Many characters within the play, “The Crucible”, have one motive for their actions: protect their reputation. Reverend Parris is extremely dedicated to keeping his good reputation in the townspeople’s eyes. The Reverend is already on the bad side of the town, so he has to work even harder to keep his name clean. Reverend Parris is very defensive towards John Proctor while he is accusing the Reverend of being very greedy. Parris gets very protective of how he runs church and his ways of life. By Parris being very protective makes it seem like he does not want any flaws or negative assumptions to be attached to his name. Reverend Parris gets very defensive when Abigail is in court. She is getting accused of being untruthful and deceitful. Parris jumps in to …show more content…
. . They will howl me out of Salem for such corruption in my house”(Miller 1241). Parris is the town’s pastor, therefore being associated with witchcraft would be the end of his reputation. Reverend Parris refuses to let this happen and does everything in his power to walk around the idea of witchcraft. John Proctor also has his moments of trying to protect his reputation, but eventually decides his own integrity is more important. John Proctor admits to having an affair, which ruins the towns view on him. He does not seem to care about the town’s view on him, because he did it to help is wife and clear his guilty conscience. He may not seem to care about how the town views him, however he is still very protective of his name. He admits to witchcraft when Reverend Hale asks him to. He then has to sign a contract of some sort, however the judges want to nail it to the church door. Proctor then gets very defensive, because he knows that lying is wrong: “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life!. . . I have given you my soul; leave me my name!”(Miller
After he loses the judge and Mary from his side, John shows how he tried to help in every way by expressing his anger for the injustice, “I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face and yours, [judge] Danforth! You know in all your black hearts that this be fraud…” showing a distinct character change in his character. This shows that Proctor changed his acts depicting himself as altruistic and one that seeks justice for the village. He makes it clear that he wants to end Abigail’s false accusations instead of trying not to get involved as seen in the beginning of the second
“I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (Miller 1357). This quote is said by John Proctor, a character in “The Crucible,” who is pleading to keep his name reputable when accused of witchcraft. Arthur Miller writes “The Crucible” to portray the Salem witch trials of 1692. The people of Salem have grievances in which they need a scapegoat.
Reverend Parris also gets revenge on John Proctor by lying. Reverend Parris is the newest minister at the church and John Proctor doesn’t like him. He would prefer to work in his fields or stay at home instead of going to Reverend Parris’ church. This upsets Reverend Parris because he wants to have a good name in the town. Reverend Parris knows that the girls practiced witchcraft in the forest.
We often seen someone is only care about himself, they don’t care about others even their family and they always have excuse of it. Reverend Parris is a kind of this person. “The Crucible” is about the Salem witch trials. Starting with several young girls claim to be afflicted by witchcraft and then accuse people in the town of witchcraft. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller shapes Parris’s character as a very selfish person, and everything he did was to keep his good reputation in the village and to get rid of anyone against him, which drives him mad.
In this he is showing that he wants to get paid more pounds and be supplied with more fire wood. Reverend Parris is a major character in “ The Crucible” and had a big impact in how the story played out. His character traits are some of the key reasons he made the choices he did. If Reverend Parris would of been a honest and caring man the story would have ended differently.
Parris is a very self-centered man and is very embedded in his place in the community. He is a preacher for the church of Salem and his niece and daughter have been “bewitched” or so he thinks. Parris believes what he does is just and that no one should oppose him. This is also why he refuses to let news about his niece and daughter get out, he doesn’t want people to overthrow his position. Parris is a static character due to his nature of unchanging personality wise throughout the crucible, he is always self-centered.
Parris is dynamic like John, but for the majority of the story he sacrifices his integrity like his niece Abigail. Not is it until the end of the story Reverend Parris realizes what he has done was wrong. " Go to him! He rushes out the door, as though to hold back his fate. Proctor!
The Reverend made sure to point out that he is a “Harvard graduate,” which is rare because education was not as common in the 1600s as it is it today’s time. Parris also said that, “[w]e can not leap to witchcraft. They will howl me out of Salem for such corruption in my house” (14) which proves that he cares more about his standing with the public and that he is egotistical because he is only worried about this than the health of his own
Is John Proctor a good man? From the very beginning of The Crucible, he has shown himself to be a charismatic and powerful man who is not afraid to state what is on his mind. These traits would make him out to be a righteous man to question the motives of those who accuse others of witchcraft. But his affair with the young Abigail Williams taints him because of the facts that he is hypocritical over the same sin he committed. However, in the end, John Proctor proves to be a good man with pure intentions...
In The Crucible, the protagonist John Proctor was. In the town of Salem, in 1692, a group of young ladies by the names of Betty Williams, Abigail Williams and Tituba were found dancing in the forest naked by Reverend Parris, Abigail’s’ uncle. Reverend Parris assumed that they were participating in witchcraft. This idea of witchcraft spread through the city of Salem and the citizens began accusing each other of being witches. This started a series of court cases known as the Salem Witch Trials.
In the mist of February 1692, the small Puritan village, Salem, was anything but upbeat with trepidation on the rise. As girls whom knew not of the consequences that laid behind their actions, they repeatedly shouted out the names of people whom displeased them. This resulted in turmoil and one of the vital characters came to light. John Proctor, a mere farmer, had built himself up to be a man of honor through his family and friends. Little did they know, Proctor had a secret life which is simply the beginning of his selfish demonstrations of his own morality.
In Act 1, we are introduced to some of the main characters in “The Crucible”, by Arthur Miller. In this process of learning the characters and their personalities, and another important piece which is their motivations. Reverend Parris, a minister in a town located near Salem, Massachusetts, though he is supposed to be a “man of God,” he consistently acts as if people are aiming to hurt him. He is shown to have paranoia and an ego larger than life. He doesn’t care about his daughter, Betty, who is lying in bed having come down with some strange illness that seems to be undiagnosable and incurable.
John Proctor is a good man despite anything others may say about him. He displays three very noble qualities throughout the witch trials which are bravery, honesty, and an overall goal to save lives even to the point where he sacrificed his. While many argue John is a bad man because he committed adultery they are entirely mistaken. Just because he had one bad sin gives no right to anybody to call him a bad person when clearly the good side of him is shown more than the bad. John Proctor is a good man who displays the characteristics of a hero and could be seen as one for giving his life for his friends.
In The Crucible, a drama by Arthur Miller, John Proctor demonstrates courage by speaking out for what he believes in while knowing his consequences, admitting his wrong doings with Abigail to save Elizabeth’s life, and choosing to be hanged over having his name posted on the church door because the second his signed confession is posted, his and his loved ones reputations will be ruined. In the beginning of the play all John Proctor cared about was his reputation. However, ultimately he sacrificed his reputation by telling the court he committed adultery. John telling the court he was guilty ruined his reputation, which made all hell break loose.
He considers his name to have more value than his life. In Act IV, on page 1352, Proctor says, “Spite only keeps me silent. It is hard to give a lie to Dogs.” He is saying that his pride keeps him from “confessing” to witchcraft and saving his life. On