How Does John Proctor Characterize In The Crucible

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

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an interpretation of the Salem witch trials of 1692 in Puritan Massachusetts in which religion, justice, individuality and dignity play a vital role. These factors define the characteristics of many of the most significant characters in the play. Some of them being John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, Reverend Hale, Danforth and many others. The Salem witch trials were a result of the lack of expression of individuality and the fact that no individual could expect justice from the majority culture as a result of the deterioration of human dignity in the Puritan society of Salem.

He overcomes these conflicts by deciding to testify against Abigail and confessing to the crime of lechery. It is at this moment that he realises that he must participate in the community and that his individual needs might have to be sacrificed for the good of all. Another motivation for Proctor could have been that he wanted to replace his wife's alleged guilt with his own and that he wanted to be redeemed of his sin.

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

p;    When Proctor was first faced with the decision of living with a lie or dying with the truth, he chose life.   He decided that a lie was a minute sin in comparison to voluntarily giving up the life with which God blessed him.   After signing his confession, he was notified that it would be hung above the church entrance for all to see.  Besides believing that publicity was unnecessary to a valid confession, Proctor did not want to blacken his name.   Because of committing adultery, he knew what it was like to live with a bad reputation and did not want his sons to have to live with a name marked by witchcraft.  Proctor crumbled up the paper in front of his accusers and chose death rather than advertise a lie. 

In The Crucible, many are tested with regards to their faith and put on trial for witchcraft. In this play, nineteen are hanged and one is pressed to death for the crime of being a witch, for that being John Proctor. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses McCarthyism to show how important mass hysteria is, mass hysteria involving Abigail, and the breaking of Mary Warren's will leads to mass hysteria.

In the play, Arthur Miller wrote called, The Crucible John Proctor says "Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (Miller 143). He had a very strong belief that if his name was blackened there is no reason to live. John Proctor also chose to die because he could not double cross his friends, the fact that he has three children, John could not raise his children to walk like men in the world if he himself was not a true man. Therefore, for the sake of his name, reputation, and his kids John's decision to die was a heroic one.

 The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is a play that takes place in the sixteen nineties during the famous but tragic witch trials. The entire community is in pandemonium yet certain characters are also fighting internal conflicts. Miller uses three characters that manifest this internal battle ever so clearly: Mary Warren whose whole world turns upside down, John Proctor who must weigh the importance of his family against his reputation and Reverend Hale who must decide whether to do his job, or do what he knows to be right. 

John Proctor, throughout the play, undergoes a personal dilemma. He earns our respect during the play by making some moral choices. Towards the end of the play he follows the courage of his convictions but ironically has to play the ultimate price.

Toward the end of act three we start to see John Proctor finally turn into an honorable man. For example, when Proctor tells Danforth, “A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud­ God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together!” (Act Three 1151­1157). This shows that Proctor is accepting his flaws and all the sins that he has committed, including adultery. This indicates that he is ready to confess and pay the price.

This is especially clear when he goes to any extent necessary to free Elizabeth. He knows that all of the people, not only his wife, would be exonerated if Danforth would accept that Abigail is not as innocent as she portrays herself to be and that the only way to truly discredit Abigail would also discredit himself; admit to their affair. This would mean that he reveals that he is not the good person that everyone believes him to be, ruining his reputation and endangering himself. Since the Ten Commandments state that adultery is a sin, he would be risking facing legal repercussions. Despite these consequences his belief that his wife deserves freedom and that the negative aspects of the witch trials have lasted for too long leads to him admitting these faults. He “cast away his good name” by admitting to being a “lecher” in order to save Elizabeth. Displaying that he thinks about other people before himself and attempts to become a better person by doing the right thing (Miller, 102). Additionally, he attempts to protect others from being accused of witchcraft using his own confession. After he realizes that Parris intends to use his confession to accuse the others of witchcraft and justify his actions. When asked to admit to who was on the side of the Devil, he refuses to name anyone else, instead stating that he acted alone. Although it would have simply been easier to accuse someone else, as the others had done, he chooses instead to protect everyone. Proctor continues this action by refusing to let his accusation be publicized by refusing to allow it to leave the jail. He understands that the confession will show that he “sold his friends” (Miller, 102). Rather than freeing himself by admitting to witchcraft, he refuses to “blacken” his friends on “the very day they hand for silence” (Miller, 132).

John Proctor represents the play's tragic hero who rather dies than lives with a lie that is against his morals.

After being in jail for much time, John Proctor finally gave his false confession of witchcraft, simply saying, “I did” when asked if he spoke with the devil. By doing this, he is saving himself from hanging, but he is going against his beliefs and morals in every way. Yet even after doing this, he was able to abstain from accusing his friends of the same crimes. The guilt of what Proctor did ate away at him until he couldn’t take it anymore and ripped up the document and said, “You have made your magic now, for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. Not enough to weave a banner with, but white enough to keep it from such dogs.” Finally, Proctor’s true self is revealed; a man who is willing to give up his own life for his beliefs. By ripping up the document, he is sentencing himself to an unavoidable hanging. John Proctor became a hero, not willing to give a false confession of himself and false accusations of his friends even to save his own life; he is

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an interpretation of the Salem witch trials of 1692 in Puritan Massachusetts in which religion, self- preservation and self-dignity play a vital role. The three factors I listed played a huge role in John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, Reverend Hale, Danforth and many other lives. Many other characters such as, Abigail Williams and her friends can be characterized by being greedy, bitter, and selfish. In the play, Miller reveals how people can go against their own morals, therefore they can protect themselves. In Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, he reveals to readers how fear escalated in Salem because of people's desire for personal gain.

John Proctor has to make a decision on whether he want’s to live or die, the reason he is making this decision is because he was being accused of writing in the devil’s book. His two choices are live and have his name on a piece of paper hanged on the door of the church and have his name damned or be hanged and save his children’s and wife’s last name. John chooses to save their names and his property from Parris who is known for taking other people’s land. The outcome of his sacrifice