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Common Man In The Crucible

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Arthur Miller wrote his essay titled “Tragedy and the Common Man” in 1949. This essay explains Miller’s definition of a tragic hero as well as why a common man has as much ability to be the hero of a tragedy as someone of nobility. The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953 that dramatizes the Salem witch trials of the late seventeenth century in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In the play, the town of Salem falls into hysteria after Reverend Parris finds his daughter, niece, and their friends dancing in the woods with his slave Tituba. The young girls claim they have been bewitched by people in the town to avoid punishment, although, the punishment then comes for the accused regardless of their innocence. A vital character to the …show more content…
With the court of Salem bringing in new accused townies each day, John Proctor and especially his wife became fearful for their own safety. In Miller’s essay, he explains that the “underlying fear of being displaced” is what drives a tragic hero, and fear is a distinct theme in his play (Miller, “Tragedy”, 2). Once Elizabeth Proctor is accused by Abigail Williams, the fear sets in for Proctor as he asserts, “I’ll not give my wife to vengeance” (Miller, Crucible, 77). Furthermore, the people of Salem condemned those who did not fit in, and to be accused of witchcraft would have displaced Proctor and could cost him his life, which he knew. Above all, Proctor valued his wife’s life due to his understanding of her innocence in comparison to his sin of adultery. This fear installed in Proctor caused him to make an uproar in court in which he stated that he believes “she means murder” in reference to Abigail Williams (Miller, Crucible, 104). Moreover, Miller concludes that “it is the common man who knows this fear best”; the fear he is referring to is that of not fitting into society (Miller, “Tragedy”, 2). John Proctor is most certainly a common man, and he embodies the fear of being displaced very well as a true tragic hero

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