John Proctor is a well respected farmer during the Salem Witch Trials. In The Crucible, Proctor faces many conflicts. An external conflict that Proctor faces is when he gets caught having an affair with Abigail Williams and he loses all of his wife’s trust. When Elizabeth found out about the affair between John and Abigail she kicked Abigail out and had lost all trust of Proctor. Proctor became more faithful to his wife Elizabeth and he wanted to earn her trust back, but she has a hard time because she thinks his feelings are still alive for Abigail. An internal conflict that Proctor faces is when he has to decide if he would admit to the court to committing adultery with Abigail to get Elizabeth out of jail. Although he knows that he wants his wife out of jail and he knows that it would make Abigail look bad, he knows that admitting it might get him in trouble as well. During the story Proctor is seen as a possible suspect of practicing witchcraft because of some of his actions. When Hale questioned him about his commandments he did not know all of them. On top of that, he does not go to church. His motivation for not going to church is because of the fact that he thinks the church is corrupt. He knows that Reverend Parris is more concerned about his name and his reputation than the people and the congregation. He also claims that Reverend Parris hardly ever preaches of god. Proctor states to Reverend Parris “ I have trouble enough without I come five mile to hear him
There are many conflicts between Rebecca Nurse, Reverend Parris, and the Putnams. Not all of the conflicts around Tituba and the girls in the woods. Goody Putnam doesn’t like Rebecca Nurse because all of her children and Reverend Parris is more worried about himself then his own children. Some of the characters in the Crucible aren’t focused on the real problems and just focused on the surface, not deep down where there are events unfolding which would take the blame elsewhere,
In The Crucible, John Proctor is considered the anti-hero. Honest and humble, Proctor is a good man, but one with a secret, fatal flaw. He has fallen for Abigail Williams leading to her jealousy of Elizabeth, Proctor’s wife. Once the trials begin, Proctor realizes that he can end Abigail’s accusations, but only if he confesses to his adultery; however, Proctor is a proud man who
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.
The second way John Proctor is an internally conflicted character is that he had an affair with Abigail. John Proctor, a married man with three sons, cheats on his wife with a young Abigail. He confesses to this by saying “God help me, I lusted and there is a promise in such sweat, but it is a whore’s vengeance.”(Act III, 49 ). John did not want to confess but absolutely had to, to expose Abigail’s real desires on why she is accusing Elizabeth of witchcraft. What John had confessed to was adultery and is punishable so he took a big risk. When Proctor said “Whores
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, hysteria breaks out in Salem when young girls begin pronouncing accusations of witchcraft. One of the accused, Elizabeth Proctor and her husband, John Proctor, live on a farm where he provides and cares for their family. When Elizabeth becomes sick John is unfaithful and has an affair with one of the accusers, Abigail Williams. Through the course of the story, John Proctor moves from denial and deflection of his actions and their consequences in order to maintain his public dignity, to public confession and condemnation for his actions in order to soothe his conscience and maintain his internal sense of integrity. This progression is illustrated by his interactions with his wife, their accusers and the court, who ultimately condemns them.
John Proctor didn’t show up to church as much as he should have in the past because of varying reasons such as his wife, Elizabeth Proctor becoming ill. This raised concern with the church and the court. Back in the time when the Salem Witch Trials were going on, Puritans went to church every time it was available to keep the devil out
John Proctor was a “farmer in his middle thirties… strong, even-tempered, and not easily led” (20). Proctor’s reputation was good and he was a well respected man around Salem. The play shows that Proctor’s past involved him having an affair with Abigail. Now in the present, Proctor is conflicted with the fear of being labeled as an adulterer for his past. Proctor’s fear weakens his morality in the court when he has to explain the situation to Judge Danforth. Proctor tells Danforth that he “has known her” (110) and that Abigail wishes to “dance with me (Proctor) on my wife's grave” (110). Although the fear of being labeled as an adulterer and being charged of lechery, Proctor believes that telling the truth is the right thing to do. Proctor realizes that the Salem witch trials have gone to far and are merely just attempts from Abigail to get Proctor all to herself. Proctor’s fear initially holds him back from telling the court the reason why Abigail is accusing everyone and acting strange. Later on the unveiling of his affair with Abigail results in the trials being questioned but it also fuels the deadly fate of
A recurring theme in The Crucible is the preservation of one's reputation. Many of the characters in The Crucible try to keep their reputations untainted, but a few, in particular, are keen on keeping their reputation honorable. John Proctor is one of the characters that cares deeply for his reputation within the town of Salem. In the beginning of the play, nobody besides John, Abby, and Elizabeth know about John and Abby’s affair so John is still respected throughout the town. When the town finds out about his sins, John knows that he will be labeled as an adulterer and will lose his good name. This vulnerability that John has with losing a good reputation is brought out during a scene where John screams out, “...How may I live without my
In The Crucible John Proctor is willing to die to keep his reputation. He is not willing to commit to sleeping with Abigail Williams. The only reason he finally fills everyone in on it is because he gets fed up with her and the lies she keeps building. John agrees to confess, to the witchcraft he has been accused of doing, only because he wants to live with his wife and kids. Elizabeth, his wife, happens to be pregnant with their fourth child. John never hesitates to verbally confess, but when they make him sign a piece of paper
In The Crucible, Abigail is responsible for sparking the conflict on the witch hunt in Salem because she confesses to Reverend Hale about dancing with the Devil. Events start to stir up when Abigail begins to undergo a lot of pressure, after Tituba is claimed to be the chosen one by Hale; Abigail says,”I danced with the Devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss his hand” (1.1.1053-1054.). Before that took place other events with other people such as Betty and Parris, has made it obvious that Abigail is the one igniting the others to do witchcraft. Abigail gives a hit to her uncle Parris, when she says,”Uncle we did dance; let you tell them I confessed it” (1.1.63-63.). Abigail also begins to threaten Betty and Mary Warren
Confidence is a great virtue to have. It helps a feel good about succeeding in life. In the Crucible,one characters that embraces confidence are John Proctor. Even though he is a tormented individual, he is still truthful to himself and others. John has shown to be a honest and straightforward.
Within “The Crucible,” the issues of Elizabeth and Proctor’s relationship are factors in the instigation of the plot of the story. Due to Proctor’s affair with Abigail, a wedge is driven between Proctor and his wife and will prove to be the initiator of the Salem Witch Trials, as it is in “The Crucible.” An effect of this affair is shown in the second scene when Elizabeth is first introduced. Proctor comes home from his day of work and the tension between the two is seen
There were many conflicts present in The Crucible but basing it off of pure interest, the most obvious conflict is between John Proctor and Abigail Williams. They've had problems since the story started. The first conflict was John Proctor's ignoring of Abigail's attempts at reconciling their relationship. For example, when Abigail said ¨Give me a word, John. A soft word.¨ and John replies with ¨No, no, Abby.
Arthur Miller has brought to life the tradidies of a tragic hero in his book The Crucible through his character John Proctor. John Proctor is a character in the book as well as a real person that was alive during the Salem witch trials in 1692. At the beginning of the text we see the faults in Proctor's character. Proctor had committed adultery on his wife Elizabeth, with 17 year old Abigail Williams, a maid in his household. We read Proctor trying to make right with his wife and the town, as a good image in a puritan society was important.
It might be said, The Crucible has the structure of a traditional disaster, with John Proctor as the play's appalling legend. Genuine, upright, and limit spoken, Proctor is a decent man, yet one with a mystery, lethal imperfection. His desire for Abigail Williams prompted their undertaking (which happens before the play starts), and made Abigail's envy of his better half, Elizabeth, which gets the whole witch mania under way. Once the trials start, Proctor understands that he can stop Abigail's frenzy through Salem however just on the off chance that he admits to his infidelity. Such an affirmation would demolish his great name, and Proctor is, most importantly, a glad man who places incredible accentuation on his notoriety.