The Crucible: The Tragic Hero

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.

John Proctor faces many different forms of conflict, whether it be self to self or self to society. Facing the court, Proctor gives his words and mind to try and free the ones accused. His personality and internal conflicts are arguably more intense. To be damned or forgiven by his society. The only way out of persecution is to smear his name.

John Proctor was the best example of a tragic hero in the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. John Proctor had many qualities of being a tragic hero. He was a intelligent and well respected guy in the community of Salem, Massachusetts. Another quality was how he had many flaws but he redeems himself. At the end, John Proctor had a major downfall and a tragedy that led to his death.

John Proctor didn’t want his name to be the ruined because he felt that was all he had left. John Proctor was tragically killed for a sin he had not committed but was found a hero because people followed in his footsteps by not confessing to something they didn’t do. “A tragic hero is a character

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is set in Salem in a Puritan community, John Proctor is the tragic hero because he is loving, loyal, authoritative, but his tragic flaw is his temper. The most well known definition of a tragic hero comes from Aristotle who was a great philosopher . When describing a tragic hero, he states "The change in the hero's fortunes be not from misery to happiness, but on the contrary, from happiness to misery, and the cause of it must not lie in any depravity but in some great error on his part. "He also explains the four essential qualities that a tragic hero should have, which are appropriateness, goodness,consistency, and lifelike. These necessities help, classify the character of John Proctor in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible as the tragic hero.

As act III progresses Mary Warren decides to turn on Proctor saying, “John Proctor you are the Devil’s man” (Miller 121) and “I will not hang with you I love God…” (Miller 121)which then causes Proctor to lash out in rage against her lies. The court marshals arrest John and place him in jail, where Arthur Miller says they have to chain him because he throws fits of rage and he then sits like “a great bird”. (Miller 151) All of those events leads up to Proctors Tragic Flaw, which is pride. Proctors pride inevitably leads to his death because he won’t give up the good name to live out his life with his wife and children.

John Proctor's main flaw was his excessive pride which sealed his fate. I myself felt his death transformed Salem’s ways of thinking and increased their own knowledge. Proctor's life completely started going downhill when Abigail accused John’s loved ones who then were sent to jail, or executed. John Proctor was a man of goodness and pride which cleansed his soul after he suffered a tragic death, and became a symbol of purity and greatness for others to

Proctor is a well respected upperclassman and him sacrificing his life led to his family living a greater life. To the court with great emotion proctor states “ Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (143).

He also goes on and tries to explain to an unforgiving crowd that the witch hunts are a fake, and that it is all led by a lovesick girl. In The Crucible, John Proctor, the protagonist of the play, is put under intense guilt

The last instance of his heroic bravery is when he decides to be hanged instead of going along with the lies of witchcraft. He stood up for what he believed in and ultimately had to pay the price for it. That, is true bravery from John Proctor. Another notable aspect of John Proctor is his honesty. When confronting the court about

In the beginning of the play John struggles to find himself, he doesn’t get involved with the trials until his wife’s name is spoken about within the court, by no other than Abigail Williams, his ex-lover. Without John’s Involvement in the trials justice would not have been served, and all of those that were hung would have been hung without a reason, but Proctor settled for no less than the absolute truth. An example of this is when Proctor is when Proctor knows that the girls are lying and he is baffled as to why no one is charging them, or accusing them. “I’ll tell you what’s walkin in Salem-vengeance is walkin in Salem, but now the crazy little children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law.” (Act III).

He is not an ordinary man, but a man with outstanding quality and greatness about him. His own destruction is for a greater cause or principle.” There are many reasons why John Proctor was considered a tragic hero in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. He was a tragic hero because he had a tragic flaw like the rest of the tragic heros. Aristotle states a tragic hero is a noble birth.

These characters are usually very prideful, but are intelligent and learn something at the end of the story. The tragic hero of The Crucible is John Proctor, whose flaw is that he had committed adultery with Abigail Williams, due to the cold nature of his wife. The events that led to his fall first start when his wife is arrested for witchcraft. He is extremely angered by this unfair arrest and rips the warrant, screaming, “Off with you!” (72) as they try to take custody of her.

John Proctor’s deep loyalty to the town was unquestionable. He knew that if the village watched him die the witch trials would end because he was undoubtedly innocent; Proctor risked his life just like “a soldier risked his life in battle on behalf of a good end, the preservation of a community” (J.J. 352). In this sense, he could be compared to a brave soldier who fights for the preservation of their community even after they pass

The protagonist John Proctor is a protagonist who spoke his own mind. He respected himself and he denies hypocrisy. At the end of the play, John Proctor has a final speech about his acceptance of himself, he refused to sign a false confession because he remembers his affair with Abigail. He had the honor to speak up his mind and not been defeated by the witch trials. The speech that John Proctor gave at the end of the plays shows the nature dilemmas involved in the trials.