The Impact of John Proctor’s Confessions
Vanity is a human instinct, we want to be seen as great people. This is the reason admitting your wrongdoings is difficult because it may change your appearance in the community. In the famous tragedy, The Crucible, by playwright Arthur Miller, there are many unfair trials, thus, false confessions play a large role. The Crucible is a play based on the Salem witch trials, where individuals are falsely accused of witchcraft and are brought in front of strict judges for corrupt trials. The result: innocent people being hanged to death, unless they confessed. The protagonist, John Proctor, decided not to confess, so he was hanged. However, John Proctor made three confessions with good intent, which were
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He is attempting to demonstrate that he committed an error and it was just a discussion. However, Elizabeth is irate. She is astounded that she did not know about Proctor being with Abigail up until this point and is hurt since Proctor did such to her in the first place. Adultery is an extremely profound wrongdoing, and it impacts the court heavily as a piece of Proctor’s case. Before John confessed about having an affair with Abigail, he was respected heavily in Salem. Now, Elizabeth is scrutinizing Proctor's morality in light of the lies that he has advised her. In this manner, Elizabeth after seeing Proctor, says to him “John, you are not open with me. You saw her with a crowd, you said.”(Miller 55). This quote demonstrates that John, throughout the play, has been changing the stories he has been telling Elizabeth. Elizabeth and the girls decide not to deem John’s stories accurate, as they believe he is a dishonest man that does not stick to his words. Elizabeth also feels as if John may be keeping information confidential from her and is not giving her enough attention as his wife, even though John was confessing to let Elizabeth know of his secret affair with …show more content…
Abigail wants to keep the adultery private, but John is trying to confess. While in court, Proctor cunningly admits to adultery to make Abigail resemble a whore. Danforth questions Proctor’s reasoning to call her a whore, but Proctor exclaims “I have known her sir, I have known her”(Miller 110). Proctor puts forth this statement to reassure Danforth about Abigail being a whore. He insists that he is telling the truth because he knows Abigail extremely well and imagines that it would be typical for her to commit adultery. Proctor also was attempting to prove that Abigail is not a good individual. However, this ends up backfiring on him as Abigail proves that John Proctor is lying. This is the principle confession that destroys Proctor's life, as it empowers Abigail to have additional sentencing power, which permits her to blame Proctor later on for witchcraft, and that paves the way to his demise. After Proctor makes the confession, many people in the court are startled because adultery is a severe crime. Danforth, being the judge, is the most appalled that Proctor perpetrated such a wrongdoing. He then tries clarifying Proctor’s confession of participating in an iniquity by asking once again, “You - you are a lecher?”(Miller 110). This question by Danforth demonstrates that Proctor is, truth be told, conflicting with the standards of Theocracy by
Proctor 's decision to tell the court about his affair ironically demonstrates his goodness. He also spoke up for the innocent girls that had their names branded. He willingly sacrifices his good name in order to protect his wife and others who are wrongly accused. Only through his public acknowledgment of the affair does Proctor regain his wife 's trust. At the end of the play, Proctor refuses to slander himself by allowing the court to make him make a false confession. The court told him to lie, and that if he lies that he would not be sent to the gallows. He did the right decision by telling the truth about his affair with Abigail. He honestly told the truth about the affair, and that he was not part of the witchcraft. His response further exemplifies Proctor 's integrity. But John was not guilty. He had nothing to do with witchcraft, he admitted to his own mistakes. Proctor knows that if he confesses that he will be damned himself, yet again, if he agrees to confess, he will also be free from the torment from the demon inside him and set others free too. This realization, along with Elizabeth 's forgiveness, enables Proctor to forgive himself and finally regain his good name and self-respect. As the court
After having an affair with John Proctor, she couldn’t accept not being without him. Abigail also admires “how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife” like Elizabeth be unaware of the affair she had with John Proctor(act1pg#). As a result to the affair, Proctor is trying to rebuild his marriage with his wife. Abigail continues to intervene in John Proctors marriage and attempts to manipulate Proctor so he would confess his love for her. Proctor admits his love for her, but does not continue his affection because Abigail seeps of vengeance for other individuals. He portrays her “as a lump of vanity” who thinks to dance on his “wife’s grave!”(act 3). For her own selfish desires, Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft and tries to intentionally sabotage her. She does this for the purpose of her own selfish and fictitious relationship that she has with Proctor. Abigail believes she has the capability to influence Proctor, but her egoistic actions to win his undefining love makes her appear as the criminal in the
John Proctor also lies throughout The Crucible. Although he has come clean to his wife, Elizabeth, about his love affair with Abigail, it is still a secret to the rest of the citizens of Salem. John is severely ashamed of his act of adultery, and has trouble admitting it to himself. When Elizabeth suggests early on,”I think you must tell him[Hale], John” (Miller 67), Proctor evades admitting the truth to Reverend Hale of his affair even though it could have been a valid excuse for the Proctor family’s lack of attendance at church and John’s inability to say the commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” In Act III, when John finally is forced to admit his clandestine affair with Abigail to the court, nobody believes him. Because John has waited so long to confess his affair, it just looks like a poor attempt to save him and Elizabeth from the indictments. If John had divulged the secret of his affair earlier on, people might scorn him for his sin, but he would have evaded the allegations of witchcraft.
John proctor knew he had a wife but he still decided to have an affair and now that he did that abigail wants elizabeth dead.here is a the first reason why i think john proctor is the blame “Abby i may think of you softly from time to time but i will cut off my hand before i'll reach for you again”(Miller 6).because of the tension there is a lot of hate between abigail williams and elizabeth proctor.this shows that it was john proctors fault he didn't have enough courage or bravery to tell abigail no.Here is my second reason why i think it was john proctors fault “Because it is my name! Because i cannot have another
She admits to dismissing Abigail as her servant but she refuses to admit to Proctor’s affair. However, she admits that their relationship was the strongest and that he fancied Abigail. Dantforth states, “… Is your husband a lecher!” (Miller 113). Elizabeth responds, “No sir” (Miller 113). The reader knows Elizabeth is lying as in Act one and two she confronted Proctor about his affair. She lies to protect his reputation, although she still has not forgiven him completely. Her lie is ironic because her husband has already confessed to the affair and using his affair to prove Abigail is motivated by vegence. However, when Elizabeth denies the affair she attempts to save his reputation but indeed damages his reputation by making it look like Proctor is lying to the
In contrast, John Proctor and Materia Piper maintain their goodness as Christians in the eyes of the church which consequently leads to their deaths. In The Crucible, John Proctor is a proud man who places great emphasis on his reputation. He is a member of the Puritan religion whose culture is grounded in values of Christian faith, hard work and self-denial; however, John Proctor is fallible. Despite his strong beliefs, values and integrity, he commits the sin of adultery. Near the end of the play, John Proctor confesses to the court of his adultery with Abigail as an attempt to name her as a fraud. Unfortunately, his efforts fail and he is placed in jail to be hung for witchcraft. John is given the opportunity to live if he signs a written confession of his guilt. He tries to convince himself to lie and confess so that he may continue to live with his wife and children. He knows that he is a sinner and he tries to use that to justify his confession but John decides at the last second that his name, integrity and reputation is more important than his life:
In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, Miller introduces a society that values its reputation. The honest, upright, and highly respected character, John Proctor, faces a difficult choice between retaining his good name and confessing his sin of lechery with Abigail Williams. Then he must decide between lying about his guilt in order to save his life and dying an honest man. His honesty, along with his innocence, shows the audience that the judicial system in Salem is corrupted and serves injustice. Proctor is willing to tell the truth even when it is clearly going to ruin his reputation and name in the village.
As part of human instinct, we do not want to be portrayed poorly or as a bad person. This is why confessing your issues is exceptionally difficult because of how it changes your appearance in the group encompassing you. In the famous tragedy, The Crucible, by playwright Arthur Miller, there are many unfair trials, and thus, false confessions play a significant role. The Crucible is a play based on the Salem witch trials, where people are falsely accused of witchcraft and are brought in front of powerful, strict judges. These trials often lead to innocent people being hanged to death, unless they confess. The protagonist, John Proctor, decides not to confess, so he is hanged. However, John Proctor did make three confessions out of good intent,
I believe John Proctor in the novel The Crucible by Arthur Miller is correct about Proctor indicating that “Vengeance is walking Salem”. Furthermore, the significance of The Crucible is believed to be a test and/or trial of their faith and trust of others. As well as, Abigail Williams threatening and brainwashing the girls to not speak of the truth. For example, “The girl, the Williams girl, Abigail Williams, sir. She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris’s house tonight, and without word nor warnin’ she falls to the floor. Like a struck beast, he says, and screamed a scream that a bull would weep to hear. And he goes to save her, and, stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out. And demandin’ of her how she come to be so stabbed,
Proctor and Abigail had an affair, Proctor is currently married to Elizabeth, which Abigail hates, Abigail hates Proctor’s wife she despises her. Abigail is an underage girl who is overly obsessed with Proctor and would do anything to have Elizabeth out of the picture so she can marry Proctor. Abigail has it in her mind that she and Proctor “touched” but Proctor swears up and down that nothing like that ever happened. He even states that he will never reach for her again, and that he would rather cut off his head then reach for her ever again. Abigail keeps calling Proctor’s wife “sickly”, which fires Proctor up, makes him yell at Abigail, and tells her to never bring Elizabeth up again.
In the beginning of the play, Proctor searches for the truth while everyone else makes empty accusations about the reasons for Betty’s illness, this indicates that he is a man that values truth over subversion. The townspeople are using the accusation of witchcraft as a cover for long entrenched ideas of revenge against each other, because many who accuse have something to gain from another person’s death. Proctor’s search for the truth over this archaic practice makes his denial of having an affair with Abigail seem all the more out of character. The great irony is that he expects others to be brutally honest when he can’t even be honest to himself. He doesn’t want to admit to his own faults because they are too shameful for him to bare, as he was not honest with his wife, Elizabeth, about Abigail. His affair with Abigail broke his code of honor. The affair causes more problems, because now Abigail wants to be with Proctor and get rid of Elizabeth. Abigail accuses Elizabeth of being a witch and she is sent to jail. Proctor testifies in court that Elizabeth is not a witch, and he eventually admits his infidelity in order to prove that Abigail is a whore. However, this backfires on him because when Elizabeth is brought in to confirm Proctor’s statement, she lies, saying that Proctor and Abigail did not have an affair. This completely demolishes Proctor and Elizabeth’s credibility, and they are both sent to jail. Time in jail is not kind to Proctor, as the judges want him to sign a confession so that others will too, knowing that he is a respectable presence in Salem. Proctor signing the confession could save all of their lives. By this point, Proctor accepts that he had an affair, but he still doesn’t forgive himself for it, which would mean confessing to his sins. He asks Elizabeth for forgiveness because he can’t forgive himself, and Elizabeth responds, “Do what you will. But let none be your
In humanity, people rarely are willing to be portrayed as an evil person. Confessing your problems is very dreadful because of how it changes your appearance in the community surrounding you. For instance, the famous tragedy, The Crucible, by playwright Arthur Miller, is a story about unfair trials and false accusations. The Crucible is a story mainly based on Salem witch trials, where false accusations lead to corrupt trials. John Proctor, the main character, eventually decides not to confess, which brings about his hanging. However, Proctor had previously made three confessions such as adultery to Elizabeth, confessing adultery to the court, and verbally confessing witchcraft to the judges, leading the community to think less of him and
There have been a lot of cases where characters in the Crucible have lied and most involve John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, and Abigail. At first we are to believe that John is a dishonest person but as the play goes on he becomes the most honest person in the play. Abigail tries to get John to start falling in love with her again and she drinks a potion that she believes will kill Elizabeth. She wants to kill Elizabeth so John comes back to her, but the truth comes out. John confesses to save his wife’s live and asks her wife to say the truth, because you can’t hide it for long. Saying the truth hurts but in most cases it makes you a hero. If a person gets caught lying, he won’t be trusted by
John has a highly reputation and tries to maintain it , in order for him to survive he has to confess that he has had contact with the devil, Danforth said to proctor “ Mr. Proctor, you have been notified have you not? I see light in the sky, mister; let you counsel with your wife, and may god help you turn your back on hell, ( Miller Act IV ) The deputy is allowing john to take a moment to speak and think about what his next move is either to confess or get hang. John has got his forgiveness and reconcile with Elizabeth and that makes his final decision that his name is more important than a lie. Abigail tries to hide her actions and bad mistak according to the play abigail is saying to Danforth “ I have been hurt, Mr. Danforth; i have seen my blood runnin’ out! I have been near to murdered every day because I done my duty poiniting out the Devil’s people-and this is my reward? To be mistrusted, denied,questioned like a-” ( Miller Act III) Danforth is questioning her about why she got kicked out the Proctor’s house. She denies everything after John has confessed he had an affair with
A wise philosopher named Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “even today a crude sort of persecution is all that is required to create an honorable name for any sect, no matter how indifferent in itself.” People who are guilty of nothing spend their entire lives trying to uphold an honorable name, but depending on the circumstances they may have to sacrifice their life in order to do so. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, people in the town of Salem, Massachusetts are put through severe trials to see if they are guilty of practicing witchcraft. Many people are falsely accused, but decide to confess to something that they never did to save their own lives. By confessing, they are throwing away their name and reputation. John Proctor is among the many who are wrongfully accused. He must make a challenging decision whether to die honorably or to live with a slandered name that would affect his children’s future. John Proctor’s great dilemma changes throughout the course of the play because he faces having to appeal to Abigail, his wife, and the court all while attempting to uphold his respectable reputation.