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Differences And Similarities Between John Proctor And Hester Prynne

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Iconic yet complex characters, John Proctor and Hester Prynne, both belong to their own distinct and classic novels while still remaining to share many similarities between them. Hester Prynne, the female protagonist of the very well known novel, The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, goes through many similar conflicts as John Proctor, the male protagonist of The Crucible written by Arthur Miller. Each character however, has their own specific challenges directly related to them allowing different outlooks in each novel. Both Hester and John are persecuted by their extremely religious societies at one point for committing adultery. In different ways, the characters are sworn to secrecy and were forced to lie because of it. Hester …show more content…

Adultery, an act both John Proctor and Hester Prynne committed, in both societies is morally and legally wrong while being considered a sin to God. “Hester Prynne… for so long a period not merely estranged, but outlawed, from society, had habituated herself to such latitude of speculation as was altogether foreign to the clergyman. She had wandered, without rule or guidance,” (Hawthorne 165). From the first chapter that Hester Prynne was introduced, she was outcasted by society after having her daughter, Pearl as a result from her affair. She was then forced to wear an embroidered scarlet “A” on her chest for life as her punishment. “HALE: Mr. Proctor, your house is not a church; your theology must tell you that. PROCTOR: It does, sir, it does; and it tells me that a minister may pray to God without he have golden candlesticks upon the altar.” (Miller II.62). The society in The Crucible, is equally religious and with the recent accusations of witchcraft in the town, John Proctor becomes a suspect merely because he didn’t attend church as often as they’d prefer in the

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Hester Prynne And John Proctor Analysis

705 Words | 3 Pages

Hester Prynne and John Proctor were very similar in certain aspects, but when you dig deeper into their lives you find that they differed greatly. They both lived in the Puritan settlement of Salem, Massachusetts. Many deeds that were committed, such as adultery, were viewed as a sin and offenders were punished. Also, during this time period the Salem Witch Trials condemned people for participating in witchcraft. This was the cause of Proctor’s suffering.

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Similarities Between John Proctor And The Crucible

910 Words | 4 Pages

Death, can tear anyone apart, but when it's for a cause it can open a family, friends, or even a nation's eyes. When a national icon dies for a cause it can a can make the whole nation take a step back and look at what's really going on. An excellent examples are John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr, or in this case John Proctor from The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. In this play people are being hanged for an accusation of witchcraft, which is necessary to restore the social justice in Salem. This play can be compared to history, with information about the play itself, and lastly how the tragic hero's death makes a difference in this play.

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Similarities Between The Crucible And The Scarlet Letter

1076 Words | 5 Pages

Faith is very important for both of these characters. Both live in Puritan societies that are incredibly strict. The Puritan lifestyle is captured exquisitely by the actions of Hester and John. Both commit a sin, have a possible escape, and reject escaping for the sole reason that they place their morality above all else. To conclude, Hester Prynne and John Proctor show that even a person who commits the worst kind of sin still has the ability to put their morality ahead of every other aspect of their

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Essay On Hester Prynne And Abigail And The Crucible

739 Words | 3 Pages

In Nathaniel Hawthorne 's The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne gives birth to a daughter through an affair and makes an effort to lead a new life of repentance and self-respect. Meanwhile, Arthur Miller 's The Crucible, set in the same Puritan society of Salem, tells a dramatized story of the Salem Witch Trials. Abigail Williams, an intelligent and manipulative young woman, covets a married man, John Proctor, and tries to get his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, killed in the trials. To begin with, both Hester Prynne and Abigail Williams are beautiful, independent women who have a thirst for life and are driven by a noble emotion: love.

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Who Is John Proctor A Sinner In The Crucible

646 Words | 3 Pages

In the beginning of the play, John commits the immense sin, adultery, which he tries to rectify throughout the remainder of the tragedy. Proctor is characterized as a bad person in The Crucible as Miller states, “He is a sinner, a sinner not only

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How Hester Prynne Changes In Scarlet Letter

941 Words | 4 Pages

We are all sinners, no matter how hard we try to hide our faults, they always seem to come back, one way or another. Written in the 19th century, Nathaniel Hawthorne shows us Hester Prynne and how one sin can change her life completely. Hester Prynne changes a great deal throughout The Scarlet Letter. Through the view of the Puritans, Hester is an intense sinner; she has gone against the Puritan way of life committing the highest act of sin, adultery. For committing such a sinful act, Hester must wear the scarlet letter while also having to bear stares from those that gossip about her.

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Comparing The Characters Of Jeanne Baret And Hester Stanhope

537 Words | 3 Pages

Unlike Jeanne, Hester was born in the rich. She was a woman in history who went on an archeological journey. She was a great British traveler and an archeologist. When reading about Hester, I found that she was not beautiful woman and she dressed in men’s clothing. Her first archeological journey was considered the first modern excavation history.

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John Proctor's Conflict With Society

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There are many ways that John Proctor’s actions, speech, and decisions in Acts 3 and 4 illustrate a man in conflict with his society. One way that his speech shows him being in conflict with society is when he yells --with a cry of his whole soul “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang!

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Hester Prynne Punishment In Scarlet Letter

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Punishment of Puritans for their sins occurred harshly and frequently, and these punishments ranged from fines, branding, and severe whippings to hanging and death. Many of these penalties involved public humiliation of some kind, which made it extremely difficult for townspeople to accept by their peers after they had sinned. Because the Puritans believed religion was immensely important, the community was often reluctant to allow citizens that exhibited sinful behavior to achieve redemption (Cox). However, in the case of Hester Prynne, an adulterer in Nathaniel Hawthorne 's The Scarlet Letter, the townspeople eagerly made amends with her. This novel narrates the life of Hester Prynne, who committed adultery and courageously accepted the repercussions

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John Proctor: A Tragic Hero

747 Words | 3 Pages

In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the town of Salem is afflicted with hysteria, intolerance, and accusations that lead to death. According to philosopher Aristotle, a tragic hero possesses a tragic flaw, excessive pride, and an inevitable downfall. Protagonist John Proctor illustrates a tragic hero because he is presented as happy, powerful, and privileged, which later leads him to suffer because of his own actions. First of all, John Proctor possesses a fatal flaw, pride, which is a characteristic of a tragic hero. Proctor’s fatal flaws includes honesty and pride.

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Language In Mother Tongue By Amy Tan

941 Words | 4 Pages

In the fictional essay “Mother Tongue,” Amy Tan states that we speak diverse languages to communicate with each other and that our intellect is judged by the way we speak. She uses language as a way to observe experiences that assisted her in realizing the many “Englishes” she uses. Tan defines “Englishes” as Chinese-English. As a child Tan had to speak two types of languages because she was born in a Chinese culture. The first language she learned was “broken English.”

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How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use Biblical Allusions In The Scarlet Letter

1458 Words | 6 Pages

Nathaniel Hawthorne, a famous American author from the antebellum period, notices the emphasis on individual freedoms in the works by Ralph Waldo Emerson and other Transcendentalists during his residency in the Brook Farm’s community. In response to these ideas, Hawthorne writes The Scarlet Letter, a historical novel about Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale’s lives as they go through ignominy, penance, and deprecation from their Puritan community to express their strong love for each other. Their love, even though it is true, is not considered as holy nor pure because of Hester past marriage to Roger Chillingworth, and thus Hester gained the Scarlet Letter for being an adulterer. Hawthorne utilizes biblical allusions, such as the stories of

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Hester Prynne: A Romantic Hero

796 Words | 4 Pages

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s, The Scarlet Letter, the protagonist, Hester Prynne is a Romantic Hero. Throughout The Scarlet Letter, we see Hester Prynne’s struggle in Colonial America after she is condemned by the Puritan society. She is sent to America by her husband, but he never returns, and Hester later conceives a child with the local minister. She is convicted with the crime of adultery, but refuses to identify the father, she is then forced to wear the Scarlet Letter. The novel captures her experience as she struggles to survive the guilt, sin, and revenge.

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1598 Words | 7 Pages

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How John Proctor's Character Changes In The Crucible

822 Words | 4 Pages

In the Crucible, many of the characters go through changes because of the intensity of the situation. But there is only one character that I think changed the most, and that is John Proctor who is the protagonist of the novel The Crucible by Arthur Miller. I think that John Procotor changes the most in the Crucible because he is in every act and mostly in every scene, and throughtout  the play I see more drama (Dynamic Character) in him than any other character in the Crucible and I will go through and tell you how John Proctor changes in the Crucible.     In the beginning of the play (Acts 1 and 2), we focus on John Proctor and we know that he is a good puritan citizen, a hard-working farmer and who is a husband and father.

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