Everyone can relate to an archetype character in a movie, book, or television show. An archetype meaning to me is when a character can resemblance a certain topic. Example of common archetypes would the following a hero, caregiver, damsel in distressed, lover, villain, or tragic hero. In the play, The Crucible, we learned that some of the characters had common archetypes. This was a tragic play which means it has a tragic hero. Tragic play is similar to tragedy means, “drama that deals with sad or terrible themes, as opposed to comedy.”(SD,332) A tragic hero normally has the characteristics of a person of noble stature, not an ordinary person, someone who is good but not too good, causes his own destruction for a greater cause, and the death will be seen as a waste of human potential. The tragic hero in this play would be John Proctor because he has a high social status, is good but not too good, and the audience shows pity for him.
John Proctor has been illustrated to have a high social status in Salem, Massachusetts by owning land and having a well respected name. In the sixteen-hundreds owning land gave you high social rank. Before he entered the play the text stated, “Proctor was a farmer in his middle thirties.” (TC,1.28). Also he stated that, “I have hardly stepped off my farm this
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His character has a high social status by having a good reputable name and being a landowner. John is shown to be a good but not too good of a character by having an affair with Abigail Williams, not knowing the ten commandments, and not going to church often. Finally, the audience feels pity for him for saving others, but leaving his family to do so. John Proctor follows the basic archetype of a tragic hero. Every story has it’s own types of archetype. Everyone of us can relate to one. I am like the caregiver archetype by wanting to help people in need. What kind of archetype character would you follow the