John Proctor's False Confession 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.

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible a town starts massacring townspeople because a group of girls are pretending to be possessed by witches.  John Proctor, a character in The Crucible, is a Non-conformist who stubbornly avoids following the crowd and is honest by not being able to lie to the court. John Proctor’s character may revealed through his refusal to sign his name on a false confession, his inability to believe in the witches in the town and his honesty when confessing to the affair with Abigail.

Who committed the greater evil? Hester Prynne or John Proctor? In The Crucible, John Proctor had a wife who was extremely ill. He committed adultery with the house servant, Abigail Williams, for that reason. Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter, was a beautiful woman living without her husband. The lonesome woman had an affair with Dimmesdale, the town’s reverend. Both John Proctor and Hester Prynne both went against the Puritan beliefs. However, John Proctor is guiltier of committing adultery compared to Hester Prynne and if John Proctor were to meet Hester Prynne, he would respect her.

John Proctor showed his good nature many times throughout the play. In the last act, John Proctor refused to confess to the lie of practicing witchcraft. He did not want to take part in the problem and lose his dignity by admitting a

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.

Proctor also realized that he held an influential position in Salem and that, by admitting to witchery, he would supply reason to believe that the entire trial was indeed valid.  Reverend Hail also realized this and up until the second Proctor is hung, he was insistent that Proctor confess.  By choosing death and denying involvement, Proctor resisted condemning the fellow town's people who had already been accused.   He says, "I speak my sins; I cannot judge another.  I have not the tongue for it." (Miller, IV 1255)   By doing so he hoped that the town would accept the truth, that the entire event was no more than a lie carried out by a group of adolescent

Months after the trial, John Proctor sat in a jail cell, struggling between survival and pride. He would be pardoned if he signed a confession of being a witch, yet his name would be soiled. Pressured from Danforth and Hathorne, Proctor succumbed and signed the confession, then immediately snatched it back up.

John Proctor was a truly honest man, as his personality continued to remain unwavering, even when confronted with the harshest situation. Honesty can be defined as the pursuit of vindicating the innocent and ending the Salem Witch Trials. Arthur Miller explores Proctor’s honesty and its consequences in his play The Crucible. Aggravated by his wife’s false condemnation for witchcraft, Proctor demonstrates his resolve to help her, which will cause the court to antagonize him. Additionally, his desire to stop Abigail’s rampage leads to his imprisonment for witchcraft. Guilty of lechery, Proctor embarks on his final path to redemption, which will lead him to his death. Ultimately, John Proctor’s honesty leads to his downfall.

We find out how Proctor first confesses when he has a conversation with his wife Elizabeth. Proctor is angry because he thinks that Elizabeth is accusing him of dishonesty and is suspicious of him still having an affair with Abigail, even after he confessed to her that he stopped seeing her. Proctor yells at his wife because she isn’t forgiving him of his crime of lechery and she keeps judging him. Proctor is furious and says “...like a Christian, I confessed. Confessed! Some dream I had must have mistaken you for God that day. But you’re not, you’re not, and let you remember it!” (Miller 163). Proctor’s confession affects Proctor’s life because him confessing to Elizabeth about his sin of lechery, led to Abigail being kicked out of the house.

Throughout The Crucible we learn many things about John Proctor. Despite learning about the sins he has committed with Abigail the reader’s tend to agree with his character and support him. John Proctor has committed very intense sins and is clearly not free of guilt which is why his decision to hang instead of falsely confess was noble.

Rebellious, guilt-ridden, intelligent, and outspoken describes John Proctor. He is the main character in the drama: The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Over two-hundred innocent people were convicted of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 when hysteria swept through the town, no one could believe their closest friends. John Proctor and others show the consequences of Abigail accusing everyone of witchcraft. John shows us that suffering harsh consequences is better than lying.

If he chooses falsely and publicly confesses to witchcraft he will damage his name even more so, even though he will be able to live and see his children. If he chooses not to confess, placing his moral integrity above the value of his own life, he will be put to death. This brings upon some conflict at the end of the story. “I have confessed myself! Is there no good penitence but it be public? God does not need my name nailed upon the church! God sees my name; God knows how black my sins are! It is enough!”(142) Although it may come off as selfish, Proctor speaks the truth when he says this. This part of the story brings out Proctor’s true colors. He cannot live on knowing that he has confessed to a crime he did not commit,and letting the townspeople believe he was involved with witchcraft. Danforth does not understand why he won’t allow his name simply to be tarnished in order to live, Proctor retaliates by saying, “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) John Proctor’s main fatal flaw was his excessive pride which ultimately sealed his fate. Although in the end it made him a better Christian, by staying true to his word and dying with his soul and name in

John Proctor was mildly persuasive in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. He used great examples of rhetorical devices in an attempt to save his name and his reputation. This was helpful for the situation we was in, but rhetorical devices can only do so much in the court of law.

In comparison to modern day terms john proctor was the “cool guy” of the town. He had

A wise philosopher named  Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “even today a crude sort of persecution is all that is required to create an honorable name for any sect, no matter how indifferent in itself.” People who are guilty of nothing spend their entire lives trying to uphold an honorable name, but depending on the circumstances they may have to sacrifice their life in order to do so.  In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, people in the town of Salem, Massachusetts are put through severe trials to see if they are guilty of practicing witchcraft. Many people are falsely accused, but decide to confess to something that they never did to save their own lives. By confessing, they are throwing away their name and reputation. John Proctor is among the many who are wrongfully accused. He must make a challenging decision whether to die honorably or to live with a slandered name that would affect his children’s future. John Proctor’s great dilemma changes throughout the course of the play because he faces having to appeal to Abigail, his wife, and the court all while attempting to uphold his respectable reputation.