John Proctor Integrity In The Crucible

John Proctor is a good farmer with a reputation to fit but is always tormented by his one sin of having an affair with Abigail. Even after his wife’s sickness, he and Elizabeth had a cold relationship due to the distrust and paranoia of

John Proctor has a dark secret, He possesses a major flaw he has had an affair with Abigail Williams, and eventually he realizes what he has done to Elizabeth, He has committed adultery against his wife. Due to the fact that Proctor has committed adultery against Elizabeth, he becomes a tragic hero, and Abigail Williams shows that when she says “I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I come near” (Act I, lines 423-425). John broke his marriage vows, but even though he regrets he has become a tragic hero. It’s too late to regret he has sinned, he has ruined his marriage with Elizabeth and now she is not pleased with him. Due to the fact that he has cheated on Elizabeth, his outlook in life is negative, when He tells her “I have not moved from there to there without I think to please you” (Act II, lines 159-161). The affair also caused Elizabeth to distrust John, who for seven months was trying to get into her good graces and is tired of her suspicion. Because of John's inability to control his desire and resist temptation, his life is being turned upside down by the jealousy and need for revenge of Abigail, marking the beginning of his downfall and path to becoming a tragic hero. As a result, the need for revenge of Abigail marks the beginning of John downfall.

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

Since the times of the ancient Greeks, tragic heroes have been used to enhance the meaning of a play or literary work. Any character cannot be described as tragic hero. Several key characteristics are necessary for the tragic hero to possess in order to be characterized as such. He must be high-ranked or have a high standing in the community. He must have a weakness or a tragic flaw and be involved in a struggle. In the end, that struggle will lead to his downfall. Arthur Miller purposely incorporates these characteristics into John Proctor, one of the main figures in The Crucible. He masterfully portrays Proctor as a tragic hero even though he is a common man.

What does it take to be a tragic hero? John Proctor, a character in The Crucible, is a tragic hero because he died for what he believed in rather than have his name ruined in the town. The Crucible is a play by Arthur Miller based on the infamous Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts. The trials were based on innocent citizens being wrongfully accused of witchcraft. Those citizens were later hung for their alleged witchcraft.

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.

Throughout the play, Proctor struggles with his honor as he changes from viewing it as his reputation to believing it is based on his own private moral of truth. The isolated Puritan community in which Proctor lives forces him to try and achieve a pious and perfect lifestyle, which ultimately pressures him into lying about his affair with Abigail in order to maintain a good reputation. This view changes in the courtroom, when Proctor becomes extremely frustrated with the lies and deceit that Abigail is telling the judges, Proctor screams in anger, “I beg you sir, I beg you - see her what she is… She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me; I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a

The main issue in this play is Proctor’s determination to help his wife after her condemnation for witchcraft. In the court, he attempts to vindicate his wife from the false accusation by showing to the judges Mary Warren’s testimony to prove how Abigail had been deceiving everyone. The following passage demonstrates Proctor’s honesty through his desire to rescue his wife:

    Pride plays a major role in the life of John Proctor. As Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft, she gets taken by the marshalls. “She walks out the door, Herrick and Cheever behind her" (Miller 78). Proctor was mad and clueless of what to do, because he knew he could not say anything about the affair or it would soil his name and reputation. So John's pride kept him from revealing his sin, resulting him and his wife to be in jail. All because he does not have any type of courage to reveal his sin. As spoken by John Proctor, "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 worthy the dust on the feet of them that hanged, leave me my name" (Miller 143). He does not want his name to be blackened in the town, so he decided to take the path that ends his life. Hale gave a chance to everybody to confess to their sins in order to save their lives. Hale immediately went to Elizabeth and said, "It may well be God damns a liar less than he that

John Proctor is in pain. He believes his affair with Abigail has damaged him in the eyes of God. Proctor did succumb to sin and commit adultery; however he lacks the ability to forgive himself. Unsurprisingly, his relationship with Elizabeth remains broken throughout the play. He resents Elizabeth for not forgiving him, though neither can he. His own inability to forgive himself merely intensifies his reaction to Elizabeth’s lack of forgiveness.

A tragic hero is a noble man who commits a fatal flaw. The hero’s downfall is a result of their choices which leads to a punishment that exceeds the crime. “The difference between Proctor and Willy Loman is enormous; the former is the rather typical tragic hero who is defiant to the end, the latter is trapped in submission and is living a lie” (McGill 4). John Proctor is one of the main characters in The Crucible. he is married to Elizabeth Proctor and they live in Salem. In Arthur Miller’s famous play, The Crucible, John Proctor represents a classic tragic hero because he is a well respected man of noble stature, he is conflicted because of his fatal flaw, and his downfall is a result

Although John Proctor is a man of stature, he does suffer from a tragic flaw. His tragic flaw is sin. His sin is the affair he had with Abigail when she was working for him as a maid. It becomes evident in the first act of the play that when Abigail and John speak he committed adultery. Abigail says “I know you clutched my back behind your house”(22). This sin weighs very heavily on his conscience and causes problems between him and Elizabeth, his wife. At the beginning of Act 2 conversation between the two of them is very strained but eventually

When Elizabeth begins to show her suspicion towards John and Abigail’s relationship, John retorts pleading, ”Spare me! You forget nothing! ... I have not moved from there to there without I think to please you … I cannot speak but I am doubted every moment judged for lies”(54-55). Before committing adultery with Abigail, John was an extremely respected man and had much self- respect. Consequently, after the occurrence the sin began to hang over his head, causing him to lose his self-respect. He also began to be immersed in his own guilt, and struggles to get his self-respect back. When Elizabeth tries to make John believe that she is to blame for him cheating, she pleads, “You take my sins upon you, John”(137). John responds in agony, “No, I take my own, my own!”(137). John refuses to let Elizabeth take the blame for his mistake that he constantly agonizes over. He truly believes that he did a horrible sin and he is the only one to blame. After giving his life for his sin, Proctor is finally able to forgive himself and leave the earth as a good

This quote shows how Proctor regrets having an affair with Abigail and does not wish to continue it any longer. Since their encounter, John avoids Abigail as often as possible because he wants to prove to his wife that he truly feels sorry for what he did. He wants to prove that he has changed his ways and that he is a trustworthy man. John loves his wife very much and he tries to show her that the affair was nothing but a mistake. However, Elizabeth still doubts him. “Spare me! You forget nothin’ and forgive nothin’. Learn charity, woman. I have gone tiptoe in this house all seven month since she is gone. I have not moved from there to there without I think to please you, and still an everlasting funeral marches round your heart. I cannot speak but I am doubted, every moment judges for lies, as though I come into a court when I come into this house!” (Proctor,

In the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, John Proctor fits the classic Greek definition of a tragic hero.  Aristotle, one of the great Greek philosophers, teachers and writers, stated that one of the most important aspects of a tragedy was the tragic hero.  He defined a tragic hero as a noble person that goes from a state of fortune and happiness to a state of utter misery.  The character’s tragic flaw causes this change.  Aristotle stated that witnessing the downfall of the character triggered an emotional release, which left the audience feeling relieved because they have empathized with the character, but not upset because the downfall was the character’s