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Essays on the crucible by arthur miller
Essay on The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Analysis of the Crucible by Arthur Miller
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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, people were continuously accused of doing witchcraft. Those people who were being accused had to either confess or die despite of the truth. Struggling in this moral decision, people began to recoil and lie to others and even to themselves in order to save their lives. Marry, who was first accused of doing witchcraft told the judges that John Proctor was connected to the devil. Obviously, Marry chose to live as a liar. Eventually, It was John Proctor’s turn to decide: to confess and lie or refuse and die. Struggling in a decision that drives people into craziness, John Proctor chose to refuse anything despite of being hanged.
At the end of the play, John proctor is faced with the biggest calamity of his life. He was given the the choose to lie and say he is a witch or stand by his honesty and die as a marauder. john proctor name was everything to him. It made him who he is so he based his actions on it.. John wanted to live and keep his good name
The Crucible (Argumentative Essay) Is John Proctor a good man? John Proctor, in my opinion, is indeed considered a good man. And the reason why I say this is to inform you that in The Crucible, John faces a lot of conflicts with his wife, the church, and his individuality. The way John Proctor deals with these conflicts defines him as a true good man character, for example Elizabeth (Proctor’s Wife) always knew he was a good man in heart. She would have the courage to stand by Proctor’s side when they were in court “I do not judge you”.
In John Proctor’s sudden confession of committing adultery, Miller used strong ethos and pathos to help further his agenda. He used disinterest, a rhetorical ethos device, to show that he reluctantly confessed for the greater good. By casting away his reputation, he made a personal sacrifice to show that his revelation helped the people of Salem more than it helped him. Throughout the play, Proctor concealed his disloyalty to his wife from the public; however, he finally came to terms with his sin to save Elizabeth and other innocent people from the trials. John used a rhetorical tool called the reluctant conclusion during his confession, which is blatant by the uneasiness/hesitancy he displayed. John Proctor lost his credibility and appeared
Arthur miller constructed some courageous characters throughout his play The Crucible. John Proctor is thought of as a good man who lusted at one point however earned back his goodness. The one with the greatest amount of courage would have to be John Proctor. Although he had made some poor decisions, he didn’t shy away from them like the rest of the village did. He did what all the others were too afraid to do. Most people would say that Giles Corey was the most courageous because he didn’t confess to witch craft either, but in addition to not confessing John Proctor also went against what Abigail was saying because he knew why she was doing it.
John Proctor: “God in heaven, what is John Proctor, what is John Proctor”. John is a man of strong moral beliefs, concerned only for the safety of his family and personal welfare. He cares of nothing for the beliefs of any of the other people in the town and what his supervisor which is the Reverend, thinks either. After trying to avoid involvement in the witch trials he is later prosecuted for witchery and sentenced to hang. John trys to avoid any involvement in the Salem witch trials. His reason for doing so is to protect his image because he is afraid he will be committed of adultery with Abigail Williams. Following these events he trys to save everyone’s lives by admitting to this horrible offense adultery and ends up losing the trial along with his life. He did have a chance to live but instead of signing away his name and his soul to keep his life, he wanted to die honorably with his friends not without a name, a soul, and with guilt. “John Proctors decision to die is reasonable and believable”. Reverend Parris, the Salem minister and Proctors immediate supervisor, which says “ there is either obedience or the church will burn like hell is burning.” “The church in theocratic Salem is identical with the state and the community and will surely crumble if unquestioning obedience falters in the least.” Proctor, on the other hand, “has come to regard his self as a king of fraud,” as long as he remains obedient to an authority which he cannot respect.
The primary dramatic focus in the play The Crucible is the moral struggle of its protagonist, John Proctor. Certain characteristics of John Proctor's character and also the environment of the Puritanical Salem alleviated this problem for him. The main issues running through out the play are a series of dilemmas that John Proctor faces. The first and foremost of these is his guilt over his adulterous affair with Abigail Williams, the second his hesitation to testify against Abigail to bring out the truth and the third, his final decision to make the ultimate sacrifice.
There are many sides to John Proctor and they occur at different stages of the play, John is a complex character and is very well respected even though he has done wrong things. Arthur Miller was in the same situation as John Proctor in 1956-57 because he refused to give names of people he saw at communist meetings. There was the same trial system. If you confessed you would stay alive assuming you had turned from the communist meetings, however if you denied that you were seen at communist meeting you would have been hanged because there would be no evidence to show you weren’t there. You get the impression that the character of John Proctor was based on the real life character of Miller.
Throughout the whole play, John Proctor placed himself as a “servant” of God only and maintained that position regardless of what happened. He represented the image of a person that corresponded for God in Earth, and at the same time he acted consciously and knew what was happening in Salem. In an attempt to disengage from God, his principles, conscience, and morality acted upon him and brought him back to God. Elizabeth and his friends also affected his conscience, as the only reason why he went to the court was to try to release them. John Proctor can be considered the savior of Salem, he can be considered Jesus in that story. His name was important as it was the main reason why he decided to die with dignity instead of live for a lie; but what is the symbolism behind his name? What is conscience and why does John Proctor struggle with his?
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. Although Aristotle's tragic hero would be a character in a high social or political standing, Arthur Miller portrays John Proctor as a common farmer that is honest and living a respectable life in a Puritan town with a wife and three children. However, as the play opens, the audience discovers that Proctor has a significant secret, which was his affair with a young girl named Abigail Williams. Abigail doesn't want to believe that it is over between her and John and tries to kill Elizabeth Proctor by engaging in witchcraft with a few other girls in the town.
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.
He was also viewed as a superior leader along with his goodness of moral character. These are two of the traits that represent Proctor as a tragic hero in The Crucible. In act two John Proctor shows his goodness of a character by protecting his wife and fighting against her accusation of witchcraft. He even goes as far as ruining his reputation and admitting to the court of his affair with Abigail Williams. By doing this Proctor is risking the possibility to hang. Throughout act one of the play the readers are given the initiative that John Proctor still has lust feelings towards Abigail Williams every time they encounter each other. He shows goodness and loyalty to his wife by confronting Abigail Williams and proclaims that he no longer feels the way he had for her. In act two John Proctor asks Abigail Williams to admit to the court that she and the other girls are faking. John is expressing his goodness to prevent his wife from hanging. John Proctor is a well respected farmer in Salem, and attends church almost regularly. He holds a superior name in Salem, and with if the affair with Abigail Williams were to be known he would lose his reputation and possibly his life. The town would have never have accused John or Goody Proctor of witchery. The Proctors were considered privileged in Salem, they owned and farmed many acres of land. Also the Proctor’s crops were well which gave him superiority
The Salem witch trials were a time period when any individual could be accused of witchcraft for numerous reasons. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller focuses on the deviation of the trials and how the town’s most religious and honest members of the community are tried with witchcraft. John Proctor, the town’s most honest man, is accused of being a witch and must decide if he should confess or not. Proctor’s confession will stop the town from rebelling and uphold the reputations of Deputy Governor Danforth and Reverend Parris. Hale also wishes for Proctor’s confession so he does not have to feel responsible if Proctor were to be hanged for his witchcraft accusations. The confession of Proctor would convince others in the town to confess to their
Parris and Danforth need Proctor’s confession written to better prove Proctor’s confession and so the people can read it for themselves. The community is getting restless because no one knows who will be prosecuted next. Rebellion in Andover is causing for the people in Salem to get ideas of throwing out the court as well. If the court specifically Danforth could get a written confession from Proctor they would be able to spare him but as well give other people an option to get out of being killed. At this point the judges know what they did was wrong but don’t want to admit their wrongdoing so this is a way for them to get out without confessing themselves. In this way everyone wins and everyone lives somewhat.
In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the madness of the Salem witch trials is explored in great detail. Arthur Miller was an American playwright, who was born in 1915. He grew up in a Jewish family in New York City. While attending the University of Michigan in the mid 1930’s, he began to characterize himself as a distinguished writer. His first plays were Honors at Dawn and No Villain. The Death of a Salesman, which he wrote in 1949, won him the Pulitzer Prize for literature.