Who Is John Proctor's Character In The Crucible

SIGALIT MIGIROV
BAND D

CHARACTER ANALYSIS- “THE CRUCIBLE”

“The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, has developed and put to life many characters- including John Proctor. John Proctor is a man who always surprises us in every act, as well as shows more of a controlled, wiser personality. His motivation throughout the play can be recognized by his actions, presentation, language and dedication.

Even though we are not providing much information about John’s childhood, nor his specific birthplace, but we can infer it was outside of Salem since he is isolated and constructed his own faction of his family from Salem. As stated, “…was a farmer in his middle thirties.(pg.20)” As readers, we can also visualize him as a very attractive man, being that he

He doesn’t care of others opinions, in the sense that what he firmly believes is the better option. He is not afraid to go against other people even if “they regard him as a fraud.” (pg. 21) He is not the richest man of the village, yet he still keeps himself presentable, he usually just wears simple puritan clothing fit for farming. John Proctor expresses his speech in a unique way, compared to the other characters. He is not afraid to go against the majority, even if it is seen as a negative aspect of him. He also has many identifiable speech patterns, of either being very direct, or using the bible to back his statement up. For example, when talking to Hale he goes, “I have no knowledge of this; the Bible speaks of witches, and I will not deny them.” (pg.69)

John Proctor’s character is set during the time of the 1690s, which is when the Puritans came to the new world to establish their own religion rules, and to be closer to god. People

John Proctor has one big secret. He had a sin, affair with Abigail Williams. This is a big secret because it puts a strain on his marriage, as well as provoked Abigail into trying to kill his wife so he takes her back. So we can really view his want to get his marriage back as rationalization, in which he uses this excuse to blame Elizabeth’s mistrust into the reason behind it. His lechery is seen as a sin, and it shows that he doesn’t care of the Salem government, for he admitted to the act in court in act three. If John Proctor had a contemporary counterpart, it would most likely be Reverend Hale. In the beginning of the play we can see the many differences in both even though they are collectively in their own matters, respectively. In the beginning, Hale was very into catching the people associated with witchcraft, meanwhile Proctor just wanted to stop this whole idea completely. Yet we can see towards the end Proctor’s want to telling the truth over lies to save his life, meanwhile Hale encourages do anything in order to save their lives. Even though they are opposite, in the end one main similarity is they both believe this system is