John Proctor Character Analysis

Submitted By anthony_gia
Words: 982
Pages: 4

John Proctor- John plays the hero in “The Crucible”, a very blunt, honest and confident man. He is a farmer that has his own land in Salem, although he is very well spoken and seems to be educated. Even though John has very good morals and treats others with respect, he has a dark secret. He has had an affair with Abigail Williams. When the trial begins at the court after the girls have accused the first town’s people as witches, Proctor does not come forward and say he believes the girls are liars because he know Abigail will confess she had an affair with him. John does not want his family name to be spoiled. He waits out the trial to see what will happen. He finally tells Hale in act 2 what he thinks of the girls and witchcraft. Hale seems to somewhat leaning more towards Johns’ thoughts and starting to question if the girls are truthful. As the story goes on and more people have been hung and accused of dealing with the devil John finally confesses in front of an open court that he has had an affair with Abigail by calling her a “whore”. This demonstrates how John can be sometimes loose control of his emotions. But it is too late because things have gone to far and instead of proving Abigail and the girls wrong he just gets himself arrested.
In the final act, after all John has been through he still keeps his head held high when asked to sign the document that states he admits to witch craft. He does not want to do it because he does not want to lie and have his life, he would rather die a truthful man.

Abigail Williams- Abigail is clearly the villain in this book. She has sent 19 people to their deaths, manipulated the high court and turned a whole town upside down, all because she didn’t get what she wanted. Abigail had an affair with John but John had realized how sinful it was so he stopped seeing Abigail. Abigail has fancied Proctor for a long time now so she obviously has become very jealous of Elizabeth, Johns wife. Williams started this whole uproar along side her friends thinking that Elizabeth would be hung and she would marry John but it had the opposite effect. John was the one that ended up being hung and before john was killed he had much hatred towards Abigail. Abigail had not much to lose in the first place. She was an unmarried orphan girl so she wasn’t really high up on social scale in town. It’s amazing how one girl and her jealousy can make so many people truly believe that their family, friends and neighbors are witches. All it took was a bit of courage and some acting skills.

Reverend Hale­­­­­­­- Hale is a highly respected and intellectual witch hunter. He enters the story when Parris has called for him to examine his daughter Betty. Hale seems to believe that the devil is among the town when he comes to Salem. Although as the story continues, Hale starts to take Proctors opinions into serious account. When Hale visits John late at night, John admits to Hale that he thinks the girls are frauds but did not tell him sooner because John knew he had no evidence and it was a weak case. After John tells Hale that Abigail admitted that the girls and she were dancing in the woods, Hale starts to become more interested in what proctor has to say. He questions why John did not tell him sooner so this shows that Hale is now starting to rethink this whole trial.
In act 3, Giles comes storming into the court claiming he has evidence to prove with wife innocent, Danforth does not want to listen to