Characteristics Of John Proctor In The Crucible

The Makeup of John Proctor

The Crucible is a play about the old Salem Witch Trials written in 1953 by Arthur Miller. Arthur Miller wrote the play during the era of the Red Scare, which was when Senator Joseph McCarthy created fears of a rise in communism. During the Red Scare, several celebrities, writers, actors, and politicians were accused of Communism, including Arthur Miller himself. Miller wrote the crucible as a way to remind everyone of our past mistakes and how closely the Red Scare imitates our past in a way of speaking out without doing so directly. In the Crucible, Abigail Williams accuses many women of witchcraft with the help of other girls and she targets the wife of John Proctor because of the affair she had with him. John Proctor becomes Abigail’s primary adversary in the court and becomes a crucial character within the story, the strongest opposing force to the injustice of the Trials. John Proctor has three main characteristics that make him so formidable, that is to say; John
Proctor is candid, insightful, and altruistic. To be candid is to be truthful and straightforward.
Proctor shows that he is candid multiple times within the play. A satisfactory example of this characteristic in John would be in Act two of the play, page 1270, he claims that he confessed to his wife that he had an affair with Abigail and admits to having been alone with Abigail earlier in the week even though he knows it will resume his wife’s suspicions and distrust for him. Throughout the play there is only one time where he succumbs to lying and it is when he is pressured by death should he choose not to, however; he does not go through with the lie and to protect his dignity and name he decides to die as a forthright man rather than live as a perjurer. John even admits that he is lying and exclaims his distaste for it in act four of the play on page 1333, e.g.; “Proctor, with a cry of his whole soul: Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to
lies...” Insightful is another word for perceptive. There are multiple occasions in which John is very perceptive to the motives of those around him. Goody Proctor and he himself both knew immediately that Abigail was aiming to have Elizabeth killed for revenge when she was accused of witchcraft by Abigail. A better example, however, might be when John was pressured to confess to witchcraft, sign a document proving his confession, and allow them to post it publicly in town. He knew that they were attempting to exploit his name to save their own skin and because of this he refused. In the end, John chose he would rather keep his name and dignity rather than allow others to tarnish his name for their own selfish reasons. He makes this decision in act four on page 1332, “You will not use me! I am no Sarah Good or Tituba, I am John Proctor! You will not use me! It is no part of salvation that you should use me!” The main characteristic that really sets John apart is being altruistic. Altruistic means selfless or compassionate. When questioned in court, he admits to entertaining an affair with Abigail, knowing it would besmirch his name in the town and he would be punished for it. The reason he chose to confess is to preserve the lives of all the innocent women Abigail had falsely accused of witchcraft, including his wife Elizabeth. During act three of the play on page 1309, John proclaims this, “I have made a bell of my honor! I have rung the doom of my good name--you will believe me, Mr. Danforth! My wife is innocent, except she knew a whore when she saw one!” These words display Proctor’s knowledge of what consequences will come for him and he makes it clear that he intentionally soiled his own name to substantiate the innocence of the accused and the guilty, vindictive, mendaciousness of the accuser. To conclude, the three characteristics that become John Proctor, candid, insightful, and altruistic, are what make him such an intriguing character. He had many faults and made plenty of mistakes in the play but he died an honest, selfless man who learned from his mistakes and had been making efforts to fix them. Arthur Miller wrote John as a relatable character who fought a corrupt system and lost. His death is the very representation of all the injustice in accusing people and condemning them with only speculation and a lack of suitable proof. Proctor also represents the struggles of being unable to defend oneself from the system that was happening in present time as Arthur wrote the play. Arthur was doing the same thing John tried to do, convince the people that what is happening is unjust; the only difference is Arthur tried doing so indirectly while John chose to do so directly.