John Proctor Character Analysis Essay

Words: 580
Pages: 3

John Proctor from The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a strong character, not just in the play itself, but throughout all of literacy. Choices he makes set his character apart as honest and good, while on the contrary, he himself views himself as horrible and sinful. John Proctor’s traits, characteristics, and his evolution as a character is what makes him so complex and interesting. Towards the end of the play Proctor makes a choice that reveals if what the world believes about him is true, or if how he views himself is the truth. Proctor’s complexity is based off the aspects his personality portrays and the actions he makes based on these aspects, it makes him sometimes difficult or hard to understand as a character. Goodness and honesty are …show more content…
At the beginning of the play Proctor is a man full of guilt trying to do nothing but good to repent for the sins he committed, he seems to be a broken man in a confused state. Even though his conscience consists of guilt at the start, watching him transform proud and innocent man is what makes him such a dynamic and interesting character to learn about. When his wife is taken from his own home he gets an entire new mindset, his self loathing transfers to an all caring nature. The phrase, “you never appreciate what you have until you’ve lost it”, applies very strongly here. Proctor was already terrified of the coldness from his wife, losing her was the trigger that set him into motion to take true action. The second step to his evolution is his ability to confront the problems head on. For example, when Proctor decides to disclose his affair to the court it shows he’s done playing games. His final step is just after he signed his name to witchery. Proctor says, “But it is my name!”(), the fact that he reveals so much compassion for something he so easily threw away in the past proves he feels some sort of pride and goodness in himself and his name, that it now has worth