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The Crucible – John Proctor the Tragic Hero

 

What is a tragic hero? The most well known definition of a tragic hero comes from the great philosopher, Aristotle. When depicting a tragic hero, Aristotle states "The change in the hero's fortunes be not from misery to happiness, but on the contrary, from happiness to misery, and the cause of it must not lie in any depravity but in some great error on his part." In addition, he explains the four essential qualities that a tragic hero should possess, which are goodness, appropriateness, lifelike, and consistency. All of these necessities help to classify the character of John Proctor in Arthur Miller's The Crucible as the tragic hero of the play. Not only does he unfortunately fall to desolation, but also his character captures the sympathy and pity from the audience or readers. Proctor's downfall in the play is initiated by a human flaw, which to a great extent qualifies him to be the tragic hero.

 

Although Aristotle's tragic hero would be a character in a high social or political standing, Arthur Miller portrays John Proctor as a common farmer that is honest and living a respectable life in a Puritan town with a wife and three children. However, as the play opens, the audience discovers that Proctor has a significant secret, which was his affair with a young girl named Abigail Williams. Abigail doesn't want to believe that it is over between her and John and tries to kill Elizabeth Proctor by engaging in witchcraft with a few other girls in the town. As the town uncovers the antics of the girls and are outraged, the girls start to cry out names of others they have supposedly seen with the Devil in order to save themselves. Therefore, the audience perceives that the affair between John and Abigail is the instigator of all the hysteria surrounding the witch trials, signifying the consequences of a small human error.

 

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. He bluntly tells her "...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..."(52). This illustrates John's perseverance in attempting to redeem himself for his sin and wants to make right the troubles his mistake brought upon him. 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.

 

On the other hand, John's sin of adultery isn't the greatest flaw that he possesses, which is, in actuality, his pride. John's honor and good name is what kept him from confessing to adultery, which would have most likely, halted the witch trials. Elizabeth even asked him to go into the court and tell them that Abigail is fraud, but his response was his refusal, "I know I cannot keep it. I say I will think on it!"(51), which is all due to his dignity. Nonetheless, when Elizabeth is arrested, John has to choose between his pride and his wife. He tries to compromise by bringing Mary Warren into the court to save his wife by confessing to lies and pretense concerning the accused witches. Ultimately, this fails when Mary Warren turns on him and he is forced to admit to being an adulterer, putting aside his dignity in order to rescue his wife. However, he too is arrested after Elizabeth is questioned about his confession by Danforth, who inquires "... Is your husband a lecher!"(105). She denies it in an attempt to protect John's name, causing his arrest for perjury and witchcraft instead. This proves that John is trying to do good, yet his misfortunes keep coming, causing the spectators to feel sorrow for him, which is another quality that aids John in becoming the tragic hero of the play.

 

As the play continues, John for a second time has to make a decision concerning his pride. The court presents him with an ultimatum with which he can plead guilty and live or be hanged with the others who didn't confess. After speaking with Elizabeth, John decides that he wants his life and surrenders to a confession. After he signs the confession, he also tears it up signing his own death warrant so to say, not wanting to live a lie. As Reverend Parris and Hale are about to object, John pronounces "...for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor..."(133), referring to his honesty. He would rather die for the greater good, which are the honest people in society. Elizabeth doesn't try to stop him either knowing that he needed to do this, tearfully saying to Hale "He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!"(134). He preserves his pride and dignity and declares the truth at the same time, dying as a man with flaws yet a good man, allowing the readers the ability to categorize him as a tragic hero.

 

In the introduction of the play, Christopher Bigsby conveys the idea of John Proctor being a tragic hero when he states "Before this could become a tragedy for the community it had to be a tragedy for an individual: "A difficulty. This hanging must be 'tragic'--i. e. must [be] result of an opportunity not grasped when it should have been, due to 'flaw.'" (xiii). When concerning the character of John Proctor, his missed opportunity was confessing before Elizabeth was arrested, therefore saving himself and his wife. John did not deserve his death for he was good person. He recognized his errors and flaws and made very strong attempts to correct them and overcome them. Because he didn't deserve his punishment, pathos is formed within the audience. This in turn generates the qualities in John Proctor that would make him a tragic hero, a good person with human flaws that triggered undeserved misfortunes.

 

Works Cited

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York: The Penguin Group, 1995.