Comparing John Proctor and Arthur Dimmesdale from The Scarlet Letter

Another inner quality that defines John Proctor is the value he holds to his good name. Proctor is a firm believer in the fact that one’s name is the only thing that remains after death, and what is done with it while living can affect one’s posterity for generations. This is the driving force behind his actions in the final act of the play. At first, he felt no shame in lying to the court about his accusation of witchcraft because he felt there was no more damage he could do to his reputation and that one more sin would not make any difference. His attitude changed when he realized his confession would mean blackening the name of those who already had died, and his sons would have to live with that mark on their names. He knew he could not teach his sons “. . . to walk like

''The Crucible,'' is a 1952 play written by Arthur Miller as an allegory of Mcarthyism. The play follows a theocratic society in which the church and the state are one, and reputation plays an important role in Salem where private and public moralities are the same. In act one, the secret affair of John Proctor and Abigail Williams was revealed that led to conflict between John and his wife. Divorce was not permitted in the late 16th century, hence, the Proctors had to maintain their marriage causing discord within the Proctor household. At the start of Act 2, Miller creates a tense atmosphere of animosity portrayed by John and Elizabeth Proctor in their lack of affection, awkwardness, appraisal and guilt leading to affliction.

We also see Dimmesdale protecting his reputation when he goes and meets with Hester in secret. He never really wanted anybody to see them together for fear that somebody would make the connection. Another example is seen in The Crucible, in which John Proctor wanted to keep his reputation in check. He had also committed adultery by having an affair with a younger girl. Much like Dimmesdale, Proctor was able to keep it a secret for most of his life. We also see how important John’s reputation was to him when his life was on the line. John Proctor had a decision to make late in the story. He had to choose between his reputation and his life. John chose to be hanged rather than have his confession posted on the church door for all to see (Miller 143). These examples show how much reputations meant to the people of the time period in which these texts take place.

The Crucible is a lengthy theatrical that delves into the time of the Salem witch trials. The author, Arthur Miller, depicts a dark time in which no one is safe from the questionable accusations of a few girls caught in a lie and trying to save their own skins. Miller introduces the protagonist, John Proctor, as a “sinner,” while some critics view him as a Christlike figure. John Proctor is a good man because he supports his family, practices his religion, and never fell for the witchcraft insanity that the rest of Salem fell for.

In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the characters John Proctor and Reverend Parris are some of the major characters during the course of the play. John Proctor is a farmer in Salem that lives in the outskirts of town, and is religious like the rest of Salem but rarely makes it to the church due to living far away have having large amounts of work. He is seen as strong and confident by most town members, however “Proctor… has come to regard himself as a kind of fraud” (Miller 20-21). Reverend Parris is Salem’s religious leader. While he does regularly speak to the entire town, he has very little confidence and “believed he was being persecuted wherever he went, despite his best efforts to win people and God over to his side” (Miller 3). By comparing and contrasting both Parris and Proctor’s actions and beliefs throughout the play, underlying truths regarding self-realization and the consequences of our actions can be discovered.

The reader can infer that Proctor is a highly respected, and even feared individual in Salem. He speaks his mind, and strikes down any malevolence. For this, Proctor has a very good reputation in the town. He maintains this good name by being very immersed in town issues, but being detached when not needed. Unlike many of the other characters, Proctor lives away from the town center. This is symbolic of his stance in conflicts and his opinion of Salem’s leadership. When all the leaders of Salem erupt into a frenzy about the possible issue of witchcraft, Proctor silences the chaos by asking if anyone can “speak one minute without we (Salem citizens) land in Hell again?” (30). Later in the scene, Proctors goes even further to point out how the current ministry is broken by saying, “I mean it solemnly...I like not the smell of this ‘authority’” (31). His distrustfulness of nature is what makes him the leading protagonist against the many ensuing problems so deeply ingrained into Salem’s population. Proctor is not only unwilling to join the current ministry due to its blind leader, but also the first character to see the irrationality of

In the play, The Crucible, John Proctor had various opinions about the Church he attended and Salem, the town he lived in. He didn’t agree with the situations happening in the world around him, so he decided to rise against Judge Danforth and

The Crucible, a novel/play by Arthur Miller displays the chaos of the witch trials within the small town of Salem, Mass. Of the many characters of the novel, John Proctor and Mary Warren are both characters that serve an importance to the novel. The two characters both interact in the stories in different ways. Even though both characters can be seen as minor characters because of their inferior power in the novel, Proctor and Mary Warren serve as important characters to the story line. One reason being the fact that they both bring about problems with and/or against antagonist Abigail Williams such as Mary Warren, who likes the feeling of have authority but gets into unwanted conflict often, and Proctor, who is an very aggressive person

We see a profound shift in Proctor’s idea of himself as he faces his death, claiming: “for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor” (Miller 144). With his final decision to not confess to a false accusation, he has redeemed himself by preserving his highly revered honesty, reducing his intense internal guilt, and ultimately restoring his personal honor. Despite being given the opportunity to escape this accusation, Proctor’s honor code compels him to give up his life, thus preventing the accusations against other members of his community from gaining any credibility.

The novel, The Crucible was written in 1953 by Arthur Miller, which was based on the Salem Witch Trials existing in the late 1600s. In the play, Abigail and several other young women accuse innocent citizens of Salem for the action of witchcraft. During the trials, many individuals were unfairly persecuted; such as John Proctor. This event in history may be associated with the Red Scare, in which individuals were tried for their questionable influences of communism in the United States. When Miller compares the character of John Proctor to himself, the reader is able to relate the similar experiences that both men faced. The Crucible demonstrates the struggle against corruption involving the court, which lead to the death of many innocent individuals in Salem. The Crucible generates an allegory for Arthur Miller’s struggles with McCarthyism because of his similar experience relating to John Proctor’s battle against the Salem Witch Trials, and the relation between the actions of the court in both situations. Arthur Miller uses several writing methods in order to convey The Crucible as an allegory for his struggles with McCarthyism. Miller demonstrates how the Crucible represents an allegory for his conflict with McCarthyism by relating his experiences with the plot of the novel. Miller relates the novel to his struggles by stating, “Should the accused confess, his honesty could only be proved by naming former confederates.” (Are You Now… 34) Miller is explaining how the court

Proctor takes great pride in having an admirable reputation and, like his name, longs to keep it respectable. It took Proctor his whole life to gain the trust of the people in Salem and build

As nice and innocent Proctor may seem, he is a sinner and in some ways so am I.

In the Salem witch trials about two-hundred people were accused of witchcraft, twenty of whom were executed. In, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, he presents a character known as John Proctor. He was considered a good-looking man almost to the point where he became intimidating. Ultimately, throughout the story, this character goes from being someone who could care less about others’ feelings, to someone who becomes nobler in a way. As it’s been noticed, John Proctor is a dynamic character that changes throughout the story.

One characteristic of the tragic hero, which John Proctor possesses, is that he is a man of stature. This is evident from the very beginning of the play in the exposition about Proctor. The author says, “He was a kind man-powerful of body, even tempered and not easily led”(20). He goes on to say that he has a “quiet confidence and an unexpressed hidden force”(21). He is well respected in the community and Mr. Parris, the town Reverend, goes as far as to say that he has “followers”(30). Also, at the end of the play Parris and Danforth want to post his confession of being in league with the devil on the Church door because “It is a weighty name”(141). They feel that since Proctor is such a respected member of the community that his confession will restore the people’s confidence in the court and urge others to confess.

Arthur Miller wrote the play The Crucible in 1953. The Crucible takes place in the late 1600`s around a town called Salem in Massachusetts. Miller went to Salem and acquired historical documents about the Salem witch trials and used the real people's diaries and other writings to gather information on what happened and how it happened. He also used the information to create interesting and real characters that would grab and hold audiences attention. His most memorable characters, Abigail Williams and John Proctor, are really the center pieces of the play. Although Abby and Proctor in The Crucible seem like polar opposites, they are however one in the same as they use different methods to reach an unlikely bet yet common goal proving how in common they really are.