The Crucible

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Savannah Kerwitz Mrs. J Sienkowski English III, American Literature 6 November 2017 The Tragedy That is John Proctor According to Aristotle, a tragic hero is a character who makes a judgement error that inevitably leads to their own destruction. A tragic hero is created to give the audience something to think about, and to teach the audience a lesson by the end of the story. The audience should walk away with some sort of relief and newfound knowledge of whatever lesson is created through the tragic hero’s downfall. John Proctor’s involvement with Abigail William’s and his abundance of pride that he holds above moral obligation, influences the choices he makes throughout The Crucible which leads to his death at the end of Act IV experiencing epiphany, and making a final decision to hang for a crime he did not commit, John Proctor is a tragic hero ; this essay will examine how and why he is so. While not of noble birth, John Proctor is thought of very highly by others throughout the town, as well as by himself. Proctor believes himself to be a noble man, in his actions as well as his words. When Proctor says, “What’s this mischief here?”(Proctor 256). In act I ,he is addressing the news he heard of Abigail’s cousin who will not wake-up, as well as the rumors of witchcraft’s involvement in the situation. Proctor does not believe the rumors and uses the word ‘mischief’ to emphasize his doubt, while at the same time belittling the other people in the room for participating in Abigail’s and Betty’s theatrics. Proctor addresses others in a way where he places himself in control and above those he is speaking to. Elizabeth says in Act IV “whatever

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you will do, it is a good man who does it”(Elizabeth 338), even after all John and Elizabeth have been through, despite his poor decision to have an affair with Abigail Williams, she still vouches for him and believes him to be a noble man. Through the evidence of the accounts of others, as well as the way Proctor carries himself, it can be determined that John Proctor meets the first trait of Aristotle’s list. A tragic flaw is a character’s bad quality or defect that leads to their own destruction. Proctor’s tragic flaw is his pride that he flaunts and puts above everything else, constantly making the wrong decisions in order to keep his pride intact such as not going to church or baptizing his younger son. Proctor refuses to go to services on Sunday or baptize his youngest son because he dislikes Reverend Parris, and believes he himself is better than Parris. Proctor even claims of his pride in conversation to others “I am no Sarah Good or Tituba, I am John Proctor! You will not use me!”(Proctor, 342). He believes himself to be better than those in the room, saying that they are naive and that they are being used by Abigail and the girls. It is clear that Proctor’s pride weighs on his decisions and choices throughout The Crucible, leading to many of the problems in the play and further backing the accusations of others for witchcraft. John Proctor’s downfall is rooted to his choices and his affair with Abigail. Although the affair is not the cause of the witch trials, it certainly fueled the rage of Abigail towards Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth. Proctor’s sin is his act of adultery, and pride is his flaw. “Will you tell him?”(Elizabeth 290) is when Elizabeth finally speaks up and asks Proctor to tell Hale that the girls are lying. Before this quote from Act II, Proctor refused to tell anyone what he knew, for fear that they would discover his affair. Even after the affair happened, Proctor still was very prideful and arrogant whenever he was with Abigail, while he should have stopped talking to her

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altogether, his death and imprisonment of Elizabeth might have been avoided. His pride gets in his way yet again when Mary Warren charges him as being the devil, and he says “I say— I say — God is dead!”(Proctor 324). Rather than attempt to fix the situation and explain to the crowd of people in order to appeal to them, his dire need to be right and need to control the situation fails him again. His downfall was the result of his own choices and actions, and could have been avoided if he only thought with his head rather than of his pride. John Proctor’s punishment was his death by hanging in the last moments at the end of the play. Aristotle’s fourth element is that the tragic hero’s punishment must exceed their crime. In Act IV Proctor says, “Then who will judge me? God in heaven what is John Proctor, what is John Proctor?”(Proctor 339). He is struggling with his grief of all his past choices, and essentially falling apart. Later, he says “I am no saint”(Proctor 340) once he decides to admit to witchcraft, because he believes he deserves to die. Some may agree with Proctor’s view, and think death is a fair punishment for lying, adultery, arrogance, and putting himself before others , while others may disagree that his punishment exceeded his crime, in this case, death is an extreme reprimand. Every tragic hero is required to have an epiphany, a moment when they realize what they have done wrong. Proctor’s epiphany came very late, and after many tragic events had occurred, Proctor says “ Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang”(Proctor 343). He believes himself to not be worthy to confess to dealing with the devil, when the others who will not lie and confess, are being sent to die. Proctor feels that because of everything he has done, he deserves to die. When Elizabeth tells him “ I am not your judge, I cannot be.”(Elizabeth 340) she is refusing to judge John and he goes to meet his end, realizing only God can judge him.

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The Catharsis is the audience’s response and feelings towards the Tragic hero’s downfall. The audience experiences catharsis before John leaves to hang, he shares an intimate moment with Elizabeth, comforting her and telling her to be strong. “ Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!”(Proctor 343). The audience feels bad for Elizabeth as well as for John because they must separate, and John must die accused of a crime he did not commit. “Because it is my name”(Proctor 343) shows how determined Proctor was in his last moments, refusing to sign his name in order to leave dignity and a good name for his children and his wife. In this moment, the audience comes like accept proctor and The last trait, while not one of Aristotle’s , is that the character must be likable. Proctor has made many displeasing decisions. When Hale is questioning Proctor’s knowledge of the Ten Commandments, he forgets one, having an affair. “Adultery John.”(Elizabeth 289). Although throughout the first three acts of the play Proctor is not very likable, in Act Four he has his epiphany, shares moments with Elizabeth where he apologizes to her, and the audience starts to feel remorse for his fate. During his conversation with Elizabeth Proctor says “ If tongs of fire were singeing you you would not! It is evil!”(Proctor 340). He is saying that even if she were tortured she could not ever be a evil doer, that she is only made of good. This is a moment where we feel that Proctor has good in him as well. John Proctor is a tragic hero because he is Noble, he has a tragic flaw, his downfall is his own fault, his punishment exceeds his crime, he has an epiphany, there is a catharsis and he becomes likable. His character goes through many events within a short amount of time in The Crucible with many times where he tried to fix things without having to hurt his pride, but he

had to loose his pride in order to save Elizabeth and his name. In the end he had his realization, and chose his fate while ironically, still maintaining some small piece of his pride.