Part A:
John Proctor was one of the most complex characters in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. He has both positive and negative qualities to his personality. Primarily, Proctor is honest, dependable, and a man of solid moral. However, he is not always the pillar of morality. Perhaps most noticeably is the negative propensity he has for cheating on his wife. He is lustful after one of the young girls in the village: Abigail Williams. Eventually the two begin an affair. The affair ends before the play begins, igniting Abigail’s intense jealousy toward Proctor’s wife. It also ignites the audience’s intense need to defend Proctor. He did falter within the sanctity of marriage, but later understood his mistake and vowed to do whatever he could to be a good husband. Unfortunately, Abigail’s jealousy sends her on a mad rampage, crying witchcraft throughout the village. Proctor realizes if he confesses his adulterous affair, hurting his wife beyond measure, he can save her and many others. He is too prideful at first, to tarnish his good name, thus attempting to out Abigail through Mary Warren’s testimony. When this does not work, he prostrates himself before the court, swearing adultery and tarnishing his name. He knows it is what needs to be done in order to save innocent lives and stop Abigail. Though he is prideful of his name, he is willing to give that up in order to save others and accept the punishment for his mistake. Though at this time, the witchcraft frenzy has gone too far, and his admission does nothing to change the course of events, it proves that Proctor is an admirable character for two reasons: in the end, he does what is right, and he is relatable. Everybody struggles with his or her inner desires. If one desire is indulged that is unsavory, sometimes we have difficulty admitting it. It is more difficult when we know our reputations will be tarnished. John Proctor makes this struggle within him very evident. He gives in to lust but goes back to his wife. After Williams goes on a rampage, he does everything he can to stop her without losing everything he is trying to gain back for himself. Eventually though, he realizes as many of us do, that he must accept the consequences of his actions and admit what he has done. The fact that it does nothing makes him slightly less admirable; had he confessed sooner, more lives would have been spared.
Part B:
While John Proctor’s inner struggle and inclination to bear his most human desires, which make him relatable, are admirable, he appears to fuel the hysteria of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials rather than calm them. For example, though the affair took place before the play began, and presumably ended, Proctor still flirts with Abigail Williams as if the affair had not ended, or as if it was about to begin again . Abigail has already shown in her first few appearances that she is an untrustworthy girl who will stop at nothing to get what she wants or, at the very least, cause damage. While Proctor may not know that she is plotting to unleash the terror of witch hysteria upon the village, he must understand that she is stable-minded and should act more professionally when near her. Proctor further fuels the witch hysteria by not immediately stopping rumors and trouble when he first hears of it. In Act II of the play, his wife, Elizabeth, states that Mary Warren simply traveled to the state courts. Even after both the Proctors forbade her to go, she stated, “I must go to Salem, Goody Proctor; I am an official of the court!” She leaves without the permission of the Proctors and, because of who her friends are, and how she treated Elizabeth, Proctor begins to piece together what is going on. Elizabeth even remarks that Warren’s mousy demeanor is gone, and she now frightens Elizabeth. Proctor still does nothing, even after hearing about witchcraft and hangings. While he is not a villager running through the streets proclaiming Tituba put a curse on him, he is just as guilty because he holds the single piece of information that could stop the trials, and does not relinquish it until long after it is too late to matter. Therefore, the third reason Proctor fuels, rather than calms, the witchcraft hysteria is because he has several opportunities to confess his indiscretions, give Abigail the “justice” she is seeking, and release the village from their turmoil. He could have confessed to Elizabeth when she began explained Mary Warren’s different disposition. He could have also confessed when Mary Warren began accusing other townspeople of witchcraft . Instead of committing himself to the adultery he committed, thereby releasing the village from Abigail Williams’ hold, he attempts to name Williams as a fraud during Warren’s testimony. Still, in the final act, he condemns the witch trials, refusing to confess his adultery. His only redemption is that he now understands that he is dying to prove that witches are a falsity and Williams is a liar. As Elizabeth states in the final act, “He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him .” While redeeming himself in the eyes of his wife and fellow villagers is just, his actions did fuel the trials.
Part C:
A theme that surfaces for Proctor is the theme of the play. Hysteria develops throughout the village and takes over. It happens as a direct result of the affair Proctor allowed himself to have with Abigail Williams. When Proctor relieved himself of the affair and attempted to return to his normal life, Williams refused to allow this, using the other villagers to incite witchcraft in their midst. Proctor had the power to quell this theme, and even stop it before it began. However, because he was prideful and wary of what a confession would do to his name, he refused to speak of what he had done. He did not want to risk tarnishing his name, something that meant more to him than the lives of his fellow villagers. In the end, though he attempts to tell the courts what happened, it does not matter, because Proctor realizes the only way to tell the truth, is to die. Proctor is swept up in the hysteria, though relatively more calmly, just like the other villagers, as he pledges his life in order to expose Abigail Williams and the acts of witchcraft for fraud.
Works Cited
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York City, 1953. Play.
