The Crucible And To Kill A Mockingbird Analysis

1224 Words5 Pages

Both Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” and Harper Lee’s “To Kill A Mockingbird” are both books that present us with the theme of ‘men of conscience’. John Proctor and Atticus Finch, both fictional characters from the books, are considered to be ‘men of conscience’. A man of conscience is a man aware of the moral and ethical judgements he has a strong desire to do the right thing whenever possible. The life of these men is ruled by their desire to seek the truth and justice in the situations around them; these traits are displayed in both of the characters throughout both the novel and the play.

In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”, a play set in Salem a town in Massachusetts in the spring of 1692, we are introduced to John Proctor. At the time …show more content…

In chapter 8, Scout and Jem find a “tarnished medal” in a knothole in a tree. Scout and Jem decide to show the medal to Atticus, to which he tells them that it looks to be a spelling medal from the Maycomb County schools spelling contests from long before Jem and Scout were born. Atticus’s conscience tells him that someone in the Maycomb community could be searching for this medal; he demonstrates his caring thought by first asking Jem and Scout if they had asked around. Atticus wants his morals to be shown in his children and although Jem and Scout lie about where they found it Atticus still tries his best to pass down his good …show more content…

They both appear to have a strong sense over what is right or wrong and make the entirety decisions based upon their morals and beliefs of the time. Whether those decisions be as in Atticus’s case, inspiring, or in Proctor’s case, a mix of regretful and dramatic. Atticus shows he is a man of conscience primarily through sharing his morals and beliefs with Jem and Scout and wanting them to be able to recognise what’s wrong and what’s right. However Proctor shows he is a man of conscience through sticking to his morals, in specific wanting to keep his name keep his reputation as white as possible. Overall although Atticus and Proctor portray their good consciences in different ways they are both men of