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John Proctor Character Analysis

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Many could argue that John Proctor is not a tragic hero, but actually, he is. Proctor was a very respectable, well known man and he had the courage to admit his affair with Abigail in front of the whole courtroom and ruined his good name. He could have saved his wife and let everyone die but no, he decided to do the right thing and confess. He didn't care if he lived or died, he just wanted all of the killing and accusing to stop. Proctor is a tragic hero because of his tragic flaws of pride and anger, his choice to live or die, and how he didn’t deserve to die.
Proctor was a good man with a few tragic flaws about him. John cares way too much about his name and what people think of him. He is very prideful. Also, he gets angry very fast. He could even be seen as abusive at times, verbally and physically. One example of this is when he called Abby a whore in the …show more content…

He had the choice to tell the truth and die or lie and live. Reverend Hale was desperately trying to plead with Elizabeth to try and talk Proctor into lying so that he could live because he knew he wasn’t conspiring with the devil. After thinking about it, Proctor was going to lie and say that he had seen the devil so that he could go home with his family. He gave a confession to the court but they wanted him to sign his name so that they could post it for the whole town to see that he was a witch. He didn’t want people to see his name signed to his confession of witchcraft because his name is all he has and it is important to him. Proctor says: “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (Act 4, Line 910-916). His pride got in the way and he ripped up the confession. John made the noble choice of telling the truth and losing his

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