Not many people expect for the protagonist of a story to die in it, after all, they are important to the plot. Unlike other stories John Proctor, the protagonist and the voice of reason, in the drama, The Crucibles dies at the end. He played a crucial role from the beginning to the end. In the beginning of the story, John Proctor is indirectly involved in the witchcraft hysteria. Abigail, the antagonist and teenage leader of the girls, had drunk a charm to kill Elizabeth, Proctor’s wife. Her reason to commit such act is that she wants Proctor all for herself. As they had an affair in the past, but Proctor would not abandon his wife and children. If he had not had the affair with Abigail Williams, the witchcraft accusation chaos would …show more content…
The evidence Proctor gathers is the deposition of Mary Warren, the signatures of people from church confirming that Rebecca is a good person, and the disposition that Corey has against Thomas Corey. Even though after all this evidence the court doesn’t accept and continues to believe that the girls are telling the truth. Proctor desperate confesses his sin to the court, and this causes a commotion in the court. The court not able to believe the story Proctor has told calls to Elizabeth to confirm it is true. It does not go well as Elizabeth says that the statement is not true not knowing that Proctor has already confessed. Proctor ow angry and upset confesses to supposedly seeing the Devil and he is arrested and sentenced to hang.
Proctor now ready to hang, Abigail runs away as she sees she will not be able to get what she wants. Hale does not want this to happen so he tries to get Proctor to confess to witchcraft to save him from hanging and thinking that the others will do so. Proctor eventually confesses as they have brought Elizabeth to talk to him and he does it because he wants to be with his family. He signs the paper confessing to witchcraft but suddenly regrets. He feels as it is unfair from him to live as a sinner and for other to die because of an injustice. Proctor also does it because the
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 primary dramatic focus in the play The Crucible is the moral struggle of its protagonist, John Proctor. Certain characteristics of John Proctor's character and also the environment of the Puritanical Salem alleviated this problem for him. The main issues running through out the play are a series of dilemmas that John Proctor faces. The first and foremost of these is his guilt over his adulterous affair with Abigail Williams, the second his hesitation to testify against Abigail to bring out the truth and the third, his final decision to make the ultimate sacrifice.
The confession was too late. Proctor ended up being accused of witchcraft himself after his wife lied to the court to save his name from lechery.
The main accuser, Abigail Williams, had an ulterior motive to destroy Elizabeth Proctor. Beforehand, Abigail had an affair with Elizabeth's husband, John Proctor, and Abigail believed if she removed Elizabeth, she would have John to herself. Most of Abigail's allegations were based on false claims, believing the relationship between her and John Proctor to be true love.
Hale is trying to get multiple people, including Proctor, to confess so that they don't get hanged. Elizabeth is brought to Proctor to try to convince him to confess. After discussing for a while Proctor decides to confess.. He refuses to do a written confession because he doesn't want to give his name to the town of Salem. His name is all that he has left. Danforth wanted a written confession so he refused to take it. John Proctor was ordered to be
In Arthur Miller’s famous play, The Crucible, multiple characters grow and develop throughout the production. The people of Salem experience many hardships, as well as conflicts with the court and other villagers; however, John Proctor is the most interesting character to watch as he changes throughout this process. His character develops immensely as the play moves forward and the conflicts he comes in contact with are exciting to watch unfold.
Megan Schmidt October 14, 2013 Mrs. Johnson AP Language Character Analysis Abigail is one of the main characters of the story. And, by the end of the story, we know she is the one who causes all of this, just because she was in love with John Procter. While she and others are dancing in the woods with Titbua and the other girls, she gets out of control. Abigail drinks a charm to put a spell on Elizabeth Proctor.
His unwavering perseverance leads him to do anything to save his wife which results in him being tried and hanged. Proctor speaks his mind in opposition of the trials and against the girls which leads them to turn against him and accuse him of working with the devil. The most significant flaw of Proctor is his lust which guides him to infidelity and results in him having an affair with Abigail Williams. The affair leads Abigail Williams to turn upon Elizabeth Proctor out of jealousy after being fired from working at their house. This jealousy leads Abigail into accusing Elizabeth of witchcraft to have her be hanged which causes John Proctor to attempt at saving Elizabeth, leading to his own
Proctor knows deep inside that he doesn’t deserve to be placed in the same category as Rebecca Nurse and all others that were hanged. At the end of the play, Elizabeth and Rev. Hale convince John to give a fake confession in order to save himself from being hanged. At first, John doesn’t realize that to complete the false
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an inspiring play that was written to set an example for mass hysteria and to appeal freedom to the public. The Crucible is a play that is loosely based off of the time period of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 in Salem, MA. Throughout this historic play, the protagonist, John Proctor struggles with the belief that he is a good person. What are the qualities that a good person has and does John Proctor hold these qualities as a person? John Proctor has made mistakes throughout his life but he holds strong qualities such as being loyal, self-respectable, and also being honorable which all lead to good factors of a good person.
Proctor when speaking to Elizabeth says, “[He] cannot mount the gibbet like a saint…Nothing spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten long before” (Miller137). Elizabeth is talking to her husband about those that had confessed. Proctor tells her that he will not lie because those that have confessed have lied he is averse to lying. They followed what Reverend Hale had told them he told them to lie if they needed to.Reverend Hale is a foil character to John Proctor because Hale was encouraging those that were accused to lie that was the main reason why he went back he wanted to help prove there was no such thing as witches and he knew the people from village were innocent. Hale knew that because they thought that there were witches that some people from the town had gotten hanged. Hale also believed that the people had been innocently accused but he wanted to stop it because he knew that it was not true. However Proctor did not want to lie he was so honest that lying was never an option even if he needed to lie to save his own life. Proctor sounding angry and devastated says “Then who will judge me?...Let Rebecca go like a saint; for me it is fraud!”(Miller139). Proctor continues to talk and blame himself as lying, he is on the way of confessing and that is when he then turns out to crumble his testimony because he did not want to lie it was against his personal
Elizabeth is then called to the room but Elizabeth doesn’t say the truth to “protect” her husband but because of this Proctor is to put on jail and because Mary Warren accuses him of been with the devil. Hale is trying his best to not get Proctor accused but he lost his position and has no saying. A lot of people are in jail. Elizabeth agrees to talk to talk with Proctor so that he could confess while the talk she tells him that Giles is dead because he refused to answer yes or no to his indictment, he was pressed with stones but the only he said was “more weight” before they crushed him. They also talk about the baby. After wrestling with his conscience for a long time, Proctor agrees to confess and signs a written affidavit but he destroys the document rather then have it post it in church. He wishes only to keep his good name for the respectability of his children Dantforth refuses to accept his confession and orders that he be hanged. When Hale says to Elizabeth “women do something ” Elizabeth claims Proctor now has his goodness and nobody should take it away from
John Proctor is a farmer married to Elizabeth Proctor, who is trying to protect her husband. Proctor has had an affair with Salem’s minister's niece, Abigail Williams. Abigail had danced in the woods with her friends, which was a witch move in the village. Her uncle, Reverend Parris, who is disliked by many, is trying
Next, there is John Proctor, an honorable man of the colony of Salem, Massachusetts. Proctor becomes tied up with the literal and figurative witch hunt in Salem, his wife is being accused by his secret lover Abigail Williams. The only way to have his wife escape a hanging is to admit that had relations with Abigail to the court. His great pride and fear of public view forced him to keep his adultery from the court. However, Proctor becomes more concerned with his individual integrity than his public status. Proctor still wants to cleanse his name, but for religious and personal reasons. Proctor's refusal to supply a false confession is a true personal and religious stand. Confessing would dishonor his fellow prisoners, who are brave enough to hang at the gallows as statement of truth. More importantly, a false admission would also dishonor him, tainting not just his public standing, but also his soul and integrity. By refusing to forfeit his own integrity Proctor implicitly proclaims his conviction that such integrity will bring him to heaven. He is martyred, being redeemed for his earlier sins.
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