Is John Proctor Justified In The Crucible

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.

The only way John Proctor can save himself is by falsely confessing to being involved with witchcraft; however, he does not confess. This describes another example of situational irony. Proctor decides to tell the truth and not lie to himself because he now understands the meaning of a good reputation. As critic Richard Hayes says, “The dilemma of man, fallible, subject to pride, but forced to choose between the ‘negative good’ of truth and the morality, and the ‘positive good’ of human life under any dispensation.” Proctor would rather die than live with the town believing untrue statements about him. When Proctor is asked to explain why he decides to tell the truth he replies, “Because it is my name!...How may I live without

The play The Crucible by Arthur Miller is set in Salem during the infamous witch trials. Near the end of the play, the protagonist, John Proctor, is in detained on suspicion of witchcraft. During his imprisonment, John Proctor is given an ultimatum—confess to witchcraft, or be hanged. While he originally intends to confess the sin he has not committed, he becomes resolute against it because he cannot, in good conscience, lie, and therefore sacrifice his character. Furthermore, he cannot betray anyone he loves or help perpetuate the ideologies of fear and blame that persist in Salem. Even though it will cost him his life, Proctor refuses to make a written confession because he will not let the Salem official to use his testimony for their

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. 

The second moral dilemma John Proctor faces is to tell the truth and die as an honest man. He has the choice to either lie in order to live or die with his friends in an honourable way. Proctor realizes that if he choses to tell the truth he will no longer be the sinful man he thought he is, but would keep his name in good standing and be a good role model for his sons. “‘I have three children---how may I teach them to walk like men in the world, and I sold my friends?’” (IV.I). If John chooses to live he will be looked upon by his friends and family as a liar and an unmoral man. He will not be able to function in the Puritan society, so he comes to the conclusion to tell the truth and be put to death. He believes God will save him because he is doing the right thing by choosing to die and he will be remembered for his dignity. His wife Elizabeth watches the hanging and says, “‘He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!’” (IV.I). As Proctor is about to be hanged, sunlight shines throughout the town representing John made the right decision and he will be going to God. After all, John Proctor does give up his life, but he knows he saves his sons from walking around with a tainted name and keeps the names of his friends clean, not betraying them.

We see a profound shift in Proctor’s idea of himself as he faces his death, claiming: “for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor” (Miller 144). With his final decision to not confess to a false accusation, he has redeemed himself by preserving his highly revered honesty, reducing his intense internal guilt, and ultimately restoring his personal honor. Despite being given the opportunity to escape this accusation, Proctor’s honor code compels him to give up his life, thus preventing the accusations against other members of his community from gaining any credibility.

“Damn the village! I confess to god, and god has seen! It is enough,”(Act III,149) John proctor wanted to keep his pride and still confess to being a witch. . John proctor is trying to tell us that there is no need for everyone in salem to know about his confession as long as god seen him write it and and the court has seen him write it. John proctor also says “god does not need my name nailed upon the church! god sees my name; god know how black my sins are”

He takes great pride in his name and will not sign it over to the court. He is a strong character who will do anything it takes to get out of the predicament that he got himself in, but he refuses to give up his name. Proctor shouts at Danforth that the court "will not use me...I am John Proctor!...I have three children-how may I teach them to walk like men in the world, and I sold my friends?" (1231). Proctor finally figured out what his name means to him and now he is determined to do whatever it takes to keep it. Proctor wants to set a good example for his children and wants to leave the good family name for them. When Danforth questions Proctor about why he will not sign his name to his confession, Proctor retorts "because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life...I have given you my soul; leave me my name!" (1232). Proctor worked so long to create a good name for himself and his family, he believes that signing his name to the court will ruin his whole life-time achievement. Proctor makes a point in saying that he only gets one name in life, meaning that you only get one chance to prove your worthiness to God and the court system. Names are part of a person's identity; without them, people are lost. Proctor has great pride in his identity and the life that he has created for himself, so he refuses to willingly sign his name off to the

He ripped the confession because he knew it would blacken his and the others who did not confess names. “Proctor tear the paper, is weeping in furry but erect” (212, line 739). Proctor knew signing the confession was his very last chance at freedom. He did not believe he would be able to live with a bad name. He knew it would be hard to get land or grow crops and do a lot of other things. “Because it's my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! (211, line 726). Another reason it was honorable is because he was thinking about others. If he signed and it was hung on the church it would be like saying the others lied and died guilty. “They think to go like saints. I like not to spoil their names.” (210, line 637). Proctor did not think he was better than anyone that hung. “Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang!” (211, line

Respected man, John Proctor, would rather die than have his name plague him negatively. John Proctor was the husband of Elizabeth Proctor. She was accused of Witchcraft by Abigail Williams. During Act III, John fought Judge Danforth hard in court. After trying everything, Danforth would not release Elizabeth.

Proctor shows strong integrity when he has Mary Warren come to court with him and his other friends to have her tell the court that she, along with Betty Parris, and Abigail, were just pretending to be afflicted with witchcraft. “It were pretense, sir”(3.167) Mary says. Mary confessing was Proctor’s idea and was one of his main concerns going into court. Also, Proctor wanting Mary to say this shows that he wanted to be honest with everybody and that he was pushing for people to see the real side of Abigail. Along with Proctor having Mary confess in court, John also shows integrity when refusing to tell Judge Danforth of other people’s sins. Proctor utters, “I speak my own sins; I cannot judge another. I have no tongue for it”(4.653-55). This is Proctor saying that he is not willing to share other people’s sins, as it is none of his business, nor his responsibility to do so. Proctor saying that he has no room to talk shows that Proctor respects and honors his other friends and that he does not want to see them in the same position he is in right

In The Crucible, a drama by Arthur Miller set in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692, John Proctor evolves from a guilt-ridden husband, and though acceptance, and struggle he turn into a man with integrity. In the introduction of the crucible John Proctor was a man with hidden lies and guilt, and he brought it all on himself through his actions and misfortunes, and he took this out on others with anger and threats. His actions with one Abigail Williams have caused the town, his wife, and himself consequences, since Abigail started accusing out of vengeance and others tagged along, in order to fulfill past vengeance against neighbors. “I'll tell you what's walking Salem - vengeance is walking Salem. We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom and common vengeance write the lost (2.1283).” Since John felt immense guilt he showed it through anger and distress towards others, such as Mary

John Proctor, a character in the Crucible, is a father of 3 kids and a husband to Elizabeth Proctor. Proctor was a very loving and caring father and would do anything to make sure the town of Salem stayed out of trouble but, when “Witchcraft” took over the town everyone started pointing fingers at anyone they could lay their eyes on. Unfortunately John Proctor was one of the victims to get accused of witchcraft and had to be put in a position of choosing between death for something he didn't do or living for the truth. While some may believe that John Proctor does the wrong thing because he left his family behind and everything he had to die for something he didn’t do, I believe Proctor did the right thing and I would stand by him with the decision he made to not confess and be hung for something he did not do.

Imagine being just a regular person living in Salem and being accused of being a witch. Now choose to confess and live and ruin the family’s name or die knowing that the correct thing was done for friends and family. In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, this is what John Proctor had to go though, and John is just an innocent man that lives in Salem. He is accused of being a witch and during all of this he had to deal with crazy people, saving his family, and being questioned in court for being a