The Crucible John Proctor Essay
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller writes of his protagonist: “In [John] Proctor’s presence a fool felt his foolishness instantly- and a Proctor is always marked for calumny therefore” (144). Miller’s description of this character effectively describes the role men (and women) like John Proctor play in society .
For example, Miller purposely chose Proctor to have these certain traits because of his last name. A proctor is “a supervisor, especially, of an examination or dormitory in a school” (American Heritage Dictionary 1111). The proctor’s duty is to search for cheating or general misbehaviors and then report it to the proper authorities. In a sense, a proctor is like a watchdog on the lookout for evil. A proctor, and John Proctor by correlation, is often observant and judicious. Proctors have a “sharp and biting way with hypocrites” because of their “quiet confidence” that allows him to …show more content…
The definition of calumny is “a false statement maliciously made to injure another’s reputation” (American Heritage College Dictionary 207). Often, accusers blame others to avoid any blame on them (needs to be longer). For example, a proctor could catch a student cheating on an exam and yet somehow, the proctor’s reputation could end up more damaged than the student’s if the student were to defame the proctor. In The Crucible, John Proctor is an easy target for accusation because he is against nearly all authority in Salem Village: especially the fraudulent Reverend Samuel Parris. Abigail Williams, in particular, accuses him of witchcraft because they once had an affair. Proctor will not return Abigail’s advances anymore; this stokes her jealousy of Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth. Furthermore, Proctor knows the truth about what Abigail and her friends did in the woods, which gives Abigail motivation to shift blame in order to ruin Proctor’s reputation instead of
For example, Miller purposely chose Proctor to have these certain traits because of his last name. A proctor is “a supervisor, especially, of an examination or dormitory in a school” (American Heritage Dictionary 1111). The proctor’s duty is to search for cheating or general misbehaviors and then report it to the proper authorities. In a sense, a proctor is like a watchdog on the lookout for evil. A proctor, and John Proctor by correlation, is often observant and judicious. Proctors have a “sharp and biting way with hypocrites” because of their “quiet confidence” that allows him to …show more content…
The definition of calumny is “a false statement maliciously made to injure another’s reputation” (American Heritage College Dictionary 207). Often, accusers blame others to avoid any blame on them (needs to be longer). For example, a proctor could catch a student cheating on an exam and yet somehow, the proctor’s reputation could end up more damaged than the student’s if the student were to defame the proctor. In The Crucible, John Proctor is an easy target for accusation because he is against nearly all authority in Salem Village: especially the fraudulent Reverend Samuel Parris. Abigail Williams, in particular, accuses him of witchcraft because they once had an affair. Proctor will not return Abigail’s advances anymore; this stokes her jealousy of Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth. Furthermore, Proctor knows the truth about what Abigail and her friends did in the woods, which gives Abigail motivation to shift blame in order to ruin Proctor’s reputation instead of