ipl-logo

The Character Of John Proctor In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

473 Words2 Pages

Titles often hold the meaning of the story behind their powerful letters; therefore, most authors use their great vocabulary when deciding the titles of their amazing works. Arthur Miller’s most famous play, The Crucible, comes from the meaning of “a severe test”. Miller used events in the play using John Proctor, Mary Warren, and Reverend Hale to help unravel the definition behind the title The Crucible as these three characters were all brought to the brink of their mortal limit and severely tested. One of the characters that describes The Crucible is John Proctor. John starts off in the story as a main character in act II starting off his way to Salem. Throughout the play, John's wife Elizabeth Proctor is taken to the court because of her possession of a doll thought to be a voodoo doll with a needle in it signifying Abigail. Later in the play when they are in the courtroom, he confesses his affair with Abigail Williams to save his wife from being tried as a witch and not to have witchcraft put upon his relationship. Then later jailed for adultery knowing that he wouldn't be able to save his name nor relationship. …show more content…

Abigail had an impact because of the accusations that she placed upon Mary of her being a witch Abigail accused innocent people of witchcraft and Mary didn’t want the worry of that charge upon her. During the court case, Mary was put on trial and had to lie against the bible and tried not to break for not being accused. Later in the case she did break but not for the good, she broke siding with Abigail acting crazy with the rest of the girls. Mary had to break in order to save her name but not for the faint of

Show More
Related
1968 Words | 8 Pages

A reputation is the beliefs or opinions that are generally held about someone or something. In fear of tarnishing one's reputation, individuals tends to go to extreme lengths in order to protect it. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the actions and choices of John Proctor, Reverend Samuel Parris and Abigail Williams serve to prove this to the audience. First of all, John Proctor will protect his reputation at all costs, even if it ultimately ends his life. Second, Reverend Parris will stop at nothing to keep his authority, even if he has to sacrifice his faith.

Read More
1269 Words | 6 Pages

There has come a time in everyone’s life when their character was called into question, or someone accused them wrongly of something they did not do. This puts a person’s morality on the line and tests whether they will do what’s best for them or the masses. The Crucible by Arthur Miller shows the characters John Proctor, Deputy Governor Danforth, and Abigail Williams going through this same test. The play provides a narrative on how people choose to value their own reputation and honor over protecting the lives of themselves and others.

Read More
216 Words | 1 Pages

In Act Three of Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, John Proctor admits he has committed adultery with Abigail motivated in trying to save his wife, while his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, lies about why she kicked Abigail from their house to protect her and her husbands privacy. I feel as though John’s actions were justified and Elizabeth’s actions were not. John Proctor was trying to get the court to see Abigail was a terrible, unsaintly fraud in her claims of being witched. John tells the court that his wife, who has never told a lie, would concur to the affair accusations brought against Abigail. When brought into the court Elizabeth was questioned on why she had kicked Abigail out of their home and she replied in a manner that did not show

Read More
681 Words | 3 Pages

John proctor’s good name Courage. This word is easy to say, but hard to explain. To have courage isn’t always fighting bad guys; sometimes being courageous is just standing up for what you believe in. Just like John Proctor did in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible. He stood up against a court to save his friends and family from hanging, and that took some courage.

Read More
822 Words | 4 Pages

In the book The Crucible by Arthur Miller preserving one’s reputation was important to many of the story’s characters. Three of the characters that found preserving their reputation important were John Proctor, Abigail Williams, and Mary Warren. John Proctor was a well respected man in Salem. The town’s people thought highly of him. When he was accused of witchery he denied it.

Read More
590 Words | 3 Pages

Arthur Miller wrote the Crucible in 1953 several years into the Cold War. Arthur Miller book the Crucible is a not so well hidden allegory for McCarthyism. McCarthyism is named after Senator Joseph McCarthy and his witch hunt for communists, during the Cold War. This was done in order for McCarthy to gain political power similarly to what Reverend Parris and the girls did during the Salem Witch Trials. The time of McCarthyism is now called The Red Scare.

Read More
1260 Words | 6 Pages

The Crucible is an allegorical play written by Arthur Miller that criticizes McCarthyism during the 1950s through an historical event called the Salem witchcraft trials. The main protagonist is John Proctor, a man with a good reputation for being an honest and a diligent person. The second most important character, Reverend Hale, is a witchcraft expert who comes to Salem to determine whether or not witchcraft is present in Salem. They both are devout Puritans; however, they are different in the ways they show their piety, causing them to have numerous similarities and differences. Proctor and Hale, are similar because they both see the genuine motivations behind the accusations and struggle to defend the people being harmed.

Read More
385 Words | 2 Pages

In the Crucible, reputation could be seen as the driving force of the play. One could see that reputation can affect a character in an extreme manner, to the point where they make sudden drastic decisions that will protect their good name, but affect either themselves or others in a negative way. Such as how John Proctor dies for his name, or how Danforth lies and has others executed to protect himself, or lastly, how Parris lets Abigail blab because he realises his home may be the source of the problem. To begin, John Proctor, the protagonist in The Crucible, is an extremely reputable man. Proctor would do anything in his ability to protect his reputation.

Read More
404 Words | 2 Pages

John Proctor is the well-regarded protagonist of Arthur Miller's "The Crucible." Throughout the play, John struggles with his own inner demons and is ultimately forced to make a life-or-death decision to maintain his honor. John's character undergoes a significant transformation over the course of the play, moving from a guilt-ridden husband to an honorable man. This transformation is evident in John's actions and words as he grapples with the events of the witch trials. At the beginning of the play, John is depicted as a flawed character who is guilty of committing adultery.

Read More
861 Words | 4 Pages

In The Crucible, a book written by Arthur Miller, the story follows the lives of the community and multiple accusations during the Salem witch trials of Massachusetts. The Crucible demonstrates all aspects of a tragedy story through the liked farmer John Proctor not being able to resist committing adultery, his wife Elizabeth and him suffering from Abigail because of his act, and his acceptance towards his crimes and the resulting events. To begin, John Proctor’s reputation in Salem is nobler and higher than usual people, which is an element of a protagonist in a tragedy. On the first introduction of John Proctor in the first act, the author describes him as, “...powerful of body, even tempered, and not easily led” (Miller 1. 19). Because

Read More
867 Words | 4 Pages

A tragic hero is a great and noble character in a tragedy that has a tragic flaw which leads him to his downfall. In the play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrays John Proctor as a tragic hero. John Proctor’s tragic flaw was that he had an affair with Abigail, a 16 year old girl. Eventually, Proctor realized what he had done was wrong and decided to end his relationship with Abigail but soon this caused many other problems for him. Abigail started the accusation of witchcraft and many were arrested including Elizabeth Proctor.

Read More
1020 Words | 5 Pages

It is also be defined as a trial, test, or situation that produces something new. Miller has named his play The Crucible because of the various types of tests and trials depicted in his play which result in a different product than what was started with and causes imperfections to arise. One reason miller has named his play The Crucible is because a crucible causes imperfections in metals that are hidden to emerge just like the tests and trials in Miller's play caused imperfections in characters to be exposed. One example of the pressure and tests, created by witchcraft, bringing out the worst in characters was Abigail Williams reaction an attitude.

Read More
645 Words | 3 Pages

John Proctor, as Reverend Parris says in the play “His name holds great weight in the village”. What Reverend Parris refers to is how Proctor had been in the village from the start and in act two John states he “Nailed the roof to the church and hung the door”. John proctor made a terrible mistake by having an affair with the house servant Abigail Williams. The affair causes John’s life to be secretive and mysterious, his wife is one that knew of the affair from early on. No matter what John does to try and get his wife's forgiveness she will not have it and they stay in conflict for most of the play.

Read More
794 Words | 4 Pages

In Arthur Miller’s dramatic play The Crucible, John Proctor, the protagonist, symbolized truth and justice by displaying honor and pride in his name. The change in balance between those two attributes acted as a catalyst in defining moments of the play. In the beginning, Proctor equally reflected both pride and honor in separate events. However, when forced to make a decision, he chose honor over pride. Ultimately, both his honor and pride pushed him to commit the ultimate sacrifice.

Read More
955 Words | 4 Pages

After the juxtaposing social upheaval of the preceeding eras, the Elizabethan Era (1558-1603), and part of the Jacobean Era (1603-1625) were relatively stable periods in time. In this 67 year timespan, a plethora of political reform took place. It was considered to be the "Golden Age" in English history as creative works in literature, poetry, and theatre began to flourish (C.S. Lewis, English Literature in the Sixteenth Century, page 1). This political reform helped in shaping what would come to be some of the most notable works in the history of literature, the works of William Shakespeare. First and foremost, it is important to understand the political ideals of William Shakespeare and how they go along with the time.

Read More

More about The Character Of John Proctor In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Related Topics

Open Document