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The Crucible John Proctor Character Development

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Miamormara Camila Leader
Mr. Lynskey
American Literature Honors
1/17/2023
The Crucible Essay - Midterm Exam

The character development of John Proctor in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible is a testament to the complexity of a human being. Proctor is a flawed man, yet his ultimate redemption is one of the most powerful messages of the play. John Proctor is a farmer in seventeenth-century Salem, Massachusetts. At the start of the play, he is in an adulterous affair with Abigail Williams, a former servant in his household. His wife, Elizabeth, is aware of this affair and has not yet forgiven him for it. However as the play progresses, John Proctor's character undergoes a journey of self-discovery and growth.

In the beginning of the play, John Proctor is a proud, flawed man. He is proud of his accomplishments and his reputation in Salem, yet he is also aware of his own faults. He admits to his wife, Elizabeth, “I have known my own stupidity” (Act I, Scene I). This is an important moment in his character development because it marks the first time he takes responsibility for his actions. He is not perfect, and he is willing to admit it. …show more content…

He is forced to confront his own hypocrisy when he discovers that the girls accusing people of witchcraft are doing so out of spite and jealousy. He is appalled by their lies, but he must also acknowledge that his own lies and secrets are just as damaging to the community. It is a difficult lesson for him to learn, but it is an important one. He realizes that his own private sins can have public

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Proctor knows it is his fault that the accusation was made and he now know he must do anything to save his wife. As the play goes on Proctor begins to realize that his wife is the one who really loves him, as Abigail will so quickly throw anyone, including him, under the bus. John

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The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a phenomenal play containing wide varieties of static and dynamic characters. A few main characters are very dynamic and change immensely throughout the play completely shifting former beliefs and ideas. John Proctor is one of these characters that go through this metamorphosis. In the beginning of The Crucible, John Proctor is a man burdened by his sins, but throughout the play his morals and true nature are tested and brought into light, and by the end he learns to accept forgiveness and truly finds the goodness he had been seeking in himself.

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Arthur Miller’s The Crucible (1953), portrays the Salem witch trials and conveys how the actions of a single person can hold a high impact on its surrounding community when faced with troublesome times. When accusations of witchcraft start spreading throughout the town, mass hysteria breaks out and infects the mindset of a large quantity of Salem’s inhabitants. The problems are further accentuated by poorly run trials led on by the corrupt leaders of the community. Throughout the play, drastic decisions are made by many that further the development of the plot. John Proctor is a highly respected citizen of Salem, though he does not view himself in that same light, and is one who is faced with an array of arduous decisions time and time again.

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Proctor tries to hide his affair with Abigail so he can uphold his reputation in the community. Although Proctor tries to hide the affair, he ends up having to confess about the affair to the judges. Proctor confesses about the affair and why Abigail is doing this, but it is too late. Proctor gets accused of witchcraft and jailed. Proctor’s affair with Abigail leads to many bad things happening.

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In scene 1 of The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Anne Putnam, whose daughter was currently lying “afflicted” on her bed, blurted out to Rebecca Nurse “There are wheels within wheels in this village, and fires within fires”(26). Contrastingly, in the movie version of The Crucible, rather than Mrs. Putnam, John Proctor says this line to Reverend Hale when he arrives in the village. Both speakers mean different things by this line, but I do believe that John Proctor should be the owner of this line. Anne Putnam had lost 7 of her 8 children up to this point in The Crucible, and after Rebecca Nurse said, on the affliction of Ruth, “let us rather blame ourselves”(26), Mrs. Putnam says this deep remark. By speaking of “fires within fires” and “wheels within wheels”, Anne meant that there were villagers making events, such as 7 of her children dying, happen.

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This first quotation takes place in Act 1 between Abagail Williams and John Proctor at Reverend Hale’s home. Abigail was talking to proctor about what really happened the night her and the others conjured spirits because proctor was going to get Mary warren but she wasn’t there which left them alone together. The quote takes the readers into the past to the affair Abigail had with John Proctor. John is trying to put the affair behind him although he still has feelings for her but Abigail is still very jealous of the life Elizabeth Proctor lives and she begs John to come back to her.

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The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller in 1953, is a dramatized account of the Salem witch trials that took place in Massachusetts in the late 17th century. The play serves as a commentary on the McCarthyism era in the 1950s, when the United States was in the grip of a witch hunt for supposed communists. The characters in The Crucible undergo significant changes and transformations as the events of the play unfold, making character development a central aspect of the play. One of the most notable examples of character development in The Crucible is that of John Proctor, who starts off as a flawed but honorable man and transforms into a tragic hero. Proctor initially refuses to confess to a crime he did not commit because he wants to protect his reputation and the reputation of his family.

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Abigail does all this for the man that she loves and had an affair with, John Proctor. If the reader begins to focus on John, his actions and what he stands for, they are easily able to recognize he portrays characteristics of the flawed nature of an individual. It is shown through the fact that he had an affair, isn’t able to forgive himself, and at the end of the book, is unable to give up something dear to him to save himself and others. When analyzing John Proctor, the first thing that stands out is that he had an affair with a 17 year-old Abigail Williams. Proctor has a wife who loves him and three children but still decides to stray from his family and fancies someone else.

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“I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (Miller 1357). This quote is said by John Proctor, a character in “The Crucible,” who is pleading to keep his name reputable when accused of witchcraft. Arthur Miller writes “The Crucible” to portray the Salem witch trials of 1692. The people of Salem have grievances in which they need a scapegoat.

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In the Crucible, many of the characters go through changes because of the intensity of the situation. But there is only one character that I think changed the most, and that is John Proctor who is the protagonist of the novel The Crucible by Arthur Miller. I think that John Procotor changes the most in the Crucible because he is in every act and mostly in every scene, and throughtout  the play I see more drama (Dynamic Character) in him than any other character in the Crucible and I will go through and tell you how John Proctor changes in the Crucible.     In the beginning of the play (Acts 1 and 2), we focus on John Proctor and we know that he is a good puritan citizen, a hard-working farmer and who is a husband and father.

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