...thing that existed, there was something tragic.” A quote from Oscar Wilde, a playwright and novelist speaking about the main character, in his book “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” The definition of a tragic hero involves a literary character who makes an error that leads to their own destruction, but eventually changes for the better. John Proctor is no hero, but a tragic hero. John is considered a tragic hero due to a tragic flaw, his free choice, and the punishment he receives which exceeds his crime. Behind every beauty there is a flaw, leading to the definition of John Proctor. John Proctor is a typical man during the time of the Crucible with a wife and three kids. He is a decent Christian and a hard worker. His flaws are his lust and unwillingness to forgive himself. Proctors lusts of Abigail which leads to an affair between the two, and leaves Abigail broken hearted to be left by Proctor, causes a large amount of trouble in the story. This lust causes many troubles including the other hamartia of Proctor not able to forgive himself. This lust for Abigail causes Proctor to have a large weight on his shoulders...
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...In the book The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor emerges as a tragic hero. A tragic hero is a person who makes a judgement that eventually leads to his or her downfall. Romeo is famous for being a tragic hero in the play, Romeo and Juliet. John Proctor is a tragic hero because he is lustful, hypocritical, and highly respected. John Proctor reveals himself as a tragic hero for being lustful. He had an affair with Abigail. Abigail says, “I know you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I come near!” (Miller 21). This means that Proctor could not control himself around Abigail. Because he got caught, he stopped seeing Abigail. If Proctor would have never been caught, who is to say that he would have stopped the affair? John Proctor is a tragic hero for being lustful towards Abigail. John Proctor proves himself as a tragic hero for being hypocritical. He says he is faithful man, but he did not know all Ten Commandments. Elizabeth helped him out with the Commandments and Proctor said, “You see, sir, between the two of us we do know them all” (Miller 64). Proctor can not prove himself as a Christian in a serious situation and never shows up in church. He says he is always working on the farm. It leaves him with a bad name and not a very good impression. John Proctor’s tragic...
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...Divya Kumar Mr. Kirley ENG3U1-05 November.11.2015. The Crucible: Is John Proctor truly a tragic hero? A tragic hero is a person with admirable qualities yet they have a tragic flaw that leads them to their downfall. In Miller’s play “The Crucible,” the protagonist, John Proctor, is a tragic hero known for his good reputation yet commits adultery with Abigail thus making it a tragic flaw that leads to his death. John Proctor is a tragic hero because he is a well-mannered person that has a good reputation. John strongly believes in Elizabeth’s good morals by proving his honesty and bond towards Elizabeth and speaks up for her as he tries to get her and his friends’ wives out of jail. He tells Danforth...
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...Lauren Barash Mrs. Dachille ELA: Hour 4 25 November 2014 John Proctor Tragic Hero A tragic hero is one who holds a high status in a community. The protagonist habitually faces a supernatural force of misfortune in which they conquer and gain admiration from the audience. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, John Proctor was not the ordinary resident living in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. Salem during this time period embodies pure unintelligence. The community faced ruthless weather, deceased crops, and sickness. They didn’t know how these dreadful happenings arose. The only knowledge they had came from books, which did not contain the solutions for their troubles. The idea of witchcraft was proposed, and with this being the only possible...
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...must risk their reputation to do what is right. This is what made John Proctor a hero, despite the flaws he had. The Crucible by Andrew Miller is a play about the Salem witch trials during the Puritans era. John Proctor is a hero in The Crucible because he believes in justice, values his reputation, and is fallible. John Proctor believes in justice for the people accused of witchcraft. He is willing to put himself on the line so others can be free. When John was at the courthouse, in front of all the judges—trying to save his wife’s life, he admits to his affair with Abigail. It does this so he can end the wrath of Abigail. John said—admitting to his faults “I have known her, sir; I have known her,” (Miller 1309). Another example would be when he is not willing to give the names of others away, because he wants to be the good person that he was always inside. He says when the towns’ men are questioning him for other “witches”. Danforth asks him if there was...
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...hero is a person who has heroic qualities and is fated by the Gods or by some supernatural force for doom or at least to great suffering. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Salem was in a period of time where witch hunts were frequent which created chaos throughout the town. These witch hunts often targeted innocent, hard working people who were accused of witchery with no actual evidence. As a result when this conflict introduced itself to John Proctor, he exhibited tragic hero traits such as pride, catharsis, and nobleness. Pride plays an interesting role in the life of John Proctor in The Crucible. During the trials, Proctor daily wages an internal, war between his conscience and pride. His prideful mindset is what primarily caused his downfall; a person who rises and falls because of their own ignorant flaw, which is the true meaning of a tragic hero. Therefore there are several traits that exemplify a tragic hero in John...
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...John Proctor is faced with obstacles that he must overcome to develop his character in The Crucible. John Proctor’s change in his character is an important part of the theme of The Crucible. John Proctor is a farmer that inherited the family tradition. He is married to Elizabeth Proctor and has three young boys. John Proctor dislikes hypocrites and does not trust the authority in Salem. John Proctor committed an affair with a seventeen-year-old girl named Abigail Williams. Throughout the story he is challenged with the guilt of committing adultery. John Proctor’s personal integrity is challenged in multiple parts of The Crucible. Proctor is challenged by the affair with Abigail, Hale questioning him about his relationship with God, giving up...
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...In literature a tragic hero is someone who tends to play a major role in the story, and eventually gets pulled into a downfall by their tragic flaw. In “The Crucible” John Proctor can be seen as one of multiple tragic heroes through his constant appearance in the story, and like any other tragic hero has a flaw leading to his downfall. Therefore John Proctor is a tragic hero; one of the most memorable in the entire play. John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth Proctor, would have been a community member who exposed John’s flaws. One of the few things holding John back from being the perfect hero was his past with Abigail. As a result of his adultery crime, John had too much pride to admit to the crime until Elizabeth’s life was on the line. Elizabeth...
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...The Crucible, a story about the wrongly accused being hanged for standing by their morals and the truth. Abigail and her friends cause the whole town to go into chaos as they accuse many people in the town of being witches, many lie and confess to being witches while some will stand by the truth and plead innocence. The play follows John Proctor and the question I will answer is if Proctor could be considered a tragic hero. One quality a tragic hero must have is a “tragic flaw” or a flaw that will cause the character’s downfall. John Proctor’s flaw is excessive pride, one example of this is his commanding nature toward his wife. He tells his wife she is being cold and she must forgive him as if he didn’t do much to hurt her but he doesn’t realise that he is the one at fault. Proctor also does not go to church even though everyone in the town were supposed...
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...What would you do if your choice was to save your name or get hung? Would you die? John Proctor died for his name. He signed a document saying he was a witch but then he thought to himself that if they posted that on the church door, he would lose his last name, meaning, his last name would not be a name people wouldn't want to hear. John Proctor was a tragic hero because, he died for his pride, his integrity, and hysteria. John Proctor had a few flaws; one of them that really hurt him was his pride. That flaw would make him go through a series of events that would soon lead up to his hanging. Proctor’s internal pride was lost when he had a affair with Abigail. Proctor's life is completely turned upside down when Abigail accused his wife who was then sent to jail, and almost executed. A Tragic hero is when he or she has a complete reversal of fortune brought by the hero's own flaw. At the end of every tragic play, the audience must feel pity or remorse for the...
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...Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953 during the McCarthy Era, when Americans were accusing each other of Pro-Communist beliefs. Many of Miller’s friends were being attacked as communists and Miller himself was brought up guilty of beliefs in communism. Miller was getting sick of this so he put his writing techniques in action and wrote a play called The Crucible to show the injustices. This playwright uses the Salem Witch trials as an allegory to the US injustices toward suspected Communists. The Crucible is set against the backdrop of the mad witch hunts of the Salem witch trials, where innocent people were being accused and hung because of witchcraft. Miller portrays a character that is known as a tragic hero, strong but flawed, to fight against the injustice of the town and to show that a tragic hero can still do what he believes is best even when the majority of society is influenced by lies. The character that Miller chooses to be his Greek tragic hero is John Proctor, who is a good, well known, and respected man in Salem. It is evident that John Proctor fulfills the requirements of the Greek Tragic hero because of his many positive traits, such as his noble characteristics, his honorable and righteous qualities, and always believing in himself fighting for what is true. However, he had a fatal flaw that showed the darker side to his perfect characteristics. His flaw is committing adultery towards his wife. Before the play began, Proctor’s lust for Abigail Williams...
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...were accused just like this during the Red Scare (Andrew). Miller created The Crucible during this time of paranoia (Hosey). In the 1950s and 1940s, after the Cold War, Russia became a direct representation of everything anti-American, thus Communism was anti-American (History.com staff). The House of Un-American Activities Committee was created to rid America of Communist (History.com staff). McCarthy lead this extirpation and exacerbated the situation to a point of utter chaos and paranoia called the Red Scare (History.com staff; Hosey). This campaign began with an attack at the liberal Hollywood, blacklisting of Hollywood...
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...The Crucible Critical Analysis Shakespeare believes that a tragic hero has potential for greatness, but is ultimately destined to fail. The character falls from greatness because of their ‘tragic flaw’. In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, the protagonist John Proctor is portrayed as the tragic hero. He fits this description for a number of reasons. His tragic flaw or Achilles heel, like many other tragic heroes is his pride. Compounded with conflicts with circumstances, this tragic flaw leads to Proctor’s loss of life and arguably the loss of his eternal life as well. One of the major requirements to being a Shakespearean tragic hero includes having a tragic flaw. Proctor places a great deal of importance on his pride or what he considers dignity and self-respect. He lets pride overshadow his life and actions. He would rather maintain his pride or die. As the play nears its end in Act Four, it shows that he would rather give up his life, rather than post his fake confession on the church doors for the public to see. He states, “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life... How may I live without my name? I have given my soul; Leave me my name!” (Miller, 133). John is too prideful and unwilling to stain his reputation. He prefers to die rather than have his name stained because of a fake confession. He wants to leave his name intact for his family. Another example of this is illustrated in Act Two, where Elizabeth urges Proctor to go...
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...The Crucible is a tragic story, one of unjustified deaths and malicious lies. People died standing up for what they believed in, and according to the story, one of those people was John Proctor. However, he wasn’t the courageous individual who wanted to save the lives of others. He had something else in mind, his own reputation. John Proctor died to save his own reputation in his town. He chose to die rather than live with his pregnant wife and children, just to avoid losing his good name. As the story was spun, John Proctor was supposed to appear as a tragic hero, however this is not the case. John Proctor’s actions were driven by guilt, selfishness and arrogance, not because of heroism. Although John Proctor's death was not warranted, he...
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...Dimmesdale vs. John Proctor Heroes are often thought as the superior and perfect people in society. However, The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible illustrates that everyone, including sinners, can be a hero in certain situations. The Scarlet Letter, a book about the consequence and change of identity after committing adultery between the main characters, Hester and Dimmesdale, has many similarities with The Crucible, a story about an unfair witch-hunt in Salem, Massachusetts. In the two books, Dimmesdale and John Proctor are depicted as heroes despite their critical flaws in their lives. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Arthur Miller, the authors of The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible, portray contrasting symbolism such as hypocrisy and justice through similar but different characters: Reverend Dimmesdale and John Proctor. Identified as an adulterer in the story, Dimmesdale’s hypocrisy is clearly shown through the context. The story starts off with the punishment of Hester for her sin, adultery that she had committed with Dimmesdale. As Hester does not blurt the name of the child’s father when questioned about the crime, Dimmesdale as a Reverend, the holy man, speaks up. He states, “though [the man that has sinned] were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee, on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart.” (Hawthorne 58). He continues that the “silence” of Hester is just “[adding] hypocrisy to sin.” (Hawthorne 58). Ironically, his statements...
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