness, lifelike, and consistency. All of these necessities help to classify the character of John Proctor in Arthur Miller's The Crucible as the tragic hero of the play.
In conclusion, it cannot be denied that John Proctor made a major mistake and betrayed his wife and his own moral code. Despite that, he was a strong, level-headed individual that cared for his family and desired to leave them with a good name. He would not have felt such a high level of guilt if he had not expected so much from himself, which is the quality of a moral person. John Proctor was a good man who truly deserved the title of protagonist in The Crucible.
John Proctor, whether consciously or not, constantly determines the path to his fate through his actions, choices, and judgment. Though overall he is an honorable and principled man, he is flawed by one crucially harmful past deed to his reputation—his committing of adultery with seventeen-year-old Abigail Putnam. In a final attempt to save his wife from the accusation of witchcraft, he admits to his crime of lechery, by which he plans to unveil Abigail’s true motive for accusing his wife Elizabeth: “A man will not cast away his good name. You surely know that…She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is promise in such sweat. But it is a whore’s vengeance, and you must see it, I set myself entirely in your hands” (Miller 113). This merely warrants him harshly disapproving views from his puritanical peers, and not even this act of utter honesty and sacrifice can reverse the witch trial hysteria that his affair with Abigail sparked. Both he and his wife Elizabeth are jailed, he is hanged, and Abigail maintains po...
John Proctor faces many decisions in response to his moral dilemma to try to save his life. One of the difficult decisions John makes is to reveal that he had an affair with Abigail Williams and thereby has committed adultery. If the local court convicts him of this crime, he faces being jailed. Also by admitting this crime, John reveals a weakness in his character. This flaw in his personality will make it harder for him to stand up in the community as an honorable and believable person. In trying to convince others that witchcraft does not exist John’s dishonesty with his wife will make him less convincing to the community.