“I’d have you see some honesty in it. Let them that never lied die now to keep their souls. It is pretense for me, a vanity that will not blind God nor keep my children out of the wind” (Miller 136). Spoken by the dynamic character John Proctor, the amount of drama and tragedy that is within this novel is shown tremendously. The Crucible has an extraordinary amount of tragic events, especially with the hero John Proctor. It follows a poetic set of rules that determines what is “tragic” and what is not considered a “tragic” story. Aristotle, a Greek Philosopher creates these sets of rules and guidelines named The Poetics to define tragedy. The author Arthur Miller has John Proctor follow these sets of rules to becoming a tragic hero with the stand out events that happen within the play. John Proctor’s story is written in a way that the audience sympathizes for him, like when he is sentenced to jail and later hanged. Proctor being forced into jail creates many emotions of pity and fear for his future by the readers. Aristotle’s term mimesis goes along with this theory, by defining “tragedy as an imitation not only of a complete action, but of events inspiring fear or pity” (IX). Tragedy within a story requires …show more content…
Pity and fear in The Crucible portrays upon John Proctor within a subscript that states, “his breast heaving, Proctor tears the paper and crumples it, he is weeping in fury, but erect” (Miller 144). Procor shows weakness and his true emotions while he is weeping. This causes the reader to feel the same pain for him, and become more connected to the story. Mimesis is cooperated in this weakness, because “the suffering in itself is pitiful [for the character]” (Aristotle XIV). Readers being involved with the drama of the story by having strong emotions for the tragic hero Proctor, makes it a true tragic