John Proctor Strengths

There are many tragic heroes portrayed in the world around us. Cinderella, Wall-E, and Simba, whom all overcame obstacles, vindicated themselves and aided their world to eventually be a finer place. Naturally, all their difficulties in the end led to their success, But, one man who presented those exact qualities, was not as fortuitous. This man presented himself to the court and fought for what was moral acceptable, subjected himself to prison for his mistakes and justified himself and the good people of Salem. John Proctor shows the admirable qualities and weaknesses of a tragic hero in the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller.

John Proctor had many strengths in The Crucible. Thus, he was deeply honest to his wife and the court. John confided

As telling the truth is a noble quality, it is also a flaw. In a Theocracy, adultery was illegal and a sin, but he professed himself to save Elizabeth. "For I thought of her softly, god help me, I lusted... But, it is a whores vengeance and you must see it" (Miller 110). Although he unveiled himself in court, it only got him in a bigger predicament. While it may be true that he loved Elizabeth, he had an affair with a 16-year-old girl named Abby. "ABIGAIL: 'give me a word john, a soft word.' PROCTOR: 'No, no Abby that’s done with'" (Miller 22)! Although the affair was completely out of lust, it caused a lot of mistrust between Elizabeth and John. Additionally, Abby then accused Elizabeth of murder which positioned her in jail. John then went to the court to expose all of Abby's lies. "If you do not free my wife tomorrow, I am set and bound to ruin you, Abby" (Miller 151). John did not want Elizabeth to rot in jail for the blunders that he had made. Naturally, many of his flaws led to his downfall, resulting in his death. For example, when john was asked to confess he would not sign his confession and allow them to parade it on the church. "God does not need my name nailed upon the church!... God knows how black my sins are" (Miller 142). John did not want his lies to be hung on the church wall because he constructed the church to what it had become, and to him that would have been

Moreover, the underlying message is having faith in in your morals. John fought for what he believed was righteous and not once let anyone express to him differently. John arranged himself for the dungeon and to be hanged, so he could possibly protect the virtuous people. He did not once let anyone in Salem break his exertions. Similarly, Arthur Miller linked The Crucible to the McCarthy trials by having the people of Salem be as disordered and desperate as Americans during the McCarthy trials. Americans were extremely frightened to express themselves or combat for justice, for their names would be labeled Communist. Salem had identical qualities, people were petrified to converse justice in fear of being hanged and being laid in jail. Additionally, John is connected to the title, as he had stood through a severe trial that he had to make life threatening decisions either to conserve one life, or to salvage the existence of many others. Furthermore, John was liquefied down to his purest self, which finally achieved him self-acceptance and forgiveness for his sins.

In retrospect, in The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor shows admirable qualities and weaknesses of a tragic hero. Proctor fought for his morals, imperiled himself to jail his mistakes, all to save the upright people