John’s Redeemed Goodness
In The Crucible, John Proctor is not free of sin. He is no Rebecca Nurse, who has never done anything bad in her life. He is no Reverend Hale, who was only trying his hardest to cast the Devil out of each town. A case could even be made that John is worse than Judge Danforth, because Danforth thought he was doing the right thing. For John is guilty of lechery, a guilt that ends up getting him killed. However, despite this fault, John is considered innocent to most of Salem. It is this innocence that restores his sin as a husband. Although he is good as a citizen throughout The Crucible, John Proctor is a morally flawed husband at the start of the play, and is only able to redeem himself by the end of the play. Furthermore, John uses his citizen side to atone for his husband side.
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Some may disagree, saying he hated many citizens of Salem when they put innocent people in jail, but one doesn’t have to like a place to do good for it. In Act II, John shows he has done good with the town, saying, “I nailed the roof upon the church, I hung the door.” John helps out in the Salem community, and is respected by most of it’s members from the start. John is still a good citizen in Act IV, as he decides to end his life instead of affirming the deaths of Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey by admitting to witchcraft. All of this proves that John Proctor is clean throughout The Crucible as a citizen. However, unlike his role in Salem, John is lacking as a
The Salem witch trials was a story of envy, lies, and the danger of the people. Others wouldn’t defend those accused, and if they did, they themselves were eventually charged as witches. In many ways, defending others was condemning yourself. Such was the case for John Proctor in “The Crucible”. John Proctor was someone who had made mistakes, but through his own crucible made peace with himself and defended the honor of himself and the others that would not admit to witchcraft.
Many people have made mistakes and have been in bad situations or tried to help others by hurting themselves. John Proctor made mistakes and he tried to help Elizabeth, his wife but in doing so he hurt himself. He confessed about Abigail and everything that happened between them because he could not live on a lie even though that could mean being executed. John was truthful and felt as if he needed to do the right thing for his wife and confess his sin. John Proctor served as The Crucible tragic hero, which means that he is fated by the Gods or by some supernatural force to doom and destruction or at least to great suffering.
People’s true character is revealed through their actions. Their morals and ethics can be told from how they choose to act in a situation. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible; the character of John Proctor is an honorable man despite having committed wrongful acts. He was able to redeem himself through acts that is considered courageous, such as when he refuses to contribute to the lie of witchcraft in Salem, when he fights for the people who were convicted of witchcraft and when he regrets being a dishonest man.
“That John Proctor the sinner might overturn his paralyzing personal guilt and become the most forthright voice against the madness around him was a reassurance to me, and, I suppose, an inspiration: it demonstrated that a clear moral outcry could still spring even from an ambiguously unblemished soul,” Miller says this about Proctor. Procter the “sinner” was unfaithful to his wife Elizabeth; during the beginning of the play we see Proctor as a cheater and hot-headed adulterer. Throughout the play he truly tried to seek redemption for his wrongdoing towards Elizabeth. He later on changes from this cheater, hot-headed adulterer to a saint who tries to save the lives of the falsely accused by admitting to his sins and fighting for the truth until his very last breath.
John Proctor shows himself to be a very powerful and charismatic person right. From the time he first appears in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, he is presented as an intelligent, sharp-tongued man with a strong independent mind. These traits would seem to make him a good person to question the motives of those who cry witchcraft. However, his guilt over his affair with Abigail makes his position problematic because he is guilty of the very hypocrisy that he despises in others. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrays John Proctor as a decent man because he fights for his own dignity and the freedom for others.
Throughout the entire play of The Crucible, John Proctor truly grew as a person, while later fixing his sins and making moral decisions. John Proctor had truly gone through a lot in the play, both emotionally and physically, being that he was wrongfully accused of witchcraft. Although some might contradict this statement, John Proctor loved his wife, Elizabeth, because even though he may have questioned her worth in the past, he always confesses his sins and does what he can to make it right, which is a true quality of a man. Along with this, John Proctor portrays characteristics of a Puritan because he always remains true to his family, alike he must stay true to God, therefore proving to him that John Proctor always stays true.
Authors can sometimes create an allusion by portraying a character as a figure of whom the reader may or may not have prior knowledge. A Christ figure is a character that resembles Jesus Christ in more than one significant way. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, John Proctor is said to be an example of a Christ figure along with Tom Walker in Washington Irving’s The Devil and Tom Walker.
John Proctor is one of the main characters in the Crucible. He was indicted of witchcraft because of he violated the law several times. Examples that helped the church assume he was a witch was him stating that the girls who were “possessed” were liars & frauds, setting everything up to accuse other villagers of witchcraft. He also couldn’t remember the 10 commandments, didn’t attend church regularly, & apparently plowed on Sundays which was considered a high offense back then. John’s trial was extremely unequitable.
Arthur Miller has created John Proctor the protagonist of The Crucible to be a 30 year old farmer in Salem, Massachusetts, powerful of body, even-tempered and not easily led. John speaks his mind when he recognizes injustice. He is highly respected, even feared, by some in Salem. His name is synonymous with honour and integrity. He takes pleasure in exposing hypocrisy and is respected for it. However John is a sinner, a sinner not only against the moral fashion of the time but against his own vision of decent conduct, he has come to regard himself as a kind of fraud. After admitting to lechery, John is accused of witchcraft, on this charge he is condemned.
John Proctor was a truly honest man, as his personality continued to remain unwavering, even when confronted with the harshest situation. Honesty can be defined as the pursuit of vindicating the innocent and ending the Salem Witch Trials. Arthur Miller explores Proctor’s honesty and its consequences in his play The Crucible. Aggravated by his wife’s false condemnation for witchcraft, Proctor demonstrates his resolve to help her, which will cause the court to antagonize him. Additionally, his desire to stop Abigail’s rampage leads to his imprisonment for witchcraft. Guilty of lechery, Proctor embarks on his final path to redemption, which will lead him to his death. Ultimately, John Proctor’s honesty leads to his downfall.
Throughout The Crucible we learn many things about John Proctor. Despite learning about the sins he has committed with Abigail the reader’s tend to agree with his character and support him. John Proctor has committed very intense sins and is clearly not free of guilt which is why his decision to hang instead of falsely confess was noble.
Plays have been used as a method of storytelling and form of entertainment for hundreds of years. A tragedy is one type of play where the audience pities the characters and fear the same consequences that the characters face. In addition, tragedies often include a tragic hero who has a tragic flaw causing his or her downfall. One example of a play that is a tragedy and includes a tragic hero is the The Crucible. John Proctor in The Crucible is a true tragic hero because he possess the four characteristics of goodness, superiority, tragic flaw, and realization of his downfall.
Rebellious, guilt-ridden, intelligent, and outspoken describes John Proctor. He is the main character in the drama: The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Over two-hundred innocent people were convicted of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 when hysteria swept through the town, no one could believe their closest friends. John Proctor and others show the consequences of Abigail accusing everyone of witchcraft. John shows us that suffering harsh consequences is better than lying.
In The Crucible, John Proctor is put into several sticky situations as he is determined to clear his wife’s name and dispel this corruption and nonsense of the court. Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, is put into jail and is to be tried on the accusations by Abigail Williams that
John Proctor lived in Salem, Massachusetts. Salem had been struck with witchcraft rumors that were started by a manipulative teenage girl named Abigail. He knows that the girls were sporting, and blaming innocent people of supernatural crimes that cannot occur. John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth had been accused of witchery, as a form of revenge from Abigail. Abigail had strong feelings for John Proctor, and wanted to get rid of Elizabeth. In the end John Proctor tried to do the right thing by saving his wife from his own sins. Therefore his sins put the love of his life in a great risk of dying. Throughout The Crucible John Proctor was seen as a smart, argumental and brave man. However, the town did not see him as a puritan or a good