How Does John Proctor Change In The Crucible

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In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller the main character, John Proctor, demonstrates that throughout the play, his beliefs about himself change. The play starts with an introduction of the setting, Salem, Massachusetts, a conservative town in Puritan New England. When John Proctor is introduced, he is described as a man who is reasonable, not easily angered, and respected by his community. He also believes that he’s not a honorable person, and that he has foundered in living up to the town’s standards and expectations or his own. The guilt that Proctor feels from his sins weighs him down throughout the play. At the beginning, it is known that Proctor is a strong man who respects himself and his name, when he ruins his name by committing lechery, that self respect deteriorates. Toward the end of the play, his morals change, and it can be seen that John starts to respect himself again. In the beginning of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Abigail and Proctor are arguing about their relationship. “I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind” (page 23). Ironically, Abigail is in love with John, and is willing to go to drastic measures to be with him, while John feels the …show more content…
Is the accuser always holy now?” (page 77). When John says “Is the accuser always holy…”, this tells the reader that John believes that Abigail is a sinner, and therefore her and her word cannot be trusted. It also would imply that John believes that he is untrustworthy, for he too is a sinner, he committed the same crime as Abigail. When John is introduced in the start of the play, his stage directions explain that he hates hypocrites, and that is shown here when he says that an accuser needs to be “holy” and close to