John Proctor's Conflict With Society

No individual, however, deserves the suffering these accused witches are forced to experience. Their society turned its back on them; they are beaten, tortured, humiliated, excommunicated. These previously God-loving citizens were warped for straying from their religion’s ideals. At one point, Reverend Hale approaches Proctor and his wife begging the question, “. .

“It does, sir, it does; and it tells me that a minister may pray to God without he have golden candlesticks upon the altar..it hurt my prayer sir, it hurt my prayer.”(1277) John Proctor does not like having Reverend Parris as minister of salem. Proctor openly says that he does not like how Parris seems to only care about money and his own well being and reputation as seen with the golden candlesticks. However, this does not hide that fact that John Proctor regularly skips church and leads people to question his devoutness to the Puritan lifestyle. Proctor dislikes Parris because he is only self interested in that all he cares about is his money and his well being. Although others see this as well, they also believe that Proctor is not a devout puritan.

Hughes was one of the few kids who really wanted to see Jesus, but ended up lying to not keep his aunt and other adults waiting. The worse thing the pressure brought to Hughes was his loss of faith. He no longer could believe in Jesus, and he lost that faith while making other people happy that he had been “saved.” Orwell doesn't buy what society believes about beggars. Beggars have to go through a lot on the streets, to still be detested by society. Society doesn't care what beggars have to go through, they only care about who has a lot of money.

While the townsfolk’s self-interest is in prioritising the town’s future needs ahead of its safety, Parris’ selfishness is depicted through his greed for monetary compensation including “firewood” (34), being “the first minister ever” to “demand the deed to his house” (34). Notwithstanding his daughter’s “sickness”, Parris predominantly worries that his “ministry’s at stake” (20) as he “cannot have anyone” discover “such corruption” of witchcraft in his house (21, 22). To avoid this “disastrous charge”, Parris perpetuates Abigail’s “deceit” in accusing the innocent, transposing to the audience the destructive

Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (The Crucible P.211). It is apparent that John Proctor would give away anything to protect his name and his pride.

Boo Radley had been seen around town sometimes with his mother when he was a child. His father was a rude man who was highly religious. His wife kept secretive she would only leave to shop, or water the flowers. The reason that cause the suspicion on Boo was that he was at a party with his friends and vandalized property. His father promised the judge that Boo would never get in trouble again, and shut him in the house.

This event undermined everything that Brown had believed in, namely his religion, and fundamentally broke him, causing his gloom. This is shown later in the text when “On the Sabbath Day, when the congregation were singing a holy psalm, he [Brown] could not listen because an anthem of sin rushed loudly on his ear.” This shows that he could no longer listen to and be joyfully about his religion, as all he could think about was the sad fact that everyone there was a sinner. On that fateful night in the woods Brown experiences a gathering of evil that would change his perception of life and religion. This event, while it may have been a dream, was real enough to Brown that it would replace any joy in his life with gloom for the rest of his years. Knowing the truth that all of his neighbors and friends were satanic worshipers was certainly justification enough for his withdrawal and

John Proctor, a character from The Crucible is a Rebel/Misfit Archetype. A Rebel/Misfit is defined as a character that radically rejects the values of a society and the restrictions placed on him or her. I chose to do my research project on John because Proctor is my favorite character from The Crucible and throughout the whole book he was feeling guilty for his actions but wanted to do the right thing. Proctor can also fit into the Hero Archetype for sacrificing his life to save his wife. Back in the 1690s, not going to church every Sunday was a sin and could be punishable by death.

John Ball was a priest who often spent his Sunday’s out in cloisters or a graveyard preaching that peasants and serfs deserved equality. He often was jailed for expressing his radical views that opposed the views held by the Archbishop of Canterbury. A person like John Ball was a threat to the nobility and royalty in these times. The nobles and royalty did not want thoughts of equality and an explanation for why there should be equality planted into the heads of the serfs and peasants. The upper class wanted to keep their wealth and power, not share it with those who they viewed as unsuitable to live a lavish lifestyle.

Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on feet of them you have hanged! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave my name.”(Act 4) Proctors self-pride finally gets the better of him when he exclaims that his name is more important than his own life.