John Proctor As A Tragic Hero In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

In Arthur Miller's novel The Crucible, John Proctor is a respectful man in the community, however, he eventually turns into a tragic hero as he recognizes the seriousness and damage of his sin that causes his downfall, but his rise to grace is sacrificing his life for his family.

At the beginning of the play, Proctor is expressing his remorse about his thoughts to Abby. “I may think of you softly from time to time. But I’ll cut off my hand before I ever reach for you again” (1.22). This is crucial because John is haunted by his past relationship with Abby for the duration of the play. This also reveals that although he has his thoughts about Abby, he refuses to act upon them ever again, wanting to save his marriage to Elizabeth. However,

Proctor draws attention to the women's well-established reputations in an effort to demonstrate that the accusations against them might be untrue. He fights for the women’s honor by voicing out, “Excellency, does it not strike upon you that so many of these women have lived so long with such upright reputation, and–” (3.84). Proctor dispels Danforth and Parris' claims by focusing on the accusers and any potential bad reputations they may have, despite their attempts to argue that the Devil is deceitful and can trick even the most upright man. By doing this John is trying to clear his wife’s name but is left frustrated that he cannot clear his wife’s name entirely. Proctor feels as if he has no other choice later reveals that he had an affair with Abigail Williams and publicly telling the court his sin allows all of the attention on himself rather than his wife. When the court is unsure of his words, Proctor persuades them that Elizabeth is an honest person and will give her word that what he says is true. Elizabeth is now obligated to give her testimony concerning her husband's interactions with Abigail in Act 3's middle section. However, although John has admitted to having an affair loudly, Elizabeth is unaware of this. Therefore when giving her testimony Elizabeth will tell a lie on her husband's behalf, absolving both of them and turning his earlier remark that she would always tell the truth into a fabrication. “She [Elizabeth] thought only to save my name!” (3.119). John exclaims this when he sees his wife getting dragged to jail. John is now left with nothing at this point as he realizes he lost his dignity and his wife. As the play starts to close, the court wants someone to persuade everyone convicted that they can be saved. However, no one wants to confess because doing so would require them to take responsibility for actions they did not commit. But John, who has