John Proctor's Confession In The Crucible

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 saint; on the other hand, it can more easily be seen as the height of human stupidity in the face of pride.

John Proctor can be seen as an individual who had too much pride in the face of death. When Proctor is debating his confession he states, “Let Rebecca Nurse go like a saint; for me it is fraud” (Miller 1100). Rebecca Nurse chose to tell the truth because she knew in the end she would be accepted into Heaven. Rebecca would rather die than destroy God’s trust and name. Proctor remarks "God does not need my name nailed upon the church! God sees my name, God knows how black my sins are" (Miller 1103) Proctor believes that his name is all he has left. He doesn’t want to give up his name in the face of God. Proctor valued his pride more than honesty.

Bruce stayed a man for 64 years because he was too prideful to make the transition to a woman. Bruce stated in his latest interview of Vanity Fair “Bruce always had to tell a lie. He was always living that lie. Every day, he always had a secret from morning ’til night. Caitlyn doesn’t have any secrets”(Ermac 1). Bruce is saying he told a lie everyday because he didn’t feel like he would be accepted into society. Caitlyn told everyone that he is proud of what he is doing. In fact, she said “What I’m doing is going to do some good. We are going to change the world. We are going to make a difference in the world” (Ermac 4). In the end Bruce had mixed emotions from people around the world. Many people accepted him because they were. Caitlyn had pride in her transition because she has worked to hard for everything to quit