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Summary and introduction of john proctor
The character of john proctor
Summary and introduction of john proctor
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What is a tragic hero? A tragic hero is typically defined as a character in a literary work who has a lot of pride and makes a judgment error that leads to their ultimate demise. The downfall usually has to do with their pride.
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.
One example of how John Proctor had too much pride is his refusal to admit to the scandalous adultery crime, his admittance to this could have ended the numerous deaths and trails that occurred in the town. A quote that supports this thought is: “God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat! But it is a whore’s
Have you ever been hung? I haven't, but John Proctor on the other hand has. He was hung for not giving up on what he believed was right. He als took the raft because he didn't want his wife to be hung. This all happened in “The Crucible” and the character is John Proctor. I will be giving examples of how John Proctor showed moral courage.
Pride in itself, can be seen as a positive attribute, however, when it is expressed as arrogance it becomes a fatal flaw that leads to one’s downfall. In the play The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, John Proctor allows his excessive pride to get in the way of his decisions. John Proctor would rather die honest than live a lie. In order not to tarnish his good name, John makes the corrupt decision of being hanged. Although this act can be seen as noble, it is ultimately foolish because he allows his excessive pride to put him to death. John's corrupt decision to be hanged to save his family’s name and protect his wife was the result of excessive pride.
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
When it comes to being a tragic hero the character has to have the qualities of being a tragic hero. A tragic hero is where the main character of a tragedy whose fatal flaw leads to his or her destruction. Either the character was born into society as a great man or a slave, they may have carry
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.
Although John Proctor isn’t much of a pious man, he does choose to do the right thing in the end. He doesn’t go down to the level of Danforth, he stays truthful and prideful to himself. Not many people would confess to something if it meant they would be hanged or imprisoned for their actions, John Proctor did. These three personalities of John Proctor prove that he is an overall good man even if he made a few poor choices in his lifetime. He ultimately shows that everyone should be proud of who they are and always tell the truth because if you want to be successful, you must be true to
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.
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, various characters, whether it is from physical trials or unseen personal struggles, experience some kind of major conflict. There are those who spend every day in fear, wondering whether or not they will be falsely accused of witchcraft. There are others who struggle with more internal trials, such as forgiving those who have hurt them. The protagonist, John Proctor, was a man of strong moral constitution, and held himself to a high standard for the sake of his good name and family. As a result of this, he struggled with a major internal conflict throughout the play.
John Proctor’s desire to keep his good name motivates him to make the heroic choice of going to his death without signing his name to an untrue statement. Proctor is the voice of reason whose integrity defines him and clearly distinguishes him as the protagonist. His honesty and acumen endows him with heroic qualities as we see him repeatedly being able to perceive the truth from the false and the moral from the corrupt when he claims that he “cannot mount the gibbet like a saint. It is fraud. [He] is not that man. [His] honesty is broke…” (136). The fact that Proctor doesn’t consider himself good enough to die as a saint like hero, makes him a hero. This is because his betrayal reveals his strong sense of self-reproach and morality, which intensifies his inability to forgive himself. In this statement
John Proctor is an example of one who lets pride prevent a whole life of personal fulfillment. He had made a sin, which was an affair with Abigail. He was the hero of the story and still is but just a flawed hero. He is a proud man, who places great emphasis on his name and reputation “ How may [he] live without [his] name” (Miller Act Four). John Proctor spends too much time being concerned about saving his name because his confession would dishonor his fellow prisoners.
In history, there are a lot of tragic heroes. Marcus Brutus is one of the most known. He relates to the tragic hero in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Who is the Tragic Hero in Salem? It is John Proctor, a Salem born man who has a loving wife and gets in a bind in-between two women. In The Crucible, written by the famous Arthur Miller, John Proctor is the tragic hero who tries to not only regain his high reputation in the town, but also his beloved spouse.
By definition, a tragic hero is a protagonist that due to some tragic flaw loses everything he has. Throughout history, literature has always been filled with main characters possessing some tragic flaw. In Macbeth, Macbeth’s tragic flaw is his enormous ambition to become king. In Hamlet, Hamlet’s tragic flaw is his need for revenge for the death of his father at the hands of his uncle. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh’s tragic flaw is his need to be remembered. In the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, Beowulf also has a tragic flaw, excessive pride and the search for fame, which ultimately leads to his demise.
At any given time, someone in the world is acting as a hero. Whether it be an innocent bystander retrieving an old woman’s stolen purse, or a man who selflessly launches himself towards an active shooter. The real world is filled with heroes, as well as the fictional world. Heros appear in all shapes and sizes, and can be classified in different ways. One classification is a tragic hero, which is defined as “...someone who makes a judgement error that inevitably leads to his or her own destruction” (Bainbridge Island School District). In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor serves as a tragic hero, which is exemplified in the examination of his imperfection, and the catharsis readers experience at the end of the play.
In many ways, Proctor’s moral dilemma drives the entire play. Though only a few characters know of his sin, all of Salem deals with its consequences. As a tragic hero, the audience recognizes he is imperfect and headed towards ultimate defeat but still admires him because of his nobility, as evidenced by the respect he has in Salem. Still, it is clear that he possesses a tragic flaw in the form of pride that, after several missed opportunities to confess his affair, leads to a tragic downfall ending in him being hanged. Throughout The Crucible, Proctor’s words and actions demonstrate his good status, his crippling pride, his multiple failures to confess, and his ultimate demise, and these combined make him a man who struggles valiantly against his fate but is doomed to die from the start.
A tragic hero can be described as a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is