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Character development in the crucible
Characters and characterisation in the crucible
Character development in the crucible
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Is John Proctor the Tragic Hero of Salem Death, destruction, lies, Betrayal, lust, and tragic heroes are all things found in great novels and plays, and The Crucible fits all of these characteristics. People would like to disagree, saying that there was no tragic hero in Salem Village, but I am not one of those people. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible John Proctor, an innate leader moves from being a well thought of man in his village to being thought of, and hanged for, being the devil's follower. I am going to prove this in 3 paragraphs Hubris and Nemesis, Anagnorisis, and Hamartia and Catharsis. Hubris, excessive pride and disrespect for the natural order of things, usually causes Nemesis, a punishment that the protagonist cannot avoid, so it seems right to combine the two into a paragraph. It is easy to prove these two since Arthur Miller really makes these stand out in his book. The book describes him as being “even tempered and not easily led” (The Crucible 20). And, at the end of act three, John is thrown in jail. The fact that he is not easily led show how he doesn’t want to do what others tell him, hence a disrespect for the natural order of things. And …show more content…
Since a lot of people see it as him moving through the whole story knowing what is happening (he knows a lot more than most of the characters). There is a point, though, that a lot of people overlook. In act three, when asked about what he says about his compact with the devil, John Proctor says “I say-I say-God is dead!” (The Crucible 119) Most people overlook this line, not knowing what it actually means. John Proctor is a puritan and they believe that if evil like these trails was happening, god would come in and not let it happen. John is saying this because he realizes that since these trials are still happening and god hasn’t interfered, God won’t show up and this evil will
Corruption has always existed in our society since the beginning to present time due to conspiracies such as the witch trials and the communism era. The Crucible by Arthur Miller was written during the era of communism to mere the hysteria. The Crucible is about the Salem witch trials in Salem Massachusetts in 1692. It’s a corrupt witch trial in Salem that’s due to false accusations of witchcraft for personal gains. John Proctor is the protagonist in the story The Crucible who goes through the ultimate test by choosing his reputation over integrity. He also had an affair with a young girl named Abigail who is the antagonist and is the main reason the bloodshed is occurring in Salem. Initially, Proctor hesitates to deal with his sin, but as the play progresses, he begins to understand its effects; this ultimately leads him to find goodness in himself as he stands for the truth.
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.
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.
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.
John Proctor depicts a courageous individual with an image of a sincere and an honorable man, not only in minds of the Salem community, but also in his own. His death implies more than a “tragedy”, but rather a strong action that inspires and encourages citizens in Salem to follow his footstep for change. Proctor is frustrated at how the court for believing Abigail and not the innocents. He says, “My wife is innocent, except she knew a whore when she saw one! You are pulling Heaven down and raising up a whore!” (Act III). He is infuriated that the officials in the court believe the ridiculous pretenses and acting of the Salem girls, that everyone’s the belief in god seems to be deteriorating.
A tragic hero is usually a member of the upper class or royalty. However, Miller believes that a common man is just as capable of being a tragic hero. Fear is the underlying element of tragedies according to Miller. In The Crucible, there are many instances of fear. The witchcraft hysteria strikes fear into the heart of the Salem townspeople. Miller realizes this, and this is the main reason for the presence of Proctor as a hero. The Crucible is definitely a tragedy as stated in Miller’s definition of a tragedy because there is a tremendous amount of fear throughout the play. Using a common man as the hero is something that has never been done before. A common man has the exact same abilities to know fear. Therefore, Miller is easily able to convincingly show Proctor as a tragic hero.
Arthur Miller’s "The Crucible" illustrates a powerful drama based on the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. A very strict theocracy rules Salem; a place where the bible is law and anyone who does follow the rules to the letter, must have dealings with the devil. The accusations of witchcraft in Salem start off by a group of girls who were caught dancing in the woods. Dancing is forbidden and out of fear of being punished or even accused themselves of witchcraft, the girls begin to accuse others for having been seen with the devil. In an attempt to prove that they were lying John Proctor sacrifices his own life to protect others. (LEAD IN SENTENCE). John Proctor portrays the classic tragic hero, in where his tragic error and overcoming of evil, becomes the cause of his untimely death.
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.
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.
In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the madness of the Salem witch trials is explored in great detail. Arthur Miller was an American playwright, who was born in 1915. He grew up in a Jewish family in New York City. While attending the University of Michigan in the mid 1930’s, he began to characterize himself as a distinguished writer. His first plays were Honors at Dawn and No Villain. The Death of a Salesman, which he wrote in 1949, won him the Pulitzer Prize for literature.
Purist Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 suffered from a rapidly increasing phenomenon: witchcraft accusations and trials. The Crucible is a play that recounts the times of this incident. For the most part, it follows a man known as John Proctor. He is a sensible, honest, and hardworking man who made the mistake of succumbing to lust which sets off a chain of events that leads to the witch trials, and to his own demise. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible’s protagonist John Proctor proves to be a flawed human being who struggles to make sense of his past relationship with Abigail, his love for his wife, and his pride.
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.
...his sin of adultery, for it causes breaks in his bonds between his wife and Abigail. He grapples with authority, for Proctor is not one who listens to authority simply because it is the excepted thing to do. He also faces death because he chooses to be a noble man and denies all charges of witchcraft. Though John Proctor is not a perfect man, his beliefs and values are in the right place; he listens to his heart. When his head tells him to listen to the court because it is the law, and when Hale tells him to choose to live as an accused witch, Proctor does not listen because he knows that these acts are not in his best interest. He follows his soul, a lesson the whole world should learn to follow.
Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, is a statement to the 17th century witchcraft. The Crucible renders John Proctor as a puritan, a husband, and a highly respected man. His name is his prime possession. John Proctor is a farmer and a villager who is faced with intense dilemma. He also commits adultery, which becomes his tragic flaw. Therefore he is to make a decision to tell the truth and ruin his name or lie and save his most prized possession. By this John Proctor is portrayed as an honest, tenacious, and faithful man.