The Role Of John Proctor's Reputation In The Crucible

In the play The Crucible, the character John Proctor has a conflict with himself of maintaining his reputation and not ruining his own name. To begin, in act 1 John Proctor had a conversation with Abigail where she remembered him the affair but Proctor tried to maintain a position saying “I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach you again”(Miller 23) and when she kept talking about Proctor’s wife, he got upset and end with a “do you looking for whippin?”(Miller 24). This shows us that Proctor doesn’t want to remember this event that could ruin his reputation or relationship with his wife. Second, in Act 2 Elizabeth told Proctor to go testify against Abigail and prove that they were lying ,Proctor just answered with a “I’ll think on it”(Miller 53) and admitting

Finally in act 4, Proctor is asked by the court to confess of having contact with the devil and avoid being hanging and a possible rebellion against the court and they used Elizabeth to convince him but she only tell him that he has the last word, first Proctor decided that he wanted to confess and keep his life, but when he was ready to confess Rebecca, another innocent accused of witchcraft, appeared and said what was happening, said “Oh, John-God send his mercy on you!”(Miller 140) and when she is asked to confess “it is a lie, how may I damn myself?(Miller 140).This event provoked that John had second thoughts, and he confess and sign the deposition but he kept it arguing “I have three children-how may teach them to walk like a men in the world, and I sold my friends?”(Miller 143), and also explain that court already have his word and “I cannot have another life” and “leave me my name”(Miller 143), and he finally ends his fight for keeping his reputation and name clean and do what is right even though if that includes being