But he feared as a Reverend the he was not setting a proper example, with Abigail his niece and his daughter dancing in the woods. He feared if the truth got out that he would lose his status, his power, his strength. To escape this feeling, rather than face the truth, he lied and went along with the story that the girls were “possessed”. Now Reverend Parris feared embarrassment, awkward of ashamed feeling. But is does not compare to the fear of your life.
The Salem Witchcraft Trials had many effects on the town of Salem, Massachusetts. A lot of the effects were negative, destroying the community, government, even individuals. The Witch Trials affected the community of Salem in multiple ways. The witch trials created many tensions between several families in the town. The most acknowledgeable dispute from the play was between the Putnam’s and the Nurse’s.
This action, however, costs him his life and other’s lives. In “The Crucible”, John Proctor does not confess to witchcraft. They told him if he confessed, he could live happily with his wife, Elizabeth. He refuses to confess, but after he speaks with Elizabeth, he decides to confess. The judges start writing his confession papers and he changes his mind to keep his “good” name.
Between the years 1692 and 1693, more than 200 people were accused of witchcraft and 20 were executed from those false accusations in Salem alone. Although there were no actual witches, this was the result of all the chaos and paranoia. Arthur Miller, the author of The Crucible, wrote about the tragedy of Salem and how deception and extreme hysteria tore the town to pieces. Arthur Miller wrote about how Tituba confessed to have affiliations with the devil and from her confession, many others felt as it was imperative to confess and accuse other people to save their own life which led to many more inaccurate claims. In The Crucible, Miller uses motifs to demonstrate how the idea of witchcraft that spread throughout Salem caused panic and chaos among the townspeople.
He is unfavourable of his name getting defamed in the town even when he has seen the girls and Tituba attempting to perform witchcraft: Later in the novel when he suggests a stop on the witch hunts to Danforth, he is afraid that if he reveals too much, he would himself get accused of being associated with the devil. Because he is respected solely for his strong belief in the religion he cannot afford to lose his reputation. John Proctor is a key character in the play whose reputation gets overshadowed by the extent of his internal conflicts. While he is a man of firm morals and beliefs, his extra-marital affair is the cause of the sin he has to carry upon himself. In addition to his internal conflict which is his guilt of adultery, the fact that he is forced to reveal his affair in order to prove his wife’s innocence, haunts him.
Abigail, also, leaves John because he chooses Elizabeth. Proctor has a mindset that he does not have anything left for him, but a name that has lied and has been blackened. The importance of reputation in the society of Salem was majorly important because it led John Proctor to believe his adultery and self-worth blackened his life. His affair was his first step into his own grave because of his unfaithfulness to Elizabeth. Then, his lies pushed him over the edge to make them believe there was no
John has the conscience of an honest man even though he has committed a severe sin, which he hides, adultery. Because of this his name is tainted, making the reader doubt the goodness in him. When Proctor reveals the truth in court, we are surprised because he has confessed knowing it will blacken his name, and he has done this in order to save his wife, Elizabeth Proctor. Because of this we are able to see that Proctor bears responsibility for what has occurred. However when he confesses, Abigail turns against him and accuses Proctor of being a witch.
In The Crucible, John Proctor is seen as a tragic hero. His wife Elizabeth was accused of witchcraft by the young girls which meant that she would be arrested and most likely hanged. John Proctor had make mistakes in the past such as cheating on his wife which led him to make the ultimate sacrifice for his family and his name. John Proctor confesses to being a witch as he knows it is the only way he can save his wife Elizabeth from being arrested and killed. Proctor is seen as a tragic hero because he decides to not sign his confession as it would
Quite some time after Hamlet discovered Claudius was his father 's killer. Some historians and literary experts would say Hamlet 's strong religious believes held him back from performing this sinful deed. Others say that Hamlet was a melancholic and therefore was too depressed to kill his uncle. Infamous psychologist, Sigmund Freud, felt Hamlet suffered from an oedipal complex and could not kill Claudius because he himself wished to be in Claudius ' royal position.
What he doesn 't know, is that by cheating with Abigail, he partly started the Salem witch madness; John makes Abigail very envious of his wife, and thus, she begins accusing others of dark sorcery and witchcraft. John, at first, is very reluctant to tell everyone the truth about why Abigail and other young girls are accusing his wife and other older women of being witches because he fears it will ruin his good name and reputation. However, after he realizes that the situation has truly gone out of control, he tries to confess his wrongdoing, but is only imprisoned and accused of witchcraft as well.