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The Crucible John Proctor Conflict Essay

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The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller, which takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, it is about a Puritan town during the well-known Salem Witch Trials. Miller wrote this play to mimic the main conflict, the red scare, which was going on in his time. John Proctor is a prominent character in the witch trials; he is a poor protagonist with traits of the common tragic hero: without any intention he ends up causing the whole town despair as his old mistress will destroy anything in her path just to have him back. John tries to fix the situation the town is in by uncovering the truth of the witch trials but ends up getting himself in trouble with the chaos. When the witch trials start, his pride and dignity with be tested, and he will go through changes and sacrifices to save himself and the people he cares about. John Proctor started as …show more content…

John says the court, “How may I live without my name?”(IV.729). John Proctor is conflicted with the choice of pride or life. When he says this to the court he shows how he cannot make a great decision so easily. He needs to choose to die or confess to witchcraft, he wants to keep his good name but also to, live. In the end he chooses his pride. The main conflict that made him struggle between choosing life or death is his relationship with Elizabeth. With confusion, Elizabeth says to John, “John you are not open with me. You saw her in a crowd now you-”(II.165). John lies to Elizabeth and this starts more distrust in John and Elizabeth’s relationship, which causes conflicts. John and Elizabeths relationship is already unstable because of his adultery, and many months have passed and they still let it way their relationship down. When Elizabeth says this to John, his guilt for cheating on her overwhelms him and he is sick of it. This motivates him to make changes in his

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