John Proctor In The Crucible

John Proctor and His Motives in The Crucible
Proctor was predestined to die. It was inevitable. Reading through The Crucible by Arthur Miller, one might see how this is true. The Crucible is formatted as a play, but the emotional aspects are described well enough to be a novel. As hero of this novel, Proctor must overcome his obstacles, and defeat the villain. The only way for these things to happen while Proctor is in jail is for him to die without confessing. To find this element, a reader truly has to look beneath the surface of the words, and understand literary lenses. With the antiquated language and grammar it can be difficult to understand the underlying themes. There are many different ways to view The Crucible by Arthur Miller, but …show more content…
For example, Proctor is a prime example of a typical hero. As Hooti said, “Miller would seem to have provided Proctor with all the heroic attributes dear to the heart of ‘traditionalists’”, being strong, independent, attractive, and rebellious (66). But Proctor is not the only character based off of <an important> archetype. If analyzed with Hooti’s opinion, “the most powerful archetypes are the anima/animus, the wise old man/earth mother, and the self” (73). The Shadow must be Abigail, with her uncontrolled emotions and desire. When Proctor told her that he would tell the court of their affair, Miller describes her thoughts: “a wildness stirs in her, a child is standing here who is unutterably frustrated, denied her wish, but she is still grasping for her wits” (151). The animus is a “masculine personality”, and Proctor easily fits the role, being “the kind of man-- powerful of body, even-tempered, and not easily led—who cannot refuse support to partisans without drawing their deepest resentment”(Hooti 73)(Miller 20). The Crucible has both a wise old man and an earth mother in the Nurses; the whole town admired and respected them. Francis was “called upon to arbitrate disputes a though he were an unofficial judge, and Rebecca also enjoyed he high opinion most people had for him” (Miller …show more content…
There is no middle ground when it comes to opinions: “a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between” (Miller 94). If one were to say that witches did not exist, they would be seen as disagreeing with the court, which is the only thing capable of removing witchcraft from the town (Miller qtd by Bigsby 87). Danforth considers the court a reflection of himself, and “any covert or overt criticism of the legal proves is seen by him as an attack on his self” (Hooti 72). Proctor and Giles Corey’s attempt to free their wives through legal means was seen as a direct attack on the integrity of the court, and they were both arrested. The only way for them to defeat the court was to inhibit court proceedings, for Giles it was not answering the indictment. For Proctor, refusing to identify others or give his confession to the

Show More