Who Is John Proctor Cruel In The Crucible

The Crucible by Arthur Miller focused on a very dark time in our nation’s history: The Salem Witch Trials. In the midst of this frenzy, many people were accused and killed. In the the play, three very well respected people, Giles Corey, Rebecca Nurse, and John Proctor, were all executed; however, their deaths were necessary.
Although John Proctor was a man of many faults, he was very well liked in the town of Salem. People respected him, he was very even tempered and powerful. The text states, “Proctor, respected and even feared in Salem…”(Miller 20). Naturally, when people had heard he was accused and was sentenced to hang, they were very angry. Hale and Parris were trying to get Danforth to postpone the hangings in fear of a rebellion, but

He was tortured for information and wouldn’t give it up to them, and it the torture became too much for him and he died. The text describes him as “A crank and a nuisance, but withal a deeply innocent and brave man”(Miller 41). Giles had accidentally accused his wife of witchcraft by lamenting to Hale that he couldn’t pray when his wife was reading. The only reason he couldn’t pray was because he had just learned his prayers. He realized that what he did was wrong and went to save his wife, along with Francis and John. He was trying to explain that the girls were lying and Thomas Putnam was using the girls to get land. When the members of the court tried to get the information out of him as to who accused Putnam of this, he wouldn’t budge. So, they resorted to torture. Elizabeth told John “He were not hanged. He would not answer aye or nay to his indictment; for if he denied the charge they’d hang him surely, and auction out his property. So he stand mute, and died Christian under the law. And so his sons will have his farm. It is the law, for he could not be condemned a wizard without her answer the indictment, aye or nay”(Miller 135). And she also states, “Great stones they lay upon his chest until he plead aye or nay. They say he give them but two words. ‘More weight,’ he says. And died”(Miller 135). Giles’s death symbolized a man who has learned from his mistakes and a man who wants to protect his