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John Proctor Tragic Hero Analysis

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The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is categorized as a dramatic tragedy, and all tragedies, by definition, have a tragic hero. So who is that hero? In this story, it would be John Proctor. According to Aristotle there are five characteristics of a tragic hero, he must have a flaw or error of judgement, he must cause his own downfall, he must recognize that he caused his own downfall, he must have pride, and his fate must be greater than he deserved. In this play, John Proctor has all of these characteristics. The easiest trait to determine is Proctor 's downfall. The play ends with Proctors death so it’s easy to say he had a tragic fate, but was it greater than he deserved? In the play we learn two things that John has done wrong. He committed adultery and didn’t attend church often. Cheating on his wife is a very immoral thing to do, but it doesn’t warrant death. By modern standards it would just mean the end of the relationship. Not attending church wouldn’t even be an issue by modern standards. Of course the play took place during puritan times, but it was written in the 1900s, so the typical people who would have watched it wouldn’t have considered them sins punishable by death. John did not deserve to be accused as a witch and executed; he did not deserve his downfall. So what caused Proctor’s downfall? A tragic hero must have caused his own downfall and recognize his own fault. The only reason Proctor was accused of witchcraft was because he got involved in the,

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