The Crucible: Self Preservation is Motivation By definition self preservation is the “..set of behaviors by means of which individuals attempt to preserve their own existence and the psychical processes that establish these behaviors..”. For The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, self preservation has been shown to have affected multiple characters, including John Proctor, Samuel Parris, and Abigail. In The Crucible, self preservation is also the greatest motivation .
John Proctor is one of the characters being affected by this trend of self preservation being motivation for the characters of The Crucible. John Proctor is being accused of doing witchcraft and is being meant to sign a document saying he is guilty and concurs with the ruling of the court. This said
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As written in The Crucible john proctor refuses as miller has stated, “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my ,life! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang!” (Miller 1164). By saying this John Proctor has just realized and ends up trying to get the point across that he no longer wants to go through with his lie and feels guilty about the situation he is in. John is also conveying through his words that he believes the situation is his own fault/ he would rather die than deal with living a lie for the rest of his theoretical life of having confessed which is a form of self preservation. Along with the other reasons for his words he goes along with the execution to keep what’s left of him untarnished. or pure in the way he never was. The next character that has actions for the sole purpose of their self preservation is Reverend Samuel Parris. Throughout the majority of the crucible parris is shown to only care about his power and his image towards the other people of salem. During a scene at the beginning of the crucible parris began to