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The crucible character development essay
The crucible character development essay
The crucible act 2 character development
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John Proctor, the main protagonist of The Crucible, is a man of great pride and honor, who does his best to uphold all the values of the church. Unfortunately for John Proctor, his upright nature causes one mistake to haunt him throughout the story, his lust for Abigail. Though even his wife was able to forgive him for his lapse in judgement, his pride never let him forgive himself (II, 177-180). In fact, Proctor’s guilt kept him from leaving his home for seven months after the incident since he feared that seeing Abigail might cause him to commit further wrongdoings. It especially didn’t help that he felt he had no way to repent for his actions, because the Puritan faith had no system that forgave sins. Instead, the best he can do, is use willpower to keep himself from making any further mistakes and tries to be as careful as possible. …show more content…
At the end of the story, Proctor is faced with the decision to either confess to his involvement with the devil and go free or deny the charges raised against him and hang(Act IV, 520-527). Confessing would allow him to live and still be able to see his wife, Elizabeth, and his unborn child, whom she was carrying. Unfortunately, this would also disgrace his name as well as the names of all those convicted along with him. He struggles with this choice, but ultimately chooses to deny the charges and hangs for it. This extreme action that caused him to lose so much, reflected his strong integrity and his desire to preserve his good name.. It is for all of the reasons that have been mentioned that John Proctor’s largest fear is tarnishing his own
Throughout the whole play, John Proctor placed himself as a “servant” of God only and maintained that position regardless of what happened. He represented the image of a person that corresponded for God in Earth, and at the same time he acted consciously and knew what was happening in Salem. In an attempt to disengage from God, his principles, conscience, and morality acted upon him and brought him back to God. Elizabeth and his friends also affected his conscience, as the only reason why he went to the court was to try to release them. John Proctor can be considered the savior of Salem, he can be considered Jesus in that story. His name was important as it was the main reason why he decided to die with dignity instead of live for a lie; but what is the symbolism behind his name? What is conscience and why does John Proctor struggle with his?
In the story, “The Crucible”, John Proctor is thought to be a sinful person because he does not know all of the commandments and sometimes plows on Sundays. The author does not reveal this to the readers directly but tells them what others have been saying about him. Readers can also learn that Proctor is quite prideful. His main goal was to save Elizabeth from hanging, but when Danforth gave him a deal that would save Elizabeth he did not take it. Proctor was too proud to take the deal. Also when Proctor confessed to seeing the devil, his pride got in the way from saving his life. He did not want his name to be slandered.
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.
There are many sides to John Proctor and they occur at different stages of the play, John is a complex character and is very well respected even though he has done wrong things. Arthur Miller was in the same situation as John Proctor in 1956-57 because he refused to give names of people he saw at communist meetings. There was the same trial system. If you confessed you would stay alive assuming you had turned from the communist meetings, however if you denied that you were seen at communist meeting you would have been hanged because there would be no evidence to show you weren’t there. You get the impression that the character of John Proctor was based on the real life character of Miller.
The tragedy in The Crucible most heavily lies to the extent of moral weaknesses of the characters. Many of the characters in the story are brought to their untimely demise due to one or more other characters exploiting their flaws. One of the main characters to have their weaknesses exploited is John Proctor. While John’s outward appearance would make one believe that he is without fault, it is what lies underneath this image of perfection that exposes his true vulnerabilities.
The Salem witch trials were a time period when any individual could be accused of witchcraft for numerous reasons. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller focuses on the deviation of the trials and how the town’s most religious and honest members of the community are tried with witchcraft. John Proctor, the town’s most honest man, is accused of being a witch and must decide if he should confess or not. Proctor’s confession will stop the town from rebelling and uphold the reputations of Deputy Governor Danforth and Reverend Parris. Hale also wishes for Proctor’s confession so he does not have to feel responsible if Proctor were to be hanged for his witchcraft accusations. The confession of Proctor would convince others in the town to confess to their
In the crucible there are many flaws that lead to tragedy, is John Proctor or Reverend Hale the tragic hero? Well I think that John proctor is the tragic hero because in the end of the story he had seemed to redeem himself and was able to forgive and move on with himself when he makes the mistakes that he made. When he decided to not sign the document but instead rip it to pieces, it helped his reputation because the people that were fighting for him to be free knew that he was making the right decision because they knew that he wasn’t lying and they wanted him to be true to himself and to the ones that had already been killed.
Imagine a man who seems to have all the blessings his society can offer: a loving wife and family, financial security, and the respect of his community. Then imagine that same man losing everything because of a personal flaw that he either cannot or will not control. In arthur Miller's play The Crucible, the reader is introduced to just such a man. John Proctor, a well-respected member member of Puritan Salem, knows his lust for the beautiful, but dangerous, Abigail Williams is sinful, but he has no idea how much misery his weakness will cause for himself, his family, and all of Salem. In this play, the reader witnesses Proctor’s downfall as a tragic hero as his personal flaw destroys his life, but his hardened wisdom saves his community and his soul.
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.
The character John Proctor does not qualify as a tragic hero because most of the qualities in his personality match how a tragic hero is defined yet the most important trait of the tragic hero is missing which means he is not a tragic hero.
The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is a tragic play set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 during the time of the witch trials. The play begins with Reverend Parris discovers a group of girls dancing in the forest. When they are being questioned about the what happened, one of the girls, Abigail Williams, a servant and former lover of a married man, scapegoats Tituba, a slave resident for the things they did in the forest. Then the girls start to give out the names of other to the judges, Danforth and Hathorne. At first, they only name the people in the lower class. But soon it gets to the middle class, such as the Proctor family. Elizabeth Proctor gets named by Abigail, because Abigail wants to marry John Proctor. John Proctor blames himself for
During the spring of 1692 the Puritans living in Salem, Massachusetts experienced the most tumultuous time of their lives when the Salem Witch Trials began. The trials brought out the best and the worst of all people living in the town. Those of power chose to exercise it, and those with none had to stand up for themselves. In the play The Crucible, this town is brought to life and examined on a very close level. Many of the townspeople are pulled into the trials and a few of them are brave enough to stand up to the court and even die for their beliefs. According to ___________, “The Devil is alive in Salem!”(Miller 71). One man, in particular, John Proctor, takes the role of a tragic hero in this play because he eventually learns to accept
In John Proctor’s sudden confession of committing adultery, Miller used strong ethos and pathos to help further his agenda. He used disinterest, a rhetorical ethos device, to show that he reluctantly confessed for the greater good. By casting away his reputation, he made a personal sacrifice to show that his revelation helped the people of Salem more than it helped him. Throughout the play, Proctor concealed his disloyalty to his wife from the public; however, he finally came to terms with his sin to save Elizabeth and other innocent people from the trials. John used a rhetorical tool called the reluctant conclusion during his confession, which is blatant by the uneasiness/hesitancy he displayed. John Proctor lost his credibility and appeared
In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, John Proctor, a proud and frustrated farmer of Salem, chooses to die rather than to give a false confession to witchcraft. Many might view this act as that of a selfless martyr; on the other hand, it can more readily be seen as the height of human stupidity in the face of vanity and pride.
John Proctor is both flawed and honorable. After having an affair with Abigail. His wife has been unable to forgive him for this, and their marriage is unhappy, John has the guilt from his past affair weighing down on his shoulders, he apologizes for the mistake but it is shown that the guilt is still there “I have not moved from there to there without I think to please you, and still an everlasting funeral marches round your heart. I cannot speak but I am doubted every moment judged for lies, as though I come into a court when I come into this house!” this shows that the guilt is crushing him that he has been trying to apologized for his wrong doings but hasn’t been forgiven he needs his wife to forget about the pass and move on he will do anything to show his wife he is devoted to her. John Proctor knows what he will do knowing that now his wife is charged with witchcraft he must go to the court and prove to them that this is all a hoax and this his wife is not involved in witchcraft and that Abigail is making this all up. John makes a ...