ipl-logo

John Proctor Guilty Conscience The Crucible

618 Words3 Pages

Arguably, one of the most important characters of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” is protagonist John Proctor. In Salem’s community, he stands with a level head as a progressive, strong-willed and passionate man. However, Proctor plays a large role in the inaction of the witch hunt because of his affair with Abigail who is still in love with him when he no longer reciprocates her love. As an act of revenge, Abigail attempts to take away what Proctor loves, including Elizabeth who she frames for an attempted murder through witchcraft. He mimics that of a tragic hero archetype because he struggles with a guilty conscience of the affair with Abigail and beings to lose what loves. Due to Proctor’s guiltiness and desperate need to repent, he becomes aggressive and rash when he was once a steady and strong-willed man. …show more content…

His forgetfulness insinuates to Elizabeth her suspicion of Proctor’s sin against her and God to be true because it implies guilt. The stage direction indicates that Proctor realizes Elizabeth knows the truth as it states, “PROCTOR, as though a secret arrow had pained his heart”. In the scene where Proctor and Elizabeth are speaking to Hale, Proctor’s nervousness is made apparent with stuttering and stage directions and it is the first time he is caught off guard and thinking unintentionally

Open Document