Preview

How Is John Proctor Justified In The Crucible

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
421 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Is John Proctor Justified In The Crucible
Crucible can be defined as a test or trial. Many folks in Salem are filled with hysteria when a group of young girls falsely accuse them of witchcraft. John Proctor is one of the folks falsely accused and he must decide his fate through his strong beliefs. John Proctor is justified with his decision of not falsely confessing to the court because by saving his name and reputation it did more good than bad. Before the Salem witch trials start, John Proctor is already suffering from an internal conflict when he commits adultery. He is unable to forgive himself and wholeheartedly believes that God and his wife Elizabeth will never see him the same way. To make matters even worse he must reveal his horrible acts to save his wife from being killed

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the movie, The Crucible, Abigail wanted to marry John Proctor. In order for her to have John, she had to have his wife dead, the only way for his wife to die at the moment was to be accused of witchcraft. Abigail started to accuse people of witchcraft along with all her friends, she blamed the slave they had, and even some of the people she liked. Abigail kept getting her way and kept accusing, then she accused the Proctor family. John didn’t like Abigail accusing them for something she knew wasn’t true, so he tried to accuse her of witchcraft and for being two-face, meaning she would change attitudes to get what she wanted.…

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    We have all been accused of things that we didn’t do. Maybe it was something big, like cheating on a test, or stealing something. Maybe is was something small, like eating the last cookie or leaving the light on when you leave the house. John proctor’s wife, Elizabeth Proctor, was accused of the ultimate crime; witchcraft. John underwent many changes during this play. At first, he was trying to hide the relationship that he had with Abigale. As the play progressed, he began to lay everything on the line to save his wife and her unborn child. I’ll go more in depth on his changes as my essay progresses but he went through multiple personality changes while at the same time, his outlook on the world around him changed just as often.…

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When the play sets into action, John has had a past affair with his servant Abigail Williams. His wife, Elizabeth Proctor, is very forgiving of his sin, but John has his mind set that he will not confess to anyone else, in fear of ruining his good name, and reputation.The affair between John and Abigail caused the start of chaotic witchery and accusation. After the affair, Abigail became horribly jealous of Elizabeth Proctor. Proctor realizes there is only one way to stop all the witch hysteria in Salem, and that would be to confess his sin of adultery. Although he knows he should, he continues to be determined not to confess. Reverend Parris is new to town, and John insist continually that he is only speaking of hell, and hardly ever of God, as Proctor goes on to say to Parris, "Can you speak one minute without we land in Hell again? I am sick of Hell!" In the drama, Mary Warren places a needle in a poppet she gave to Elizabeth; John firmly demands that Mary Warren tell the courts that she really put the needle in the poppet that day. Proctor says to her, "You're coming to the court with me, Mary. You will tell it in the court." Furthermore, at the end of the play Proctor is persistent by saying that no matter what anyone says to convince him differently, he would rather die an honest man and save his name. John Proctor took pride in his thoughts, feelings, values, and his name. It took persistency to make his intent clear to others.…

    • 763 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Forgiving yourself and not just others, can bring you peace. I believe john proctor could not forgive himself, which caused him to be prideful. Though Proctor had many flaws, I still consider he is the tragic hero of the play.…

    • 256 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The life of a man in Salem Massachusetts in the late 1600s was to live a life that was led by his faith and by what the Bible tells people to do. Men were supposed to go to church on the sabbath day and not do any physical labor for the rest of the day. If one was to judge John Proctor by these standards, they would look at him as a man who is not holy and will not go to heaven after he died. He made bad decisions, and caused the people that were closest to him much strife. However, John Proctor was a honest man that is willing to do what is right rather than what was easy.…

    • 1268 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Proctor fears his name’s identity, which is evident near the end of the play when he resists Deputy Danforth and Reverend Hale’s posting his name on the church door, accusing him of witchcraft (IV.712-717). John Proctor is Elizabeth Proctor’s husband, who involved in an affair with Abigail Williams when she was still working as the Proctor’s maid. Elizabeth fires Abigail, once she realizes her maid and her husband’s covert relationship. Elizabeth’s dismissal causes Abigail to become very angry, for women had little power at the time, let alone unmarried women like herself. By playing her Mafia-like wailing and doll piercing games and forcing the other Salem girl to participate, Abigail determines to terminate Elizabeth and keep John for herself (460-473). Nevertheless, the court concludes John as a witch when Elizabeth—hoping to keep the Proctor’s honor—twists the story about how she dismissed Abigail. Even though the court understands John to be innocuous man, fearing their reputation, they persist in delivering his a death sentence,…

    • 395 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everyone in the town of Salem, MA, is the definition of credulous. Everything that happens in this community doesn’t need any proof for why it is right or wrong, if it is said it is true. No questions asked. When the girls originally blamed witchcraft for the peculiar behavior of Betty Paris, nobody wanted to believe that it was anything else. This is the core reason why so many people were killed during the witch-hunts. Abigail Williams, Elizabeth Proctor, and John Proctor were forever changed in history because of credulousness of the townspeople of Salem, MA in 1692…

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The many meanings of the word, “crucible” all symbolize the obstacles John has faced in his life. One of the definitions include: a place or occasion of severe test or trial. John Proctor’s life perfectly describes the title of the play. He has experienced a severe test in life including having to admit his affair to the court, his peers, and to his wife who otherwise was oblivious. He also had to admit to the charge of witchcraft in order to save his life, but ruin his name.…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John Proctor appears to be an authentic, honorable, and candid man. In act one, Proctor exuberates love for authority and exercises his power to the best of his ability. Readers see through Proctor’s witty persona and analyze his fatal sin that fills him with guilt, his affair with Abigail Williams. In the midst of the play, John Proctor undergoes a plethora of self-torment and guilt. Meanwhile, the witch trials continue to be investigated. Only John can free innocent men and women tried for practicing witchcraft, but in the process will ruin his reputation. Proctor later confesses to his act of lechery and rests in the gallows with his neighbors. By doing so, John is perceived as a…

    • 509 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Integrity is achieved through the gaining of wisdom; the gaining of wisdom is a direct result of failure. Arthur Miller wrote the moralizing drama, The Crucible, in this play the main character John Proctor was wrongly accused of witchcraft and served the death penalty along with two others. The story of John Proctor was indirectly summarized by the American author William Saroyan when he said, "Good people...are good because they 've come to wisdom through failure," meaning that a person willing to sacrifice for his beliefs is good because although he has failed, by not according to his moral codes he has gained integrity and the ability to refuse to live a life of hypocrisy; further, John Proctor is good because he died refusing to lie in order to live. Proctor failed because his commitments wavered depending upon his…

    • 2669 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Love makes you do things you can't take back. Many people, such as Abigail, become so love blind, they don't realize that their actions could cause problems to the people surrounding them. One lie leads to another, Abigail and all the girls she was with created lies to save themselves, but in reality, they threatened the lives of others. They should have followed the laws of adultery and modesty. Intolerance is doing the wrong thing and what Abigail did was injustice and inhumane.…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Proctor is arrested on charges of witchcraft along with his wife, Elizabeth. The people that are arrested for witchcraft live if they confess, but hang if they deny the charges, even if the charges are not truthful. This plays an important part in the testing of John’s integrity later in the play. In the beginning, we find out that Proctor had an affair with the niece of the town reverend, Abigail Williams. This displays a lack of integrity for John, but nobody knows about it until later. John shows his integrity when he confesses to this affair later in the play. At the beginnig of the play, the Proctor’s want no part in the witch trials. They get dragged into the proceedings when Abigail accuses Elizabeth of hurting her with a voodoo doll. John has integegrity when he tries to save his wife from being hanged. He gets depositions from others in the town that show how good his wife was. He has Mary Warren, who was working in the Proctor house, confess that she was the one who made the doll and stuck the needle in it. This does not work though, and Mary turns on Proctor and gets him arrested. When Proctor is in jail, he shows his integrity once again. He knows that he has the…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is appalling how people die for no cause. This happens in the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller in which The Salem witch trials were depicted. In Salem, 1692, many people with good reputations are sentenced to death because of supernatural "evidence." The only way to escape death was to admit that they were witches. The intolerance, fear, and reputation of the society affect the choices characters made. This shows how society can be blamed for the decisions people make.…

    • 843 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John’s conflicts have left him weaker than that he was before, and that weakness makes him depend on Mary Warren to reveal the truth about the witch trials in his place. Mary Warren would then accuse John Proctor of witchcraft. John is thrown into a dungeon and he is in a dilemma whether he should hang like a “saint”, or live with the guilt. In a conversation between Elizabeth and John Proctor, his inner struggle is shown, after Elizabeth says that she cannot judge him, “Then who will judge me? God in Heaven, what is John Proctor? I think it is honest, I think so; I am no saint. Let Rebecca go like a saint for me it is fraud!”(Proctor, Miller, IIII, 1100) Elizabeth then replies that she is not his judge, and to do as he will, to which John states, “Would you give them such a lie? Say it. Would you ever give them this? You would not if tongs of fire were singeing you you would not! It is evil. Good, then-it is evil, and I do it.”(Proctor, Miller, IIII, 1100) When John Proctor’s conflicts have been chosen he turns into a selfless…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A crucible is a severe test as of patience or belief, a trial. Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible is a journey through the trials of many townspeople caused by suspicions of witchcraft. As the story progresses, people’s words and actions cause Reverend John Hale to change his views on whether the people prosecuted were guilty or innocent of witchcraft. As numerous events and their consequences unfold, they cause Hale to rethink his initial views on witchcraft and to be persuaded of the innocence of those convicted in Salem.…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays