Humble John Proctor Characteristics

John Proctor is a very friendly man. Everyone likes being his friend. He is open, kind, helpful, upright, blunt-spoken, and just a good, hard-working man. John has lots of faith in God but little in humans. He knows that mankind is good but he also knows that they are weak and imperfect. “Proctor: I’ve heard you to be a sensible man, Mr. Hale. I hope you’ll leave some of it in Salem”.

In act 2 we can see the effects that John and Abigail’s affair has on

In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, it is evident that John Proctor is the tragic hero. Concluding through evidence in the play, it is fairly simple to connect him with separate parts of the definition. He makes his share of mistakes, just as many human beings do. John Proctor is fundamentally a good man, with respectable

He dreads revealing his sin because guilt and regret already overwhelm him. Proctor believes a public display of his wrongdoing will only intensify the extent of his sin, thereby multiplying his guilt.

Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, communism was a major threat to the United States. Joseph McCarthy, a senator at the time, attempted to capitalize on this by accusing over two hundred men and women of sneaking communism into the United States government or for supporting the cause.* Among these two hundred men and women were several authors, including Arthur Miller. In explaining his reasoning for writing The Crucible, Miller said, ". . . my basic need was to respond to a phenomenon which, with only small exaggeration, one could say was paralyzing a whole generation and in an amazingly short time was drying up the habits of trust and toleration in public discourse."* After visiting Salem and researching the events of the Salem Witch Trials, Miller realized how the havoc of these events corresponded to the events in the 1940s and 1950s.*

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.

To begin with, Proctor was considered a strong person in the community, and he was respected for it. He was a handsome, hard-working, and

"How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave my name!" (Proctor) John Proctor a farmer, and the husband of Elizabeth. He had an affair with Abigail Williams while she worked as a servant in his house. John is a powerful man in both build and character. " John Proctor is a tormented individual. He believes his affair with Abigail irreparably damaged him in the eyes of god, his wife Elizabeth, and himself. True, Proctor did succumb to sin and commit adultery; however he lacks the capacity to forgive himself." (www.cliffsnotes.com) John Proctor goes from being loved and well respected to a sinner and later on becoming a tragic hero which was surrounded by strong feelings and beliefs.

     John Proctor’s last characteristic that makes him a tragic hero is that his struggles eventually end in his downfall. His courage to stand strong in his beliefs leads him to death at the gallows. His personal struggle with Elizabeth is resolved as he makes his decision to refuse to confess to

John Proctor chooses to die by telling the truth and dying an honest man. Even though he loses his life for his decision, he is able to forgive

Despite his being an insignificant and non-status-holding member of society, John Proctor is a much-respected man in Salem. However, in determining his fate, he continues to make several critical and irreversible mistakes that harm his reputation. For fear of being exiled in a town where reputation plays such a large role in their daily lives, Proctor initially tries to hide his crime of adultery, but his affair with Abigail triggers a major series of events in Salem, where simple, unproven accusations escalate to a far larger issue: “Abby—you mean to cry out still others?” “If I live, if I am not murdered, I surely will, until the last hypocrite is dead” (Miller 150). In the end, Proctor decides that for the sake of his desperate circumstances, it would be better to admit to his affair, but by the time he decides to reveal his crime, it is too late to reverse all past actions. He is convicted of witchcraft and doomed to be hanged, later, when given a chance to live, he caves in and confesses to seeing the Devil, only to go back even on this last lie, because he does not have the heart to be freed and saved by a lie.

John Proctor longs to protect his name. After being falsely accused of witchcraft, out of spite by Abigail Williams, Proctor could easily save himself at the mere price of his reputation by lying and admitting to committing the crime of witchcraft. John battles with himself between doing the honorable thing and hanging alongside his friends for a lie or saving himself from the gallows and living with the burden of knowing that he dishonored his fellow prisoners.Although Proctor does admit to witchcraft, he refuses to sign over his precious name on it. John explains,

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.

     It all started in a small town in Westmoreland county called West Overton. He was born in 1849 into a wealthy family not his parents but his grandfather had some money. His grandfather was Abraham Overholt, who was a wealthy rye whiskey distiller. As he was growing up his grandfather gave him a job as a bookkeeper. And that was the job that made him want to become a

If he had been faithful to his wife in the first place, this could have all been avoided. It is ironic that he is put to death because of his love and loyalty to his wife. When in actuality, it is his initial betrayal that causes the conflict in the first place. If he had not committed the initial crime of lechery, he would have had no problems focusing much-needed light on the crises. John Proctor's character is tragically flawed with inconsistency and the fragility of all humans.