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In the play The Crucible written by Arthur Miller there is a character by the name of John Proctor (a sinner at first but then dies with dignity). Throughout the play he changes personality, how is as a person, and how he thinks about life. In this essay I will talk about how he changes from the beginning of the play to the end. John Proctor the hot-tempered, strong working farmer enters Arthur Miller’s play as a great sinner because he has to live with the fact of his past desire for the character Abigail Williams. “Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind. We never touched, Abby”(1099). Johns personality changed throughout the play very slowly. In the beginning his personality is filled with leadership and authority, always doing what the right thing to do is. He doesn’t agree with witchcraft to explain the past incidents with the children. John isn’t scared to speak his mind and express his opinions on the events. “You cannot command Mr. Parris. We vote by name in this society, not by ...
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows the true dynamics of his characters. We see the characters moral or immoral actions and how they’re all put into life changing situations. John Proctor experiences a drastic change when his wife Elizabeth is accused of being a witch. In the beginning of the play, he portrays a man who isn't affiliated with religion and becomes a man who redeems himself. Finally, he proves to be a man of actions, not just words.
John shows both of his character traits when he goes to court and claims Abigail as lying to the town when she accused Elizabeth of witchcraft. After the trials, everything returned back to normal, except Proctor did not want to go to church due to the greed of Reverend
John Proctor plays the leading role in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. He was persistent, honest, and full of integrity. He was simply, a man with pride. A wise woman once said, "Do what you feel in your heart to be right--for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't." (Eleanor Roosevelt). Proctor was the protagonist of the dramatic piece of literature.
Early on in the play, the reader comes to understand that John Proctor has had an affair with Abigail Williams while she was working in his home. Abigail believed that if she got rid of Elizabeth Proctor, then John Proctor would become her own. John Proctor had an affair with Abigail, but for him it was just lust, while Abigail believed it to be true love. She told John Proctor that she loved him, and once she destroys Elizabeth, they would be free to love one another. John is horrified at this, but can do nothing to convince Abigail that he is not in love with her. Because of Abigail's twisted plot to secure John for herself, Elizabeth is arrested. John Proctor has to wrestle with the decision of what to do. He knows that he has sinned; yet he does not want to hurt his beloved wife. This is partly why he is willing to die. He knows he has already sinned.
John Proctor is a man with many secrets and fatal flaws. His lust for Abigail Williams led to him having affair, and created Abby’s bitter envy toward his wife Elizabeth Proctor. “Abby I may think of you softly from time to time but I will cut off my hand before I ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind. We never touched Abby” (Miller 177) John Proctor denied that he had an affair with Abby. Then Abigail utter these words “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge
Miller uses John Proctor’s prideful nature to explain how it can ruin even a morally upright man’s life, as Proctor is portrayed as a good man throughout the play. Hale’s visit to the Proctors
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.
When a life is at stake, everyone changes, except for those that are truly evil. In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, each if the characters of Proctor, Hale, and Parris change from the beginning to the end of the play. Proctor becomes more honest; Hale becomes more skeptical of his mission; and Parris finds in himself some shred of humanity. These characters when through emotional and mental changes.
John Proctor is an honest, though harsh, man who is clearly the protagonist of The Crucible. Before the beginning of the play, John had an affair with Abigail Williams, a girl who worked in his household, which was abruptly ended when Elizabeth Proctor, John's wife, fired her. This event causes Abigail to desire revenge against Elizabeth while she still pines for John. Once the trials are well underway, Abigail accuses Elizabeth of being a witch, which leads to her arrest. John goes to the court in defense of his wife, where he reveals that he did indeed committed adultery with Abigail in an attempt to expose her as a fraud and a liar. Unfortunately, John's appeal falls on deaf ears and he is arrested as well. While his wife manages to get a temporary stay of execution, due to the fact that she is pregnant at the time of the trials, which in the end saves her by insuring her life until the chaos, hysteria, and persecution comes to an end, John is sentenced to death. The play ends with his hanging, but his death puts an end to the trials.
Fear, resulting in chaos, and overturned lives affected the personal decisions of John Proctor, thus creating inner conflicts, as well as desperation in the story. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, John Proctor's stand in a society where opinion drove fate created ignominy towards him and his beliefs. At first he hid his horrible sin inside, fearing the consequences. When he finally did, he was placed in a tangled labyrinth of feelings as to what his next action should be. Lastly, it's Proctor's defiance and integrity in his own self that proved him stronger than the entire community of Salem. Proctor's tremulous feelings and general unease of the situation built up to his defining point of confession. Theocracy came together to take coerce control Salem and it's actions. Proctor saw this and feared, for diabolism was a practice unheard of. Danforth states, "You must understand, sir, a person is either with the church or against it, there be no road between. We live no longer in the dusky afternoon and evil mixed itself with good and befuddled world. Now by God's grace the good folk and evil entirely separate"(63).
John Proctor, whether consciously or not, constantly determines the path to his fate through his actions, choices, and judgment. Though overall he is an honorable and principled man, he is flawed by one crucially harmful past deed to his reputation—his committing of adultery with seventeen-year-old Abigail Putnam. In a final attempt to save his wife from the accusation of witchcraft, he admits to his crime of lechery, by which he plans to unveil Abigail’s true motive for accusing his wife Elizabeth: “A man will not cast away his good name. You surely know that…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 promise in such sweat. But it is a whore’s vengeance, and you must see it, I set myself entirely in your hands” (Miller 113). This merely warrants him harshly disapproving views from his puritanical peers, and not even this act of utter honesty and sacrifice can reverse the witch trial hysteria that his affair with Abigail sparked. Both he and his wife Elizabeth are jailed, he is hanged, and Abigail maintains po...
In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, John Proctor changed and developed over the course of the play. At the start of the play Proctor is cheating on Elizabeth with Abigail Williams. He also was a man was not really involved in the problem of the play to being the tragic hero. By the end of the play he worries more about himself and not what everyone thinks of him or his reputation. There are many ways John proctor has changed and developed into a better person throughout the play.
John Proctor’s tragic flaw is that he is impulsive. Proctor regrets what he had done with Abigail Williams and cannot forgive himself of his sins. This tragic flaw follows John Proctor throughout the entire play. Abigail Williams is vastly jealousy to Goody Proctor because of her husband John. This is shown in act two when Abigail stabs herself with a needle to prove that Goody Proctor sent her spirit upon her and to place an accusation on Goody Proctor of witchery. John has lost his relationship with his wife because of his sin, he tries to gain forgiveness of his wife but she tells him, “John, it come to naught that I should forgive you, if you’ll not forgive yourself” (Act four). Elizabeth Proctor says this because she feels that John Proctor will not feel forgiven by his wife until he can forgive himself for lechery. This tragic flaw eventually leads John Proctor to confess and find his path to
John Proctor faces many decisions in response to his moral dilemma to try to save his life. One of the difficult decisions John makes is to reveal that he had an affair with Abigail Williams and thereby has committed adultery. If the local court convicts him of this crime, he faces being jailed. Also by admitting this crime, John reveals a weakness in his character. This flaw in his personality will make it harder for him to stand up in the community as an honorable and believable person. In trying to convince others that witchcraft does not exist John’s dishonesty with his wife will make him less convincing to the community.
The only thing John Proctor wants to be is an honorable man in the eyes of Puritan society. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible John Proctor repeatedly tries to do good for other people. John’s motivation motivation to retain his honor is seen throughout his actions. Since John Proctor is motivated by his honor, his decision to admit he committed adultery creates doubt in the guilt of the accused.