John Proctor's Arrogance In The Crucible

In The Crucible, that character of John Proctor is an arrogant, stubborn man who got caught “with his hand in the cookie jar” and ended up paying the well-deserved, ultimate price for his actions. Throughout the book there are examples of his arrogance and stubbornness as he interacts with his wife, Elizabeth Procter, his mistress Abigail Williams, and the larger Salem community.
John Proctor, both in the book and real life, prances around doing whatever he pleases and expects no consequences. For example, here is a quote from “John Proctor: First Male Accused Witch” article, “Various witnesses testified that Proctor threatened or admitted to beating several people involved in the witch trials” (Brooks P16). This shows how arrogant John is

This character trait is the most influential factor in not only John’s demise, but also the other character’s. The reader’s first glimpse of this trait is in a scene between John, Elizabeth Proctor, and Mary Warren in Act II, when Elizabeth proclaims, “She wants me dead. I knew all week it would come to this! (…) She will cry me out until they take me! (…) She wants me dead John, you know it!” (Miller 57). Even when Elizabeth pleads to John, warning him, he still shrugs it off as nothing, because he believes his extramarital affair wasn’t a big deal, this also ties into his arrogance in believing that no harm can come to his family. Any sane person would realize the potential outcome and try to reason with him about the accusations. John’s stubbornness is further shown in his last scene in Act IV, when he refuses to save himself via his public written confession. “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! (…) How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name! (…) Proctor tears the paper and crumples it” (Miller 133). It is at this point that he is given the chance to be with his wife, children, and live, but he throws this all away because he values his name over the ones he loves and fails to see the harm his arrogance and stubbornness