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

The Salem Witch Trials in 1692 was a real life example of mass hysteria that lead to many people being paranoid and making false accusations towards others. Arthur Miller used the Witch Trials as the basis for his play because it was a fantastic reflection of what Mccarthyism had done to the United States in the 50’s. To enhance his satire Arthur Miller used traditional theater methods, one of the examples of this was his use of a tragic hero. A great example of a tragic hero in The Crucible would be one of the main characters John Proctor. John Proctor is a tragic hero because he is an important player in the village of Salem, he has an affair with Abigail Williams, has a great amount of pride, and in the end he dies. John Proctor, as Reverend Parris says in the play “His name holds great weight in the village”. What Reverend Parris refers to is how Proctor had been in the village from the start and in act two John states he “Nailed the roof to the church and hung the door”. John proctor made a terrible mistake by having an affair with the house servant Abigail Williams. The affair causes John’s life to be secretive and mysterious, his wife is one that knew of the affair from early on. No matter what John does to try and get his wife's forgiveness she will not have it and they stay in conflict for most of the play. When Proctor is accused of

If he was to confess of witchcraft he would have been free but his good name in the village would have made other less prominent people in village to confess lies. John had never spoken with the devil and neither had the others in the village but the only way of getting out of hanging was confessing of witchcraft. Instead of taking the easy way out Proctor and confess, he took the high road saving his family’s good name for future generations (his 3 sons). Although Proctor’s family name was saved he was not and hung in the end of the