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John Proctor's moral character
John Proctor's moral character
Analyze john proctor's character
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The Crucible
John Proctor is the protagonist in The Crucible. He becomes the person who fights for what is right. As the story goes on, the secrets of Proctor are revealed, and it is discovered that he committed adultery with Abigail Williams. In prison, before he is hanged, Proctor asks, “Who will judge me? God in Heaven, what is John Proctor, what is John Proctor?” John Proctor was a confused soul who discovered what he truly believed, and did not disobey what he decided to believe.
As the play starts off, and John Proctor is introduced, it becomes know that he committed adultery with Abigail, the antagonist of the play. At this point, the play tells that John has gone against his own values by committing adultery, as well as the town’s values. He starts off seeming as though he is a very confused man and does not know what to think about his relationship with Abigail. “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.” (22). This is showing how he still likes her, but he feels he cannot commit adultery with her again.
Nearing the end of The Crucible John Proctors position on his relationship has changed a good deal. He has realized how evil Abigail really is, and he has rejected their relationship. But now he must decide if he will lie about being a witch or not, and is questioning his wife on what to do. “Would you give them such a lie? Say it. Would you ever give them this? You would not, if tongs of fire were singeing you you would not! It is evil. Good, then it is evil, and I do it!” (128). At this point Proctor is unsure as to his position on whether or not he will lie an say he is a witch. Proctor’s values are being questioned. Will he lie and save his life, or die and tell the truth? On this question hinges the values and beliefs of John Proctor.
As the play continues, John is still in prison, but is now signing the paper confessing he is a witch. Doing this will save his life, but it will be a lie. After he has signed this he realizes that this is horrible decision to make.
Before the play takes place, Abigail Williams and John Proctor had an affair while Abigail was working as a servant in their home. Eventually, John confessed and apologized to Elizabeth, pledging his faithfulness to her. Nonetheless, at the time the play takes place, Elizabeth still hasn’t fully forgiven him, and gives him a hard time about it. Abigail confessed the pretense of her accusations to him when they were alone, and now he has no way to prove that she’s lying to the court. But because he was alone with her again, Elizabeth becomes angry with him. She still doubts her husband because she feels that if it were any other girl he had to go testify against, he would not hesitate. But, because it’s Abigail, John feels he has to think harder on making a decision. He doesn’t want his name spoiled by a counter-testimony. John feels he is now justified in becoming angry because for the seven months since his confession, he has done nothing but try to please his wife, and she still approaches him with suspicion and accusatio...
When the play sets in to action, John has had a past affair with his servant Abigail Williams. His wife, Elizabeth Proctor is very forgiving of his sin, but John has his mind set that he will not confess to anyone else, in fear of ruining his good name, and reputation. The affair between John and Abigail caused the start of chaotic witchery and accusation. After the affair, Abigail became horribly jealous of Elizabeth Proctor. Proctor realizes there is only one way to stop all the witch hysteria in Salem, and that would be to confess his sin of adultery. Although he knows he should, he continues to be determined not to confess. Also in the beginning Reverend Paris is new to town, and John insist continually that he is only speaking of hell, and hardly ever of God, as Proctor goes on to say to Parris, "Can you speak one minute without we land in Hell again? I am sick of Hell!" (Miller 30). In the drama, Mary Warren places a needle in a poppet she gave to Elizabeth; John firmly demands that Mary Warren tell the courts that she really put the needle in the poppet that day. Proctor says to her, "You're coming to the court with me, Mary. You will tell it in the court." (Miller 80). Furthermore, at the end of the play Proctor is persistent by saying that no matter what anyone says to convince him differently, he would rather die an honest man and save his name. John Proctor took pride in his thoughts, feelings, values, and his name. It took persistency to make his intent clear to others.
John Proctor has a great amount of inner turmoil throughout The Crucible. Most of his conflict within himself stems from his affair with Abbigail. Throughout the work by Arthur Miller, John tends to judge people and does not examine himself for mistakes and faults. All of his guilt builds up and overwhelms him when his wife is accused of witchcraft. This is the final straw that makes him renounce Abbigail’s claims to the court. John was in the right place at the right time in many situations, but his inner conflicts clouded his judgement.
First, John Proctor willingly commits adultery with Abigail and Elizabeth is aware of this as well. Proctor sees Abigail as a child and Proctor says: "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" (Miller, 1999, p. 1099). John says, "We never touched, Abby," this means that he does not acknowledge the adultery. "I will cut off my hand before I'll ever reach for you again." which expresses that he will literally cut his hand off to keep his marriage with Elizabeth alive. He won't betray Elizabeth again by committing adultery with anyone. John is a very strong character who won't let the one wrong he has done go on to hurt him. He has put it behind him and John and Elizabeth are on better ground than they were before.. Therefore, John and Elizabeth try to forget this incident but that won't be able to happen.
John Proctor: “God in heaven, what is John Proctor, what is John Proctor”. John is a man of strong moral beliefs, concerned only for the safety of his family and personal welfare. He cares of nothing for the beliefs of any of the other people in the town and what his supervisor which is the Reverend, thinks either. After trying to avoid involvement in the witch trials he is later prosecuted for witchery and sentenced to hang. John trys to avoid any involvement in the Salem witch trials. His reason for doing so is to protect his image because he is afraid he will be committed of adultery with Abigail Williams. Following these events he trys to save everyone’s lives by admitting to this horrible offense adultery and ends up losing the trial along with his life. He did have a chance to live but instead of signing away his name and his soul to keep his life, he wanted to die honorably with his friends not without a name, a soul, and with guilt. “John Proctors decision to die is reasonable and believable”. Reverend Parris, the Salem minister and Proctors immediate supervisor, which says “ there is either obedience or the church will burn like hell is burning.” “The church in theocratic Salem is identical with the state and the community and will surely crumble if unquestioning obedience falters in the least.” Proctor, on the other hand, “has come to regard his self as a king of fraud,” as long as he remains obedient to an authority which he cannot respect.
This creates tension in the home between John and Elizabeth Proctor. “You were alone with her?” Elizabeth says, John responds “for a moment alone aye” “why then it is not what you told me”.(222) This angers John because he is floating in his guilt for being unfaithful to his wife. Its builds a strain on their marriage and keep the couple in a cold house. Proctor has been faith full to his religion, only attending church only once a month. These actions put more reason for people to suspect that john is participating in witchcraft. “I am no good man. Nothing's spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten long before.”(239) John is selfish by going with the lie saying, he participated in witchcraft than to confess and say he didn’t to be with his wife and his unborn child. John lived in a lie and he Salem government took his life from
In The Crucible, John Proctor, a farmer and village commoner, stood up for his principles. He had committed adultery and had absolutely no intentions of joining in the witch trials unless his pregnant wife were to also get involved. After his wife was accused of being a witch, he decides that he cannot accept the lie or the law any longer. Proctor is a good and noble man and because of this he believes at first he can't be hanged and die a martyr when he has this sin blooming over him every waking moment.
Across the course of the play, John Proctor became more honest with himself, his wife, and his community. At the beginning of the play, John is dishonest with himself and prideful. He once said “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
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.
The first struggle that John Proctor faces in The Crucible is his guilt over committing the sin of adultery. This moral problem continues throughout the play, and it is the primary moral predicament that Proctor faces in the play. He has broken his own moral code as was as the moral law in the Puritanical Salem in his affair with Abigail.
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.
John Proctor was a main character in The Crucible. As a main character, he has a special role in the story. He was a husband to Elizabeth Proctor with three children but at the same time, he had an affair with Abigail Williams - a girl of only 17 years old. John is known as a tragic hero in the story due to of a few flaws that determined his fate by the end of the story. John proctor is a tragic hero because of his tragic flaw, free choice, and his increased awareness of what was happening to him.
Throughout “The Crucible”, John Proctor is tormented by his past mistakes and haunted by his wrongdoings as the Salem Witch Trials begin. His final and most crucial decision comes when he must choose whether to lie and confess to witchcraft, saving his life, or to stick by the truth and die with his name untarnished. John Proctor made the right decision by choosing to be honest and die with his dignity.
John realizes that his good name was at risk of being destroyed due to his edgy marriage. After his wife is accused against, he sacrifices his good name himself to get his wife to be released. Elizabeth has the reputation to never tell a lie, and John knows this so he decides to confess to the court about his affair with Abigail while Elizabeth isn’t in the room because he thinks that she will tell the truth about the affair and not lie to keep his name. But when Elizabeth came in she lied to save his name, because she did not know what he did. Having this occur, shows that John And Elizabeth may be lying about the whole situation which makes them look
The most important scene in the play was act two, scene three, where John Proctor is able to talk with his wife, Elizabeth, one last time. He decides that he will "confess" to the crime of witchcraft, thereby avoiding being hung. He says to Elizabeth: