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John Proctor's Lack of Commitment to Humanity in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
No person can completely steer clear of the trials and tribulations of his or her society. He who does may be vulnerable to serious allegations. If a man is to work well in his surroundings, he must partake in all aspects of his society or he is leaving himself open to unfavorable charges. In Arthur Miller's, The Crucible, John Proctor's lack of involvement in the Salem witch trials ultimately leads to his execution.
John Proctor tries to avoid any involvement in the Salem witch trials. His reason for this attempt is motivated by his past fault of committing adultery with Abigail Williams. The guilt connected with his lechery makes Proctor hesitant to speak openly because he would condemn himself as an adulterer. Basically, then, in the first act he attempts to isolate himself from the primary proceedings, saying to Reverend Hale "I've heard you to be a sensible man, Mr. Hale. I hope you'll leave some of it in Salem" (Miller; 1106). Proctor tries to wash his hands of the entire affair, than to instead deal with his own personal problems. His wife Elizabeth constantly badgers him about his adulterous affair and he retorts with "Let you look sometimes for the goodness in me, and judge me not" (1117). Rather than interfering in the witch trials he is still trying to defend himself in the dangerous love triangle.
In Act I, Proctor attempts to retire to the private world of his farm and remain completely oblivious to the events arising in Salem. This refusal to become involved is brought to an end when his servant, Mary Warren, announces that she is an official of the court and that Elizabeth Proctor has been "somewhat mentioned"(1119) by the woman who with whom he had copulated. Proctor still wishes to dismiss the hearings, but his wife uses his guilt about infidelity to extract a covenant that he will expose Abigail as being an impostor. Proctor is being coerced by his wife to become involved, it is not his free and open decision. Indirect characterization can be surmised in the aforesaid situation that Elizabeth is very influential upon Proctors character. This demonstrates that "Proctor's sense of guilt is central to any understanding of him as a dramatic character" (Bloom; 26).
Before Proctor is forced to take the next step, Reverend Hale arrives and then, Herrick with a warrant for Elizabeth's arrest.
After Elizabeth, his wife, finds out about his affair with Abigail he tries his hardest to prevent anyone from finding out because he doesn’t want to go to prison and doesn’t want his good name ruined. Again, that isn’t the best thing to do but it proves that Proctor has immense pride in himself and what he has accomplished in his lifetime that he doesn’t want to be looked down on after years of being a role model to all the civilians of Salem. At the end of the play, the only way to save himself from hanging is by confessing to the act of witchcraft. He almost does it, but he says, “I am John Proctor! You will not use me! It is no part of salvation that you should use me!”(pg.538, lines 879-82) He doesn’t confess because can’t handle ruining his name anymore than it has been and because he is a man of truth.
Firstly, John Proctor is not seen to be a good man because in chapter one is affair with Abigail is exposed. “Give me a word, John. A soft word. (Her concentrated desire destroys his smile.) From this it can be seen that before they did have an affair but now it is over. The personal pronoun ‘me’ shows how she wants him all to herself and that the meeting is held in secret. The word ‘desire destroy’ in the stage directions is then used to contradict her feelings as Miller suggests how their affair is now over but Abigail doesn’t want it to be and that she still loves Proctor. From this quote it is then shown that John Proctor can’t be a good man if he committed adultery. However, John Proctor also speaks to Abigail to mention how their affair is mentioned and how their affair to him was at his moment of weakness when his wife, Elizabeth was ill. As it was a mistake Proctor mentions how Abigail should, “Wipe it out of mind.” This shows that he wants to forget it ever happened and that he also doesn’t want anybody to find out about this. From this it shows that John Proctor is not a good and as when his wife was ill and when he was at his weakest he committed a sin. If the people of Salem were to hear...
Proctor has many character traits that contribute to him being so difficult to figure out. His crime of lechery against his wife, and his willingness to save her, are both intermixed in a tangle of ethics. After committing adultery with Abigail, John clearly has a guilty conscious. When
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.
Despite these good qualities, John Proctor had many flaws as well. Lust was a constant struggle for Proctor in many forms. For instance, when Abigail was working for him and his wife, he lusted after her and committed adultery by having an affair. Afterwards, Proctor was extremely repentant and stopped seeing her. “Abby, you’ll put it out of mind. I’ll not be comin’ for you more” (Miller 21). This essentially lead to his demise because of the affair, Abigail became infatuated over Proctor to the point where she went into the woods with her friends and Tituba and practiced “witchcraft” to kill Proctor’s wife. “You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife!” (Miller18). When the girls were caught and the whole “witch” hysteria broke out, people were getting accused and executed, including Proctor, who wouldn’t confess to witchcraft and died because of it. If Proctor never lusted after Abigail and had an affair with her in the first place, accusations of “witchcraft” would have never happened and his death. Throughout the book unlike many other characters, Proctor never accepted the girl's story about witchcraft to be true. He on the other hand knew
I think Proctor is to be admired for the way in which he handles this
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 only thing John Proctor wants to be is an honorable man in the eyes of Puritan society. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible John Proctor repeatedly tries to do good for other people. John’s motivation motivation to retain his honor is seen throughout his actions. Since John Proctor is motivated by his honor, his decision to admit he committed adultery creates doubt in the guilt of the accused.
Parris and Danforth prioritize their reputations over John Proctor’s actual life. Hale does not care about his good name, but about the lives of the people in Salem and his guilt for partaking in the trials. Like Proctor, Parris, Hale, and Danforth are extremely flawed men. They all make unrighteous decisions that can be selfish. Unlike Proctor, though, these men place their own needs above the needs of the community. John Proctor has lived in Salem all his life and cares for the town and its citizens, whereas Reverend Hale, Reverend Parris, and Danforth are all outsiders to the town. They place themselves above the well-beings of the townspeople for the reason that they do not care if Salem is to be destroyed. Reverend Parris, Reverend Hale, and Deputy Governor Danforth’s yearn of John Proctor’s confession represents they only care for their own self-interests and not about what his confession could do for the town of
Proctor’s affair with Abigail Williams was the main cause of his death and downfall. “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart...You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!” (Act 1 p.24) The quote above lets us know that Abigail is still in love with Proctor and wants him to leave his wife and come to her but he refuses and says that what they did was a thing in the past. “Wipe it out of mind. We never touched. Abby.” (Act 1 p.23) As a result of Proctor wanting to end all relations with Abigail, who will do anything to be with him, a chain of events happen that lead to Proctor being accused of being a witch and eventually his death. “You’re the Devil’s man…He wake me every night his eyes were like coals and his fingers claw my nick, and I sign, I sign…” (Act 3 p. 118-119). Proctor’s adultery lead to him being accused of a witch but he could have prevented his death if it wasn’t for his pride. Pride killed Proctor at the end of the novel not his adultery. Proctor could have saved his life and taken care of his...
Moreover, he struggles with his moral standing on this issue because he is partly responsible for Abigail's vendetta against his wife. This guilt is best demonstrated when Proctor says at the end of the second act:
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.
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
...tension was picked up by Proctor sooner than most realized that Hale in fact did not believe what he was saying about the court. This aided proctor in doing what he knew was right. It was certainly not the main factor in Proctor’s quest for the defeat of the courts, but it undoubtedly contributed to his reasoning. Hale’s tensions also made Parris, Danforth, and the rest of the folks down at the old courthouse very nervous, which made them encourage the witch hunts even more, pressing the girls for more accusations.
John Proctor is a good man. He is a puritan, a husband, a citizen, and an all around valuable member of the community. All of this is represented by his name. The name of John Proctor could be considered his most prized possession. It is his most priceless asset. Proctor is very strong-willed and caring. He does not set out with any intentions of hurting anyone. He is a farmer and village commoner who is faced with incredible inner turmoil. He has committed adultery and had absolutely no intentions of joining in the witch trials. After his wife got involved and eventually was set free due to the fact that she was pregnant, he feels that he can't sit back and accept what is happening to the town. John Proctor is a good and noble man and because of this he believes that he can't be hanged and die a martyr when he has this sin blooming over him every waking moment.