The Role of John Proctor in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
Arthur Miller wrote the play 'The Crucible' to show the historical
parallel between the Salem witch trials of 1692 and the McCarthy
'witch' hunt of the late 1940' and 50's.
The character John Proctor seems to represent and show the viewpoint
of a real man, unaffected by hysteria; a difficult thing to portray
during the 1950's in the USA, due to the fear and hate of Communism
and the 'witch' hunt for communists.
John Proctor is the central character of the play. He a realistic
character, the audience can relate to him and sympathize with him. He
is a somewhat strong character and is described by Miller as "powerful
of body, even-tempered and not easily led", the last comment perhaps
being the most important. His character earns respect throughout the
play as the audience sees the moral arguments he has and internal
conflicts he has to deal with. John Proctor is a man with a guilty
conscience, which makes him indecisive until it is too late, audiences
can relate this to their own, maybe far less dramatic lives.
John Proctor has made a mistake; he has slept with his former servant
girl, teenage Abigail Williams. It is also shown in Act 1 that he
still lusts after her - when she asks if he looked up at her window
for her, he replies "I may have looked up", this shows his characters
weakness, but he remains strong willed. He does not give into what he
obviously thinks of as great temptation, again. This shows the
audience that he has recognized his mistake and is not repeating it.
John Proctor is an honest man, but has undermined himself with his one
act of dishonesty. ...
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... parallel, as he knew himself what height the communist hysteria had
reached. Like the witch hysteria in Salem, he knew that he would be
persecuted for writing about fear and conscience if he were to set the
play in contemporary America. Miller uses John Proctor to almost play
himself and to show what he would do if put in the position of being
on trial. He later proved his point by not accusing any other people
of being in communist parties when he really was put on trial, to get
himself off the hook, like so many other people did. John Proctor
plays the crucial role in 'The Crucible' of being the man that is on
the brink of giving in but stands strong, even though he knew that one
individual would not bring down the hysteria.
Works Cited:
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: A Screenplay. New York: Penguin Books, 1996.
John Proctor, the most important and successful character in The Crucible, surprisingly decided to break one of the most important commandments. During his normal working life as a farmer, John Proctor decided he was going to cheat on his wife. He had several affairs with Abigail Williams throughout the dramatic play. Proctor was asked by Hale to recite all Ten Commandments to confirm he was a true man of faith. Although he was wise and stubborn at different times, John was the leader and head spokesman for the community.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is set in Salem in a Puritan community. John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, Reverend Hale, Reverend Paris, and Abigail are the main characters. The book is about witchcraft or what the town thinks is witchcraft. John Proctor is the tragic hero because he is loving, loyal, authoritative, but his tragic flaw is his temper.
How does your reputation define you and how do people look at you because of your name? Characters in the story The Crucible, are highly concerned regarding their reputation and name. John Proctor, Giles Corey, and Governor Danforth are all important characters who care about their name in the town of Salem. Each character in the story shows how, through the witchcraft trials, their name and reputation will follow them and even determine their fate. In the The Crucible, John Proctor, Giles Corey, and Danforth prove that reputation can define oneself.
I think Proctor is to be admired for the way in which he handles this
Tragedy is interpreted in various ways. For example the wise Greek philosopher Aristotle defines “tragedy” as a story that contains a character that commits a terrible mistake in his life that leads to his pitiful death. On the other hand, Arthur Miller defines “tragedy” as a characteristic common to all human beings who are willing to give up their lives for the necessary and righteous causes, and for their dignities. A composite definition of a tragedy is a character in a story that recognizes his awful error committed, and is willing to give his life for the necessary cause that would leads to his inevitable death. In The Crucible, John Proctor’s dilemma is to either confess about his affair with Abigail or remain silent about this secret to keep his reputation. John Proctor does have a tragic death and is thus a tragic hero, but he fails to be an admirable character in The Crucible for committing adultery.
Greetings to all. I am Dillon Marshall, I’m here today presenting to you why John Proctor was an unfavorable and bad character in The Crucible. The story takes place in Salem Massachusetts in 1692. John Proctor a farmer who lived in Salem. Elizabeth Proctor’s husband. A hard, bitter tongued man, John a man who also hates hypocrisy. John Proctor also putting his marriage to the test having relations with Abigail Williams along with his wife creating a scandal. John Proctor wasn’t the man he proclaims to be.
“ I say- I say- God is dead!” Yells John Proctor as Danforth asks him if he will confess himself to hell. John Proctor lives in Salem, his wife has been accused of witchcraft by Abigail Williams who John Proctor had an affair with. A short while after Elizabeth is accused, John Proctor also gets accused by Mary Warren.
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.
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.
As Arthur Miller once wrote in The Crucible, “A man will not cast out his good name. You surely know that” (Miller 102). In this play, these words rang true and pure with one particular character, John Proctor. John Proctor was a good man who was revered by all, but had a dark secret: he had had an affair with his family’s maid, Abigail, even though he was married. These revelations about Proctor helped set the stage for the Salem Witch Trials that plague the townspeople where the play sets up. The Crucible becomes a play with motifs centralized around pride and internal conflicts bubbling over to affect the external environment. Throughout the play, John Proctor is a character whose good name and pride is threatened
In the book The Crucible John proctor was confessed to being involved in witchcraft after trying to save his beloved wife from being accused. Proctor committed adultery with their old house maid Abigail, who is to be one of the children that points their fingers and say a name of witchcraft. Abigail was in love with Mr. Proctor and wanted to get rid of his wife so she can swoop in and take over Mrs. Proctor’s position of being Mr. Proctor's wife. The best way for her to do it was to accuse her of witchcraft. But the plan got backfired with the Proctor’s new house servant Mary was being ganged on by the group of girls after confessing that the girls are pretending.
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 Puritans had many values that everyone must know and completely obey. One of those values is to know, and obey the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were one of the most important things for all Puritans to know and obey, because without them there would be no order. For a Puritan not to know his Commandments by heart was nearly unheard of seeing how the Commandments are the basic rules for them. Although almost all of the Puritans knew the Commandments there were a few who didn’t know them all by heart. John Proctor was one of these who didn’t know them all by heart. Its not just the fact that he didn’t know them all by heart that lets him fit into the category of not being a good Puritan because he lacks the Puritan characteristic of knowing and obeying the Ten Commandments. One way he shows that he doesn’t obey the Ten Commandments is the fact the he rarely attends church anymore. This is breaking one of the Ten Commandments, ‘Thou shall remember the Sabbath Day and keep it Holy’ this Commandment states that on every Sunday you must attend church. Yet John doesn’t, which isn’t following what he should do. Another example of not obeying the Commandments is by having an affair with Abigail, who was his housekeeper and who happened to be eleven at the time. In committing this act he directly disobeyed the Commandment ‘Thou shall not commit adultery’. This Commandment states that when one is married to someone they should only be active among themselves. The finally way John shows that he is not a good Puritan is by not knowing all the Commandments when asked to say them by Mr. Hale. John says them all but adultery. These three things made John Proctor ‘an unworthy Christian’ by Puritan standards.
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.
In the novel The Crucible, author Arthur Miller uses varying degrees of goodness and evil to control the flow of the story while showcasing a Puritan town's superstitions and fear of the devil to justify the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The central character in Salem is John Proctor, an outspoken, successful, and well-respected farmer who chooses to maintain a certain distance from the church. Religious at heart, this man who has sinned, openly condemns the witch trials while hiding a secret that could discredit the main accuser, Abigail Williams. John Proctor is a man consumed by guilt, who draws on his contempt for Reverend Parris, his love for his wife, and his need to take responsibility for his actions to gain the strength of character it takes to publicly confess his sins, denounce Abigail Williams, and save his soul.