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. ¨A tragic hero is a character that is noble and well-respected but he has one tragic flaw that causes him to fall from greatness.¨ John Proctor was known throughout the town of Salem as a well respected farmer and landowner. As the story progressed, John got more involved with the witch outbreak in the way that Abigail dragged him into it. Proctor had committed adultery whist he had a family. This quote relates to John that he is a tragic …show more content…
Increased awareness is when a character had come to an understanding of what has gone wrong before there life has come to an end. In the very end of Act III, Proctor claims that God is dead. John also announces that he sees Lucifer and he says to every man there that they will all burn in hell. In doing this, he admits to the town and himself that the fate of the town was in the hands of the teenage girls. He also came to the realization that religion throughout the town was no longer what it was before.
In essence, John Proctor was in fact a tragic hero, he successfully saved the life of his wife and children. His tragic flaw was that he chose lust over his family, which ultimately caused the series of events that occurred. He chose to die rather than to have his name ruined and for his wife to be punished for something that he did. He admitted to himself that he done wrong, and for that, he chose to end his
Is John Proctor a tragic hero? If you examine his actions and morale in the Salem Witch Trials there would be an indisputable yes. Example of actions and values are in the next two paragraphs.
When the play sets in to action, John has had a past affair with his servant Abigail Williams. His wife, Elizabeth Proctor is very forgiving of his sin, but John has his mind set that he will not confess to anyone else, in fear of ruining his good name, and reputation. The affair between John and Abigail caused the start of chaotic witchery and accusation. After the affair, Abigail became horribly jealous of Elizabeth Proctor. Proctor realizes there is only one way to stop all the witch hysteria in Salem, and that would be to confess his sin of adultery. Although he knows he should, he continues to be determined not to confess. Also in the beginning Reverend Paris is new to town, and John insist continually that he is only speaking of hell, and hardly ever of God, as Proctor goes on to say to Parris, "Can you speak one minute without we land in Hell again? I am sick of Hell!" (Miller 30). In the drama, Mary Warren places a needle in a poppet she gave to Elizabeth; John firmly demands that Mary Warren tell the courts that she really put the needle in the poppet that day. Proctor says to her, "You're coming to the court with me, Mary. You will tell it in the court." (Miller 80). Furthermore, at the end of the play Proctor is persistent by saying that no matter what anyone says to convince him differently, he would rather die an honest man and save his name. John Proctor took pride in his thoughts, feelings, values, and his name. It took persistency to make his intent clear to others.
First John Proctor is a tragic hero because he is loving and loyal . “I will bring you home. I will bring you soon” and “I will fall like an ocean on that court! fear nothing Elizabeth.” John says this when Elizabeth is brought to jail from their house. It shows the love he has for her and he will do anything for her to get her back home. John goes to the court to tell judge Danforth that Elizabeth is innocent and that Abigail is lying and wants Elizabeth murdered “I do, sir. I believe she means to murder.” John going to the court is showing his loyalty and love towards Elizabeth knowing she is innocent and never tell lies she always tell the truth. John says “In her life, sir, she has never lied. There are them that cannot sing, and them that cannot weep-my wife cannot lie. I have
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 just one example of how the characters in the play underwent changes in regards to selfishness and he exhibited the most change. He showed it is important to think of others before you think of yourself and that past sins, motivated by your own wants, can come back to haunt you, and in his case cause a great number of problems.
John Proctor was definitely a tragic hero in the play however reluctant. Proctor has many good qualities as well as flaws. He is shown to be hardworking by working all the time, even on the Sabbath when he is not suppose to, “I labor the Earth from dawn of day to blink of night” (Miller 62).Furthermore, Proctor develops into a noble character throughout the play by
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.
John Proctor is portrayed throughout the play to be a man who has high moral values that he must abide by. He can spot hypocrisy in others easily and judges himself no less harshly. Elizabeth Proctor says to him in the second act:
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. Not only does he unfortunately fall to desolation, but also his character captures the sympathy and pity from the audience or readers. Proctor's downfall in the play is initiated by a human flaw, which to a great extent qualifies him to be the tragic hero.
John Proctor is an honest, though harsh, man who is clearly the protagonist of The Crucible. Before the beginning of the play, John had an affair with Abigail Williams, a girl who worked in his household, which was abruptly ended when Elizabeth Proctor, John's wife, fired her. This event causes Abigail to desire revenge against Elizabeth while she still pines for John. Once the trials are well underway, Abigail accuses Elizabeth of being a witch, which leads to her arrest. John goes to the court in defense of his wife, where he reveals that he did indeed committed adultery with Abigail in an attempt to expose her as a fraud and a liar. Unfortunately, John's appeal falls on deaf ears and he is arrested as well. While his wife manages to get a temporary stay of execution, due to the fact that she is pregnant at the time of the trials, which in the end saves her by insuring her life until the chaos, hysteria, and persecution comes to an end, John is sentenced to death. The play ends with his hanging, but his death puts an end to the trials.
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 was the protagonist of the book The Crucible by Arthur Miller. As a general rule, a protagonist fights the antagonist. He was the protagonist because he refused the advances of antagonist Abigail Williams, then accused her of criminal activity. Abigail confronted John in hopes of convincing him to be with her (sexually) once more. In response to her pleadings, John replied, “No, no, Abby. That’s done with” (Miller 14). Already he was denying a sweet girl what she desired. It’s possible that he deceived her from the beginning of their r...
Now to answer the real question, was John Proctor a tragic hero? Now, I think it could go both ways. First, yes, because even though he doesn’t show many heroic qualities, he does fight to save his wife from being accused of witchcraft, but instead is accused himself and hung. But, the idea of him fighting to save his wife just screams hero. Then there is the other side of the argument that he isn’t a tragic hero. He wasn’t born into nobility, and he doesn’t have many heroic traits. But, he seals his own tragic ending when he denies Judge Danforth the signed document saying he did indeed practice witchcraft, but he had too much pride, ripping up the document, and getting himself hung because of it. So, I’m going to lean toward the non tragic hero side, merely
In the play The Crucible the character John Proctor is the tragic hero due to his honesty. John proctor is the tragic hero in this story because he is hard worker,manly,and honest. But that is what will get him kill or hurt in the end it is his honesty he is to honest.Throughout this book John and Abigail get involved romantically. Which is adultery John relizes this but abigail does not one can see this through their conversation on page fifthteen when john says to abigail “ I will think of you softly” this to abby made her think that they might still have a chance. John once again later tries to tell her that he is done with her on page fifteen when he said “ I never touched you abigail.’’ In the end john proctor is a tragic hero because
In “The Crucible”,John Proctor fits the definition of a tragic hero because although he could’ve confessed and lied about him doing witchcraft, he kept his word and denied it knowing that death was a consequence. He didn’t confess to the jury because he understood that the whole problem started with him and Abigail the day he committed a sin of adultery with her.