Pride And Life Altering Choices In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Pride and Life Altering Choices Over the course of a lifetime, human beings are constantly faced with choices, some more important than others. As decisions are made, one factor that is strongly influential on decision making is the opinion of one’s own excellence and importance, also known as pride. Throughout the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the effects of pride on decisions is constantly demonstrated. The play takes place during 1692-1693 in Salem, Massachusetts, where God-fearing puritans reside. Led by the fierce and lovestruck Abigail Williams, the girls of Salem start the trend of accusing their oppressors and enemies of witchcraft, leading to the persecution and condemnation of many innocents. As the play unravels, John Proctor

John Proctor was a man who valued honesty, however, he was guilty of the one flaw he hated the most, hypocrisy. After sleeping with seventeen-year-old Abigail Williams, Proctor’s dignity had been critically injured, and in order to preserve what little pride he had left John’s decisions revolved around saving his reputation. Subsequently, when Abigail Williams began her rise to power, Proctor avoided confessing to save the lives of those in the village. Instead, he opted to protect his reputation and give his generic opinion of the absurdity of the witch accusations. Nonetheless, the crusades became headstrong and intractable, and John’s wife, Elizabeth, became the next victim of the accusations. Although John’s lack of action had provoked the arrest of his wife, Proctor continued his attempt to maintain his pride, until it was too late. Once all the resources had been used, Proctor finally set aside his pride and confessed to lechery, but the trials had already accumulated into a boulder rolling down a hill, they could not be stopped. Consequently, John Proctor was arrested and sentenced to death. However, at the end of the play, John Proctor’s last decision was one based on pride, but this time the decision was one of dignity and not superficial sentiments of pride. Rather than confess to a crime he was not guilty of, Proctor found the realization that his honesty was who he was, his honesty was his source of pride. Taking the confession in his hand, Proctor ripped it in half, effectively assuring his execution. Despite the fact that Proctor’s last decision was made to preserve his dignity and pride, his body still hung from the noose, swaying in the wind. Unfortunately, up until his very last moments, John’s decisions were influenced by his pride, which contributed to the