John Proctor Was Innocent Essay

The Crucible, a prominent play authored by Arthur Miller, introduces a new type of horror. The theatrical work stages in Salem, Massachusetts where numerous illicit murders (murder in this case is referring to those who were falsely accused of witchcraft and payed a fatal consequence) took place. John Proctor, a farmer doing the witchcraft trials, was falsely apprehended for witchcraft, along with his wife Elizabeth Proctor. Instead of admitting to the false accusations and be granted life, John Proctor chose to die as a noble man. Now, as courageous and respectable as that might have been, John Proctor should have corroborated the charges because he had already commit sins that defy his nobility and morals.

"How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave my name!" (Proctor) John Proctor a farmer, and the husband of Elizabeth. He had an affair with Abigail Williams while she worked as a servant in his house. John is a powerful man in both build and character. " John Proctor is a tormented individual. He believes his affair with Abigail irreparably damaged him in the eyes of god, his wife Elizabeth, and himself. True, Proctor did succumb to sin and commit adultery; however he lacks the capacity to forgive himself." (www.cliffsnotes.com) John Proctor goes from being loved and well respected to a sinner and later on becoming a tragic hero which was surrounded by strong feelings and beliefs.

John Proctor’s love for Elizabeth helps him tell the court about his affair with Abigail. John Proctor says, “My wife is innocent, except she knew a whore when she saw one.” (111) Abigail William accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft and John Proctor begins to fear for Elizabeth’s safety. John Proctor goes to court and tells the officials that Abigail is lying about people being witches. In order for the court to believe him, he tells them that he had an affair with Abigail when Elizabeth was sick. John Proctor wants to keep Elizabeth and her baby safe from the harshness of the court. His love shows because once he tells the court the outcome for execution may change for Elizabeth. John Proctor knows the outcome but he does not care because all he

John Proctor’s ability to overcome his tragic flaw by admitting his sin to the court without any regard for repercussion. This mistake included him committing adultery with Abigail Williams. Due to this event, external struggles between Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor were created. Abigail mistakes John Proctor’s sex for true love, and wanted John to leave Elizabeth and marry her. However; John realized his mistake and told Abigail that their relationship would no longer exist. After hearing what John said, Abigail became angry and disheartened, but she is still convinced that she can be with Proctor one day. Her believing this

John Proctor may seem like an innocent man that you should feel sorry for when he is accused. He has two children, a beautiful wife and a bunch of land. But, he has a secret. A secret with Abigal WIlliams. I feel that John Proctor was the reason the Salem Witch Trials started, because he had an affair with Abigal and kicked her to the side afterwards causing her to seek revenge.

In the 1953 play, The Crucible, John Proctor was portrayed as a fallen hero. Proctor was just an average farmer trying to support his family and make ends meet. He was tempted by a sweet 17 year old girl, or so she seemed; this girl was Abigail Williams. Abigail Williams was sweet and innocent in the eyes of Salem but infamous and cruel to those who knew the truth. She and other adolescent girls accused innocent people of practicing Witchcraft for selfish reasons and Abigail tempted John into having relations with her. John Proctor may have committed lechery but he was not a bad person. He had many flaws which resulted in his own downfall and reversed his fortune, but he indeed was killed for unjust purposes.

In the beginning of the play, Proctor searches for the truth while everyone else makes empty accusations about the reasons for Betty’s illness, this indicates that he is a man that values truth over subversion. The townspeople are using the accusation of witchcraft as a cover for long entrenched ideas of revenge against each other, because many who accuse have something to gain from another person’s death. Proctor’s search for the truth over this archaic practice makes his denial of having an affair with Abigail seem all the more out of character. The great irony is that he expects others to be brutally honest when he can’t even be honest to himself. He doesn’t want to admit to his own faults because they are too shameful for him to bare, as he was not honest with his wife, Elizabeth, about Abigail. His affair with Abigail broke his code of honor. The affair causes more problems, because now Abigail wants to be with Proctor and get rid of Elizabeth. Abigail accuses Elizabeth of being a witch and she is sent to jail. Proctor testifies in court that Elizabeth is not a witch, and he eventually admits his infidelity in order to prove that Abigail is a whore. However, this backfires on him because when Elizabeth is brought in to confirm Proctor’s statement, she lies, saying that Proctor and Abigail did not have an affair. This completely demolishes Proctor and Elizabeth’s credibility, and they are both sent to jail. Time in jail is not kind to Proctor, as the judges want him to sign a confession so that others will too, knowing that he is a respectable presence in Salem. Proctor signing the confession could save all of their lives. By this point, Proctor accepts that he had an affair, but he still doesn’t forgive himself for it, which would mean confessing to his sins. He asks Elizabeth for forgiveness because he can’t forgive himself, and Elizabeth responds, “Do what you will. But let none be your

By the end of the play, Proctor’s desire to keep his good name, however, led him to make the heroic choice of not making a false confession. Instead, he would rather die knowing that he has some truth to himself. “Proctor, with a cry of his whole soul: Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lie! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (IV, pg.143). Throughout the whole play, Proctor felt like a fraud to everyone around him because they all saw him as this well respected and honest man in society. If he confessed to witchcraft, he would be lying to himself and to everyone else. He already holds so much guilt and shame for his adultery that he loses control over his soul. His good name was the only part left of him that was still pure. Proctor hastily decided to not sign his name away because he would have nothing left of himself. By refusing to give away his name, he redeems himself for his

To begin with, Proctor was an honest man. He shows this by admitting that he had an affair with Abigail Williams the one accusing John of witchcraft. This shows that John Proctor is willing to admit his wrong doings even though we know some people will never do that.

Despite the reality of his inner ignominy and remorse, he still fathoms how exceedingly essential guarding one's standing in Puritan society is. Due to this, and his own reluctance to admit his shame, he has a difficult time bringing himself to court. Which, part of that may have been the fact that he was troubled that they would not believe it had anything to do with his shame— That the people Abigail and the girls were accusing had little to do with his household and their shared sin. Proctor also has great respect for his honor, though he notes he deems himself with little, he yearns to redeem himself, and refuse to tell his lie at the end. He understands he will be shunned, whispered about, and perhaps laughed at for the rest of his life.

John Proctor is a well respected man in Salem despite that he struggles with tragic flaws that are not known to the community because he refuses to acknowledge his flaws. John’s affair with Abigail is one of John’s tragic flaws. During

After losing the respect of his friends and Elizabeth and the readers, John fesses up to Abigail saying it was all pretense. Towards the end of the play is where we really see the true ways and thoughts of John Proctor through his actions. When he returns to the town, he refuses to give up fighting for his friends such as; Goody Nurse, Giles Corey, Martha Corey and most important, Elizabeth, who have all been commended for witchcraft. With Giles being the exception, he’s in contempt of Court. Judge Danforth ask john if he will drop the charge against the court because his wife is pregnant and John replies with “I 一 I think I cannot” (Miller.77.181). Everything is going wrong for Proctor at this point and he finally admits that he committed lechery with Abigail. Which backfires with Elizabeth not telling the truth to protect his good name. Mary Warren cannot take the pressure of Abigail’s accusations against her and ends up falling into the deception and lying to the court and accuses Proctor of witchcraft. After the days go by Proctor is sentenced to hang the next morning. Hale pleads with Proctor to lie and take his life back into his own hands. The court wanted a written confession and Proctor refused to let them take his good name away from him. He then proceeds to rip up his confession. Hale cries out to make him lie and tells him he cannot do this, Proctor replies with “I

It is evident that John did not want to confess this because he knew it would hurt his character, but at this point, he valued his wife’s life more than he valued his social status. Later in the play, John refuses to slander himself by letting the court nail a document of his signed confession to the church door. As a result, Proctor dies but is able to uphold his reputation as an honest man.

John Proctor is more worthy of respect and admiration as he abandons his own selfishness, self-respect, and reputation in order to serve justice, ultimately sacrificing his own life to do so. At the beginning of the play, it was introduced that Proctor was an unfaithful husband due to the affair between him and the maid in his house, Abigail Williams. To upkeep his reputation, Proctor withheld the secret of the affair from the town. However in order to discredit Williams’ claims against the townsfolk, Proctor confessed to this great sin, tainting his

In the beginning of the play we are lead to believe that John Proctor is a sinner and feared among the townspeople. It is also mentioned in the play that John Proctor had an affair with Abigail, a seventeen girl from Salem who in the beginning of the play is shunned and frowned upon, but when the trials start up she is looked highly upon because her and the girls who follow her can “seek out the witches”. While John Proctor has done many bad things, he has also done many positive things to outweigh the sins he has committed. When John hears about Abigail charging his wife Elizabeth of witchcraft, John becomes outraged and goes to the court and confesses to lechery to try to get his pregnant wife out of jail for a false accusation. While he tries to confess for lechery, his wife lies for him in court to protect his name.