John Proctor Character Analysis

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”.

When asked why he will not sign the confession, Proctor dramatically replies, “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (143, Act IV). John Proctor sees no good coming out of a false confession; even death would be preferable to it. He claims his name is more important than his life and even goes as far as to hold it in more favor than his soul. Proctor implies that his name is what gives him his humanity, “Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang!” and his sense of self, “Because I cannot have another in my life!” Furthermore, he attests that, without his name, he would not be able to be a proper 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?” (143, Act IV). Making a false confession would damage Proctor’s self-worth and integrity enough to make him an unfit father. Yet, as he refuses to betray himself, Proctor sees a glimmer of hope in his conscience, “I do see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. Not enough to weave a banner with, but white enough to keep it from such dogs.” (144, Act IV). Proctors sacrifice does more than benefit Salem, it relives his burden of guilt and preserves his identity. That “shred of goodness” in him is enough to give him the principles to stand up to the unjust officials of the

"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.

A tragic hero is a literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy. In the play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrays John Proctor, the protagonist, as a tragic hero who has a major flaw—lust for Abigail, his teenage house servant. For fear of being exiled in a town where reputation is highly upheld, Proctor initially tries to hide his crime of adultery, but this affair triggers a major series of events in Salem, where unproven accusations lead to internal struggle and eventually to catastrophe.

We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started”(Henry Ward Beecher). In 1692 Salem, Massachusetts Madness is consuming Salem, and everyone is accused of being with the devil. John Proctor’s affair with Abigail jump starts the witch hunts. In the Crucible Arthur Miller embodies Proctor as a tragic hero with many flaws but his fatal flaw was his pride which caused his demise. Throughout the play we witness Proctor’s transformation as a person from a sinful remorseless adulterer, repentant, and to an honorable man.

Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang!  How may I live without my name?  I have given you my soul; leave me my name!”  Proctor argues to Danforth to not make his confession public in order to maintain his trust which can never be replaced and force him to live with guilt for the rest of his miserable life.  On a deeper note, Proctor knew if he had confessed to witchcraft, his effort to destroy the town’s hypocrisy and kill the witch trials would have been for nothing because he would become a hypocrite himself.

When Proctor is about to be executed with the other “witches,” he refuses to write his name on paper and have it hung up on the church. “I have given you my soul; Leave me my name,” said Proctor as he did not want his children to have a bad reputation like he

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

A tragic hero is a character that has a tragic flaw that leads to there distruction. The tragic hero has the fallowing characteristics: honor,respect,curage and ambition. John Proctor is a Tragic hero becaus he show heroic qualitys.

A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own downfall. “That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog… “ (Achebe 208) This quote is from the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. This book follows the main character, Okonkwo, through his life when the english settlers come to his village.

John Proctor’s honor and humbleness kept him from confessing adultery, even when his wife was called up to court, he attempted to figure out another solution to the problem rather than confess. His attempt to bring Mary Warren into the court to support his wife’s innocence backfires as he is forced to admit to adultery. As Elizabeth is questioned if her “husband[is] a lecher” John proctor gets arrested for perjury (Miller 105). Even with positive intentions to help both himself and Elizabeth , John Proctor chooses an incorrect path and ends up causing more misfortune upon himself. After being jailed, John Proctor is given a choice from the court, to either confess and live, or be hanged. At first, he chooses life and gives a confession, however, the fatality of John Proctor's flaw goes into full effect as he rips up his signature after some thought. The idea of lying and having his name degraded as it hangs up on the church is not something that John Proctor can fathom. As Elizabeth is about to speak against John Proctor's actions, John pronounces “for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor” as he reflects on the pureness of his most recent action (Miller 133). Instead of dying as a liar and having his name dishonored, he died as a good man with flaws who preserved his pride and dignity thus finalizing himself as a tragic

John Proctor tore up his signed confession because he could not live in a world where his name was tarnished. He claims he can live with them taking his soul, but not his name, when it is the only thing he has left. Also, he did not believe he could show his children how to walk like men if he had blackened his name with lies.

John Proctor is a true, classic hero from a historical fiction novel based on the Salem Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts. While the Salem Witch Trials were a terrible and harsh time for nearly all of the population, John Proctor can be seen as the pinnacle of hope for all of the townspeople present in the book. He trudged through the trials with a fiery ball of passion to save his wife, Elizabeth, while also coming to truth with himself. John Proctor realizes what he had done wrong and spends the remainder of his life attempting to correct his mistakes, which is called hamartia and anagnorisis. Despite this, John Proctor is no pure man, committing to adultery and acting selfish when not thinking of his friends’ lives being wasted. Yet he had come to terms of forgiveness in himself and his wife in Act Four of “The Crucible.”

The townspeople believe John Proctor, a normal Puritan farmer, is a genuine man. Miller writes that, “he is . . . a sinner not only against the moral fashion of the time, but against his own vision of decent conduct,” (Miller). Although he secretly committed adultery with Abigail Williams, he believes he can redeem his respectful image. Further into the play, he is accused of witchcraft, which is either played into a false confession that saves their life, or remaining truthful but punished by hanging. At this point, he already confessed to lechery and turning from his wife, he agreed to falsely confess to practicing witchcraft if it saves Elizabeth and others, but he refuses to let the court take his signature. Before he rips the paper he exclaims, “how may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (Miller), this proves that Proctor’s concern for his reputation, which is already in shambles, is the only thing he has left. He confessed a lie, but when the church wanted to keep his statement, it showed his willingness to

Despite not being one to hold a high stature in town, John Proctor is a respected man in his town of Salem. He is loving, authoritative, and brave however his major flaw comes in through his lust for Abigail making him a tragic hero. Although he proves to be unfaithful to his wife he still a loving husband he proves so when he states, “It is well seasoned” in reference to the rabbit he had to add salt to which further exemplifies how lust is such a flaw. Unfortunately, when determining his fate, he continues to make several critical and irreversible mistakes which harm his reputation and life at home. Due to being afraid of being exiled in a town where reputation plays such a huge role in the townspeople's lives, Proctor initially tries to hide his crime of adultery. The fact that Proctor attempts to hide his actions portrays that he is not proud of them which is an honorable trait. He is regretful of his mistakes and does not wish for them to be displayed. Although, when it comes to his wife he considers ruining his reputation because he knows she is innocent and feels a sense of guilt that his wife would be executed because of his lust for Abigail. When he attempted to convince everyone that the girls were lying it showed a true sense of bravery because children were viewed as the