Essay on John Proctor: Character Traits of the Crucible

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The character I have chosen to analyze is John Proctor, a protagonist in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. John Proctor is a middle aged farmer married to Elizabeth Proctor and is the father of three boys. He is a very prideful character that can shows signs of obsession about his reputation as he would risk his life to protect his name. John Proctor is a man that reevaluates his values throughout the course of the book as he copes with his personal expectations of himself. He had issues with his wrath and unleashing it on people frequently; however this was did him good in getting his reputation up because he was known for exposing hypocrisy. This gave him the title of an honored man in town; he also had pride and cared about how others viewed him. In the beginning of the book John Proctor commits adultery with Abigail, a manipulative seventeen year old girl with no morals. This affair with Proctor sparks the jealousy in Abigail of Elizabeth which will have a toll on her later on in the book. I believe that majority of it was not his fault but Abigail’s because she constantly acts provocatively towards him and as a male he acted to the situation wrongly which hurt his relationship with Elizabeth. He soon realizes that he has committed a extremely bad sin and believe that he has shamed himself in the eyes of God. Proctor would be considered a religious person that even helped build the church in his town disregarding his discontent with the reverend in the town at the time, because of this the weight of the sin on him crushes how he sees himself. Even though he is hard on himself for the sin he committed, near the end of the book his wife admits that her attitude and aura around him contributed to his doings. This confession shined light on why he would do such a thing. Even though I would not have fell for the manipulative girl, it still sheds light to the situation and from that I can understand his position; even though I don’t agree that it was the right thing or even an acceptable thing to do. This event is a major event in the book for John Proctor because his decisions throughout the novel all have the weight of this event on them as he tries to redeem himself. To reclaim his reputation as a good man of the town after the affair he had with Abigail he does everything in his power to protect the people close to him that are being tormented by Abigail which could lead to some people being hung. He had to protect the people around him like his wife because he believed that it was his fault that she was blamed for witch craft in the first place. Abigail was a maid of the Proctors house but after Elizabeth finds out that she was seeing John behind her back Abigail is immediately fired which lights the flame to her anger that would soon engulf Elizabeth. After Abigail accuses Elizabeth for witch craft, John Proctor immediately, with no hesitation, stands up for her as his guilt takes over. Another problem that he has was his guilt; this was the leading emotion that led his quest to redemption. He effects Abigail’s decisions by enraging her which causes Abigail to aim her anger towards his wife because of the jealousy. Abigail was so willing to get revenge on Elizabeth she stabbed herself in the stomach with a needle and then gave her a voodoo doll with a needle in its stomach so that she would be set up to be blamed for witch craft. If John Proctor had continued his affair with Abigail instead of going back to Elizabeth the chance of these harming events towards Elizabeth would be very slim because she would not have had enough motive for Elizabeth in particular. This is how John
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