John Proctor Tragic Hero
When Abigail threatens to accuse yet another innocent soul of witchcraft in her plot to have him to herself, John Proctor breaks forth, shouting, “It [Abigail] is a whore!... I have made a bell of my honor! I have rung the doom of my good name—you will believe me, Mr. Danforth! My wife is innocent, except she knew a whore when she saw one!” (Miller 3.3). John Proctor, the protagonist of the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, has an affair with Abigail Williams, a seventeen-year-old orphan, which culminates in his wife’s discovery of it and subsequent casting out of Abigail from their household. Abigail, fueled by jealousy and lust, vows to have Elizabeth, John’s wife, killed so that she can have John to herself; she attempts to realize this
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Proctor, at the beginning of the play, is quite average in his life as a well-respected farmer in Salem. He is not exuberantly rich nor exceedingly poor, but he possesses the means by which he is to provide for his wife and children as do most people in Salem; however, what separates him from the rest of the villagers is the affair that he has with Abigail Williams (Miller 1.3). Through his poor discernment and erroneous judgement, Proctor engenders his downfall. Immediately after his affair, Proctor tries to right himself and put his sin out of his mind, indicating that Proctor does, indeed, possess a more positive and virtuous side in his persona. When he is approached by Abigail, alone together in a room, Proctor says to her, “Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind. We never touched, Abby” (Miller 1.3). Although he has inherent character flaws, Proctor tries to live honorably and to restore his integrity. He is so consumed by this sin that he is unable to reconcile with himself for months after it. His flaw was not his inability to stay true to his wife, Elizabeth, but rather his inability to forgive himself for his faults and to expose both himself and Abigail to Salem as sinners. This flaw allows Abigail to create a scheme to get Proctor to herself and is the primary reason that the witch trials had to occur, bringing with them hysteria and the suffering and persecution of the innocent, as well as the downfall of John Proctor and multiple other respected
Proctor, at the beginning of the play, is quite average in his life as a well-respected farmer in Salem. He is not exuberantly rich nor exceedingly poor, but he possesses the means by which he is to provide for his wife and children as do most people in Salem; however, what separates him from the rest of the villagers is the affair that he has with Abigail Williams (Miller 1.3). Through his poor discernment and erroneous judgement, Proctor engenders his downfall. Immediately after his affair, Proctor tries to right himself and put his sin out of his mind, indicating that Proctor does, indeed, possess a more positive and virtuous side in his persona. When he is approached by Abigail, alone together in a room, Proctor says to her, “Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind. We never touched, Abby” (Miller 1.3). Although he has inherent character flaws, Proctor tries to live honorably and to restore his integrity. He is so consumed by this sin that he is unable to reconcile with himself for months after it. His flaw was not his inability to stay true to his wife, Elizabeth, but rather his inability to forgive himself for his faults and to expose both himself and Abigail to Salem as sinners. This flaw allows Abigail to create a scheme to get Proctor to herself and is the primary reason that the witch trials had to occur, bringing with them hysteria and the suffering and persecution of the innocent, as well as the downfall of John Proctor and multiple other respected