John Proctor Honor Or Life

Which is more important, honor or life? John Proctor, a wealthy father and husband of Salem Village, is faced with this very question. The Village of Salem is on a witch hunt and John Proctor is due to become its next victim. If he lies to the council and the Village, and admits he is a witch, John lives, able to support his wife, sons, and unborn son. On the other hand, if he tells the truth that he is not and has never been a witch, he will be sentenced to death. Ultimately, he picks the latter, but why? John sees the atrocity of the witch hunt and realizes if he signs his name on a letter of confession, he is signing off the deaths of others to come just to save himself. Additionally, the letter of confession would be hung on the door of

John Proctor realizes if he signed a letter of confession, he would be writing off the wrongful of deaths of those before and those to come. He even states, “I have three children - how may I teach them to walk like men in the world, and I sold my friends?” John sees from the beginning of the story that this witch hunt is all a massive ruse, comprised of false accusations and mass hysteria. As the hunt advances and the punishments worsen, innocent people start to die with no chance of fighting their case. If John doesn’t take a stand and refuses to lie, more will continue to die and no one will stop to take a second thought. John has been cynical of the trials and proceedings all along, and knows he can’t be hypocritical any longer. He discovers this once Rebecca Nurse is able to maintain her innocence in front of the council. In her own words Rebecca says, “Why, it is a lie, it is a lie; how may I damn myself? I cannot, I cannot.” John making this sacrifice shows parallels to the beliefs of the Puritans’ holy figure, Jesus. According to the Bible, Jesus was accused of being a traitor and was sentenced to death without a chance to plead his innocence. Jesus took the fault for others’ sins, this mirrors how John Proctor died because of the sins of

If you did not go to church, this would ultimately decide your fate in the case of a witch trial, if you were accused. In Salem, John Proctor helped build this church, in fact built the door. John took great pride in this, saying, “I nailed the roof upon the church, I hung the door -” when Reverend Hale first suspects the Proctors as being in cohorts with the devil. If John signed the letter of confession, it would be nailed to this door and quite literally, wedge a nail into his pride. Everyone in the village would come to church on the Sabbath day and know he had ignored God’s word, lying for the selfish gain of saving his own life, ignorant to the loss of others. Additionally the Puritans believe in an afterlife that decides the man he would be. If he confessed to being a witch he would be a man to go to hell for lying, though if he were honest, he would be a man to continue in an abundant heaven. These views of character in a family’s patriarch were inevitably passed down throughout a family. This implies that if John’s name were ruined for being a liar, so was the entire Proctor name; his sons would maturate and live in a community that looked down on them for their father’s mistake. John understands this and tells the council “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