In Act III, Reverend John Hale witnesses Mary Warren confess to pretending in the court, as well as Abigail subtly not answering the question asked by Judge Danforth concerning her honesty. Shortly after, Abigail begins acting strangely and says the cause of her frightened behavior is Mary Warren’s spirit reaching out to her. In response, John Proctor reacts by first physically lashing out towards Abigail and then by admitting to having committed the sin of lechery with Abigail. After this accusation, Abigail denies any partaking in the crime and tries to flee. As a bystander, Reverend Hale realizes that the only reason a prideful man like John Proctor would tarnish his name is because he wanted to tell the truth.
In The Crucible John Proctor started the play as a hypocrite who was unwilling to admit that he was not perfect. Once Abigail accused Elizabeth of witchcraft, John was outraged because Abigail told John that her and her friends were dancing in the woods. Infuriated that Abigail would murder innocent people John tries to turn Danforth against Abigail. When Danforth does not see a legitimate reason to stop trusting Abigail John is forced to confess his affair with Abigail. But when Elizabeth is asked about John’s affair, Elizabeth acted like she did not know what Danforth was talking about.
Arthur Miller implemented heroism in the play, The Crucible, using the characters; John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, and Giles Corey. The first person to display heroism is John Proctor. John Proctor did not want to have his confession nailed on the church door and explained why, “I blacken all of them, when this is nailed to the church the very day they hang for silence.” (Miller 143). This shows that John is heroic because he chose to not let the church use his confession and let innocent people die because of it.
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller develops the characters of John Proctor and Reverend Hale as a pair of motivated, determined, and socially influential individuals in order to show that not all people in Salem are falling for the dirty tricks of Abigail Williams and the court. As Hale is informing the Proctors that Elizabeth has been mentioned in the court as being a witch, John Proctor explains to Hale that the children’s sickness, which started the witch hunt, had “naught to do with witchcraft” (Miller 33). It just came to John that Salem has “gone daft with this nonsense” (33). Due to the witch hunt, Proctor “always wondered if there be witched in the world” (34) and he even tells Hale that he “cannot believe” (34) that they even exist. Since
Courage is measured by an individual’s willingness to continue fighting even when the likelihood of victory is small. In the play, “The Crucible”, written by Arthur Miller, it tests the courage of the villagers in Salem through situations created by greed, cowardice, and other evils in the world. Several characters display a great deal of courage but none demonstrate this trait more than John Proctor. John Proctor is a farmer who is characterized as a proud man. Through out the beginning of the play, Miller gives the readers little clues to suggest that John and Abigail had an affair.
Crucible Romantic Hero In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, a landowner by the name of John Proctor can be described as an American Romantic Hero. Even though John does not “save” anyone inside of the play, he does try to protect the men and women who were accused of witchcraft by Abigail Williams. When someone thinks of a hero one thinks of pure and innocent, which John Proctor is not. There are more sides to a hero, none of them are perfect and innocent. Even though John does lie and commit adultery, he tries to save the men and women who were accused of doing witchcraft, including his wife Elizabeth Proctor.
Saying Abigail was the one that bewitch them over jealousy. In the heat of the moment, Mary breaks down in front of the court and accused Proctor of being a witch. Proctor is then arrested. The trials in Salem have made the neighboring towns uneasy. Hale begs those accused witches that are going to be hanged to confess falsely in order to save their lives, .
In the midst of the hysteria that has taken Salem by storm, the girls lie in order to save themselves from accusation of witchcraft. However, to spare themselves, they must sacrifice others. After many other women and men were accused the tide eventually made its way toward Elizabeth Proctor. When Abigail originally told the courtroom that she saw Elizabeth Proctor with the devil, Hale was there to hear it; and he was also the one to break the news to Elizabeth, “Question Abigail Williams about the Gospel, not myself! Hale stares at her.
At the same time he is doing his duty of making her confess. Nevertheless, Reverend Hale knows that John and Elizabeth are innocent, and that Abigail Williams and the girls are guilty of witchcraft.” You are goodwife Proctor”(2. 266-267). He could have done something more than just trying to convince Judge Danforth that they are innocent.
Salem: The Village of Courage, Weakness, and Truth Courage, weakness, and truth are all three things that everyone can relate to. Everyone has experienced all three at some point in their life, so they understand what they are like. Arthur Miller in The Crucible uses courage, weakness, and truth to help the reader relate to Elizabeth Proctor, Abigail Williams, and John Proctor. Elizabeth shows courage, Abigail shows weakness, and John shows truth. Elizabeth shows immense courage when she tries to save her husband's name.
Hero: A person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities; however, heroism is not synonymous with perfection. Man can be a hero in spite of having some flaws. This is apparent in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, a story about the Salem Witch Trials in which Abigail Williams accuses dozens of innocent people of witchcraft. Despite being flawed, John Proctor, Reverend Hale, and Elizabeth Proctor can demonstrate their heroism in The Crucible. John Proctor is shown to be both a hero and a flawed man in regards to his lechery.
Everyone knows it's hard to tell the truth, but how many would if faced with death? Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, starts with one bad deed that ultimately effects everyone and leads to their death. Throughout the story, John Proctor shows courage by confessing to his wife, trying to convince people the girls are liars , and decides not to sign his confession paper for dignity. Although it's often hard, Arthur Miller uses The Crucible to show it takes courage to tell the truth. Opening up to his wife,
The distress over the noose in the middle of the city of Salem, Massachusetts was no easy situation to be kept out of. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, the morals and values of the people of Salem were displayed in their actions when helping themselves and others be free of this dread. Upon which, cowardliness, panic, agitation, aggression, and courage weighed upon their shoulders. Courage was shown through people’s ability to speak up for themselves and remain persistent in their claims of innocence. Hysteria ignited this wave of courage amongst the people of Salem, in which those who were threatened by The Salem Witch Trials showed their courage in a variety of ways.
Hale discovered the truths of their time period, while repenting for their sins, by eventually dismissing the witch hunt as mistakes. John Proctor discusses with Elizabeth, that he wishes she would forgive him and stop judging him. “Spare me! You forget nothin’ and forgive nothin’… I cannot speak but I am doubted, every moment judged for lies, as though I come into a court when I come into this house!”
John Proctor’s words towards Elizabeth signal irritation and annoyance. John Proctor, the main character of The Crucible, has an affair with a much younger girl, Abigail Williams, breaking his wife, Elizabeth’s trust in him. Her suspicion of him rises when he tells her he was in a room alone with Abigail. Elizabeth’s growing mistrust begins to aggravate John, which is revealed when he says, “I’ll not have your suspicion any more” (489). Elizabeth is doubtful after learning about John’s affair with Abigail and her lack of trust in her husband begins to anger him.
