John Proctor Tragic Hero Essay

How far do you agree that John Proctor is a tragic hero? John Proctor, the main character in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible can be classified as a tragic hero. The term tragic hero was made by Aristotle who was a Greek philosopher that lived between 384BC and 322BC. He said that the main characteristics that a character must have to be a tragic hero is having a noble status, a flaw that will lead to their downfall when they make a mistake, the audience must be able to feel empathy towards the character, and finally the character must face a tragic death with a realization of what they’ve done wrong. John Proctor possesses most of the crucial characteristics, therefore he is a tragic hero. John Proctor has the first characteristic that is needed to be a tragic hero; having a noble status. Even though John Proctor isn’t very rich, and wasn’t born into a wealthy family, he is still a noble person. His economical status isn’t bad as he has his own fair share of land, he is able to provide for his family, and his social status is also good because he is respected in his
At the end of the play he shows that he pays for the mistakes that he made, with his own life. We feel the empathy and the tragedy of the situation, because it shows that even a good person like John Proctor, can have a downfall as big as this. He shows that he is a tragic hero because his death, starts to bring things back to order in Salem, and people start to realise how unbelievable it is that these most respected people from the town, have been accused of witchcraft and hung. Proctor shows his heroism when he takes responsibility for his mistakes, and stands up against the court, risking his name, and essentially his own life to protect the innocent people who were wrongly