Preview

How Does John Proctor Mature In The Crucible

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
308 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Does John Proctor Mature In The Crucible
In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, John Proctor tearing up his confession is believable. Proctor is a flawed character, but he is a good man. Proctor tries to do what he believes is right. Proctor can’t stand the idea that innocent people are being condemned. He can’t accept that the girls are falsely accusing people of witchcraft, and the court is believing them.

John Proctor demonstrates that he is a good man with the way that he judges himself. Proctor can’t forgive himself for having an affair. Proctor shows that he regrets the affair by telling Abigail, “I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again” (Act I.451-452). After Elizabeth is arrested, Proctor can’t forgive himself for not telling the court that Abigail
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Character Analysis of John Proctor in The Crucible
    • 318 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Character Analysis of John Proctor in The Crucible

    John Proctor is a tormented individual. He believes his affair with Abigail irreparably damaged him in the eyes of God, his wife Elizabeth, and himself. True, Proctor did succumb to sin and commit adultery; however, he lacks the capacity to forgive himself. Unsurprisingly, his relationship with Elizabeth remains strained throughout the majority of the play. He resents Elizabeth because she cannot forgive him and trust him again, but he is guilty of the same thing. In fact, his own inability to forgive himself merely intensifies his reaction to Elizabeth's lack of forgiveness.…

    • 318 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Does John Proctor Create Tension In The Crucible
    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages

    How Does John Proctor Create Tension In The Crucible

    In the opening scene of "The Crucible", the playwright reveals insight into John and Elizabeths troubled marriage through Elizabeths subtle passive-aggressive gestures, Johns incoherent ramblings, and his emotional explosion at the end showing his frustration.…

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Examples Of John Proctor's Confession In The Crucible
    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Examples Of John Proctor's Confession In The Crucible

    In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, John Proctor, our main character tore up a piece of paper called a confession. The confession would have saved his life but sell out his innocent friends, Instead he chose to die with them. This act is believable because Proctor had a good name in Salem before he admitted to Lechery in the court. Proctor threw away his sense of goodness when he had sexual relations with Abigail Williams. The guilt he was feeling was literally eating at him, he felt he was going to Hell.…

    • 254 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Why Is John Proctor Successful In The Crucible
    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Why Is John Proctor Successful In The Crucible

    Everyone in the town of Salem, MA, is the definition of credulous. Everything that happens in this community doesn’t need any proof for why it is right or wrong, if it is said it is true. No questions asked. When the girls originally blamed witchcraft for the peculiar behavior of Betty Paris, nobody wanted to believe that it was anything else. This is the core reason why so many people were killed during the witch-hunts. Abigail Williams, Elizabeth Proctor, and John Proctor were forever changed in history because of credulousness of the townspeople of Salem, MA in 1692…

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    John Proctor Change In The Crucible
    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages

    John Proctor Change In The Crucible

    In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a hysteria of witchcraft that sweeps across Massachusetts changes the citizens of Salem, transforming some into monsters and helping others to realize their mistakes. Miller’s description of the character John Proctor at the start of The Crucible seems to describe another person as his change becomes more prevalent throughout the play. Proctor is at first consumed with guilt and despair, but he comes to find pride in his name, and he will hold on to the meaning he has finally found in his life for the short time he can.…

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Essay On John Proctor In The Crucible
    • 1307 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Essay On John Proctor In The Crucible

    John Proctor in The Crucible is seen as a respectable upstanding man in the town of salem, a farmer who has a respectable wife and kids. Also a faithful man who states in the play that he was one of the men that helped to build the church. Seen as respectable by those in the town throughout the whole play. Parris proves Proctor’s respectability in act four when Proctor is confessing to witchcraft and he says to Judge Danforth “It is a weighty name; it will strike the village that Proctor confess.”(Miller 184) Proving that John Proctor hereby has a noble birth because he is seen as a good puritan man in a great social position in Salem. Though he is greatly respected he is a tragic hero with a tragic flaw and that flaw was lust. Abigail Williams was the proctor’s servant until she was fired by, Elizabeth Proctor, the wife of John Proctor, for being a harlet. John lusted for the young girl Abigail, who thinks that the two of them are in love, and had a short affair with her. John has the affair and after Abigail is fired he tries to avoid AbiGail's affectionate touch beginning in act one.Such a flaw would be considered hamartia, and how he acts after he was caught by his wife would be considered…

    • 1307 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Role Of John Proctor In The Crucible
    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Role Of John Proctor In The Crucible

    He becomes selfless and sacrifices his reputation and his life to save everyone else in the court by the end of the Crucible. John Proctor said "You will not judge me more, Elizabeth. I have good reason to think before I charge fraud on Abigail. And I will think on it. Let you look to your own improvement before you go to judge your own husband anymore. I have forget Abigail" (pg. 918.) In the beginning of the book, he knew he was going to hurt his neighbors from hiding what he did with Abigail, but he was so afraid about the citizens of Salem find out about his affair. John was afraid to tell the judges about his affair with Abigail because Abigail is going to ruin his reputation by charge lechery. John proctor said " I speak my own sins; I cannot judge another." (Pg. 968.) John Proctor tried to speak his own sins, confess he saw the witches to survive, and ask forgiveness for Elizabeth because it will save the others. John Proctor signed a written confession that will be hung on the courthouse door. He knew that will ruin his name and reputation in the society, but he sacrificed himself to save people who are in the prison.…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    John Proctor Research Paper
    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages

    John Proctor Research Paper

    Throughout the Crucible, John Proctor showed tremendous growth in his character. He first started out as a cheating man with little respect towards him. He then decides to change his ways and tell Abigail Williams, the girl he was cheating with, that their secret relationship is over. “But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again.” (Proctor 24) Another growth of his is when he would rather die than let his children seem him as a liar. (I have three children- how may I teach them to walk like men in the world, and I sold my friends?” (Proctor 150). He would rather turn himself in then let others get accused. John Proctor shows that he not such a bad guy after all.…

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    John Proctor Character Analysis Essay
    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages

    John Proctor Character Analysis Essay

    In the play, The Crucible, John Proctor is a remorseful, candid, and an industrious man. The author, Arthur Miller, created John Proctor so the readers would like him. Proctor has flaws that he tries to fix, but still has a hard time with his wife, Elizabeth. Arthur Miller makes sure the reader still can see John Proctor as a likeable man after his…

    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    How Is John Proctor Strong In The Crucible
    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How Is John Proctor Strong In The Crucible

    John Proctor appears to be an authentic, honorable, and candid man. In act one, Proctor exuberates love for authority and exercises his power to the best of his ability. Readers see through Proctor’s witty persona and analyze his fatal sin that fills him with guilt, his affair with Abigail Williams. In the midst of the play, John Proctor undergoes a plethora of self-torment and guilt. Meanwhile, the witch trials continue to be investigated. Only John can free innocent men and women tried for practicing witchcraft, but in the process will ruin his reputation. Proctor later confesses to his act of lechery and rests in the gallows with his neighbors. By doing so, John is perceived as a…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Crucible John Proctor Character Analysis
    • 1495 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The Crucible John Proctor Character Analysis

    Proctor’s hubris caused the problem in the first place and this led to his tragic flaw. Proctor believed that he was untouchable; he believed that he could have an affair, but as long as he apologized afterwards, everything would be all right again. But as the play unfolded he soon found out that his life with Elizabeth and life in the village would never be the same again. Proctor’s affair drove Abigail to plot to get Proctor’s wife Elizabeth out of the picture, so that she could take her place. But she was intelligent enough to realize that if she excused the wife of a well-respected man of the village of conspiring with the devil, no one would believe he and she would be thrown in jail for lying to the court. For she has broken the commandment “Thou shalt not bear false witness” and this was as serious a sin as murder. Because of this Abigail decided that if she filled the jails with people not so respected such as tramps no one would notice one more person passing through the courts. Abigail did all this because Proctor had slept with her. This caused her to believe that he made a promise to her by doing so; she believed that if Proctor did not have Elizabeth he would then love her instead. Because Proctor slept with Abigail he did not just cause his own downfall, but also the downfall of others. One thing Abigail did not think would happen and ruined her conspiracy was for Proctor to stand up in court, blacken his name in the village, risk being hanged, and expose her as a harlot she was. Proctor’s proof of this was his statement of “I have known her.” By doing this he ruined his reputation in the village, but Proctor realizes that his reputation was caused by the illusions people had of him and that he was a really a fake. This was one of the noblest things he done during the play when he tired to save others by destroying himself and was one of the turning points in the play. This also meant that…

    • 1495 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Examples Of Adultery In The Crucible
    • 246 Words
    • 1 Page

    Examples Of Adultery In The Crucible

    John proctor committed adultery with Abigail and he does seem like he is truly sorry for doing it because, he knows what he did was wrong and loves his family. He wants the lord to forgive him or his sin with Abigail. John knows that Abigail wants him to love her but he doesn't love her he loves his family and that made Abigail angry so she set up john's wife Elizabeth to get her sent to jail so that Abigail could try to take Elizabeth's place with john.…

    • 246 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    John Proctor Sacrifice
    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages

    John Proctor Sacrifice

    When Elizabeth found out, she kicked Abigail out and there were great tension between John Proctor and Elizabeth Proctor. John was ashamed and because of the affair so he try to make it up but Elizabeth did not forgive him. She says “ I do not judge you. The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you.” She telling him instead of asking for forgiveness, he should forgive himself. That his own conscience is troubling him in his mind and heart. Yet John Proctor is still a strong man and will fight for his will, for his name and Elizabeth know that he would because she see some good in him still. This shows that the quote is true because John Proctor is not in his comfort zone, yet he struggles to earn Elizabeth trust and will try to do his…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    John Proctor In The Crucible
    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages

    John Proctor In The Crucible

    In the 1953 play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the main protagonist, John Proctor allows the audience to create an emotion of sympathy towards him. In the play John Proctor is the husband of Elizabeth Proctor, he is a farmer, and a father of three boys. He was also accused of witchcraft like many individuals who lived in the town of Salem. Proctor did not attend church, because of Reverend Parris. Parris is the minister of Salem, who preaches about wealth, “…and for twenty week he preach nothin’ but golden candlesticks until he had them”. (Act Two, pg. 69) John had no importance for wealth, but rather of God, it was one of the reasons he stopped attending church. The other was to avoid Abigail Williams. John committed adultery with Abigail,…

    • 731 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Direct Characterization In The Crucible
    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Direct Characterization In The Crucible

    Miller shows the audience throughout the play with direct and indirect characterization that John Proctor is eaten by guilt, and that he has things to hide.. Like in act he said, “ ...I should have roared you down when you first told me your suspicion. But I wilted, and like a christian, I confessed!...”(Miller 1164). John Proctor was a angry man who could not let go of his guilt and pride. He could not accept his wife Elizabeth”s forgiveness because he could not forgive himself. The author author also uses indirect characterization to show that John Proctor has skeletons in the closet which the guilt is hanging over him. When Miller says, “ In Proctor’s presence a fool felt his foolishness instantly- and a Proctor is always marked for calumny…

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics