The Crucible John Proctor Analysis

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The Crucible by Arthur Miller is based on the true story of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials where people were hanged if they were accused of being a witch. The majority of the characters in the play were innocent and wrongly hanged. John Proctor is a tragic hero and is crucial to the play’s storyline. John Proctor is a thirty-year-old Christian farmer who lives in Salem, with his wife and three children. Before the play takes place, he has an affair with a former worker in his house, Abigail Williams. Abigail’s jealousy for John’s wife leads John into a flurry of conflicts which inevitably cause John’s downfall. John Proctor, being a tragic hero in The Crucible, falls into a hurricane of accusations that send him into a spiraling quest to say the truth; He is fueled by guilt to preserve the innocence of himself and others, even if it means he himself must admit his own subterfuge. Throughout John’s journey through difficult decisions, he has an internal conflict with himself regarding the affair. John’s motive, actions and conflicts cause him to be a dynamic character; shown by how he fights for his marriage, his innocence, his reputation, and his beliefs. More importantly, John tries to subsequently fight for his rights and the rights of others, eventually giving in to death, in his battle with the truth. John Proctor’s guilt was a major motivator for him in a sense that he considered himself to be a fraud and wanted to tell people his dark secret. His guilt was derived from a few things; he had sinned, he was sorry for what he did, and he felt it was his fault. He is a man who is riddled with guilt from sinning; Also, John is eager to keep a respectable reputation. In act two of the play John’s wife Elizabeth shows some of her suspicions and drives Proctor into saying “Woman. I’ll not have your suspicion anymore.” Proctor feels guilt because he knows her suspicions
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