The one person who could have stopped the Salem Witch Trials was none other than a tragic hero.Aristotle developed the idea of a tragic hero in a story. This person was someone who was an exceptional person, they were quite prideful, and by the end they must die. In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor is a tragic hero. He is an exceptional man with lust as a fatal error, he takes pride in his name, and by the end he dies and repents. A tragic hero is always an exceptional individual who makes a fatal error. John Proctor’s fatal error was his lust. If he had not slept with Abigail then she would have no hatred towards Elizabeth Proctor. Thus she would never have had reason to go to Tituba for a curse and involving the other girls. Leading the entire town down a …show more content…
Even though John Proctor dies, his effect on Salem is a lasting one. When given the option to confess and he took it but when asked to sign the document he cannot stating,”I have confessed myself! Is there no good penitence but it be public? God does not need my name nailed upon the church! God sees my name; God knows how black my sins are! It is enough!”. Without signing the document he was set to hang again. Instead of confessing and letting this madness continue he was able to plant seeds of doubt in the minds of the villagers, causing the trials to come to an end. The way death came and the way he died is the reason John Proctor is a tragic hero. The characteristics of a tragic hero, a fatal error, pride, and death, are what describes John Proctor. His error of lust leading to death, his pride in his name, and the redemption in his death. John Proctor is a tragic hero to the core. If he had not slept with Abigail then Salen would not have had the witch trials. If he had spoken out sooner, many lives could have been saved. Even though he did not do these things he was able to redeem himself in the