John Proctor is a Tragic Hero in The Crucible by Arthur Miller

A tragic hero is a very favored person that suffers from a downfall which leads to their death. John Proctor, like many others, is a tragic hero. The author, Arthur Miller, gives John Proctor the role of a tragic hero throughout the story of The Crucible. This protagonist, John Proctor, made judgement errors that inevitably led to his own destruction. John Proctor is an afflicted individual. He believes his affair with Abigail irreparably damaged him in the eyes of God, his wife Elizabeth, and himself. John Proctor succumbed to sin and committed the crime of adultery; however, he lacks the capacity to forgive himself. When referencing criticism, John Proctor and the Crucible of Individuation in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Michelle I Pearson, who also agrees John Proctor is a tragic hero, once said in her article that “While the people of Salem look at Proctor and see a strong, hard-working, no-nonsense man, Proctor himself knows that he is an adulterer, a lecher, and that he drives himself to try to be free of his guilt. Not until faced with a crisis, however, will he leave the persona behind and begin the process of individuation.” The criticism provided helps prove John Proctor fits the role of a tragic hero in The Crucible. In order to convey the message of iniquity in the Puritan society, Arthur Miller casts John Proctor in The Crucible because he is able to overcome his tragic flaw of hubris, but still the circumstances unfortunately led to his death. Proctor is a very respected man in Salem but he also has a few flaws that have proved him to be a tragic hero which are prideful, lustful, and well respected. Later in The Crucible, Proctor realizes his flaws and tries to fix them but it is too late. One of Proctor’s tragic flaws is that he is too prideful.

A Tragic hero is a character who experiences a major downfall as the results of a personal mistake or the workings of fate. There are many tragic heroes in the play The Crucible, But the one that comes to mind is John Proctor for several reasons. It all starts out with the affair with Abigail, when that affair happens John Proctor breaks his wedding vows and violate the moral convictions of the community by engaging in an adultery affair with Abigail. John Proctor is a classic example of a tragic hero in the play, The Crucible for several reasons…

In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, it is evident that John Proctor is the tragic hero. Concluding through evidence in the play, it is fairly simple to connect him with separate parts of the definition. He makes his share of mistakes, just as many human beings do. John Proctor is fundamentally a good man, with respectable

John Proctor has a dark secret, He possesses a major flaw he has had an affair with Abigail Williams, and eventually he realizes what he has done to Elizabeth, He has committed adultery against his wife. Due to the fact that Proctor has committed adultery against Elizabeth, he becomes a tragic hero, and Abigail Williams shows that when she says “I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I come near” (Act I, lines 423-425). John broke his marriage vows, but even though he regrets he has become a tragic hero. It’s too late to regret he has sinned, he has ruined his marriage with Elizabeth and now she is not pleased with him. Due to the fact that he has cheated on Elizabeth, his outlook in life is negative, when He tells her “I have not moved from there to there without I think to please you” (Act II, lines 159-161). The affair also caused Elizabeth to distrust John, who for seven months was trying to get into her good graces and is tired of her suspicion. Because of John's inability to control his desire and resist temptation, his life is being turned upside down by the jealousy and need for revenge of Abigail, marking the beginning of his downfall and path to becoming a tragic hero. As a result, the need for revenge of Abigail marks the beginning of John downfall.

Many actions dignify the traits of a tragic hero, but only few stand out. In the tragedy The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a tragic hero dies a good man when brought to trial over nothing more than child’s play and dishonesty. John Proctor is an honest, upright, and blunt-spoken man because he fought for what is right and found forgiveness in his fatal flaw. Although he exhibits these traits throughout the story, John dies a dynamic character.

In the play by Arthur Miller The Crucible, the town of Salem is in pandemonium under the non-existent threat of witchcraft. Every character is either lying to save their lives or to end others, or dying for not admitting to a lie. One character who stands out among the chaotic conflagration is the tragic hero John Proctor. In Greek drama, a tragic hero is defined as “a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy that is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat.” No character in The Crucible fits this description better than John Proctor. John Proctor is the tragic hero in The Crucible because of his strengths and notable traits,

A tragic hero is a literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy. In the play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrays John Proctor, the protagonist, as a tragic hero who has a major flaw—lust for Abigail, his teenage house servant. For fear of being exiled in a town where reputation is highly upheld, Proctor initially tries to hide his crime of adultery, but this affair triggers a major series of events in Salem, where unproven accusations lead to internal struggle and eventually to catastrophe.

A tragic hero, according to Aristotle, is a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his or her own destruction. The Crucible is a play by Arthur Miller. The Crucible is a play about the Salem Witch Trials. In Salem there is a huge dispute over who has came in contact with the devil, beginning with a couple of girls who were caught in the forest dancing by Reverend Parris. People began to name names of who they saw with the devil in fear of getting accused, and the town enters a chaotic state. This causes the Salem witch trials, where if someone is accused they must confess to coming in contact with the devil to the court, even if they did not, or they will be hanged. In The Crucible, John Proctor is the

Together with having extensive land, Proctor´s crops were doing considerably well compared to other farmers (Act 2). Not all farmers in the region are lucky and suffer from crop failures. Because of his successful harvest and land, Proctor is considered superior and privileged in the Salem community. Therefore, Proctor is a tragic hero because he holds the characteristics of superiority.

An array of Aristotelian tragic heroes can be found throughout American literature. One of which includes John Proctor, main character farmer in mid-30s, from Arthur Miller 's play, The Crucible. Yet, in order for him to obtain such a title he must possess specific characteristics. Five of which include possession of hubris, a flaw or decision leading to desire for revenge, a reversal of good fortune brought forth by the error of judgement, acceptance of poor fortune brought forth by their actions, and lastly the fate dealt to these characters must be greater than deserved. Aristotle once said that “ A man doesn 't become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall.” Before the play even begins John Proctor has already conducted adultery, a fatal flaw in judgement, with Abigail Williams, a sneaky seventeen year old. This crucial crescendo leads to the development of the Salem Witch trials and the downward spiral of John`s comfortable lifestyle.

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible it is clear that the development of the play is about John Proctor’s tragic condition. Miller uses this aspect to compel the audience to see why Proctor did what he did and to develop a sense of empathy for him. John Proctor overall is both flawed and honorable. He has a complete reversal of fate brought upon by his own flaw. John Proctor is a tragic hero because he contains all of the characteristics of a tragic hero, such as catharsis and hamartia, despite not being born into nobility, he has many noble characteristics.

In The Crucible, a reader can clearly see that there are clear flaws in the form of government in Salem, Massachusetts. The author of The Crucible, Arthur Miller, creates the character John Proctor to be a noble and honorable man that unfortunately falls victim to the flaws of this early American society. A tragic hero is defined as someone who is honorable in their words and actions but they have one thing about them that ultimately brings their downfall. The character, John Proctor, is in fact a tragic hero because he was a good man that made a mistake once, all of his good qualities were overshadowed by his one tragic mistake, and this mistake ultimately led to his death.

John proctor is a tragic hero in “The Crucible” because of 3 reasons. These reasons are because john is loving, loyal, and authoritative but has a tragic flaw of having a bad temper. In these next 3 paragraphs, I will explain how John Proctor shows each one of these characteristics.

Is John Proctor a tragic hero? Proctor has all the characteristics of a tragic hero. Many of these traits are he’s highly respected, but he has a tragic flaw, Proctor is a tragic hero. Proctor is a tragic hero in many ways and Arthur Miller shows this by making him highly respected but also showing he has a tragic flaw, one that he has kept hidden from the public. Proctor is a farmer who is married and has children, he is also highly respected among the people. Arthur Miller's novel The Crucible, John Proctor, a common man with a flaw, is a tragic hero.

In the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, John Proctor fits the classic Greek definition of a tragic hero.  Aristotle, one of the great Greek philosophers, teachers and writers, stated that one of the most important aspects of a tragedy was the tragic hero.  He defined a tragic hero as a noble person that goes from a state of fortune and happiness to a state of utter misery.  The character’s tragic flaw causes this change.  Aristotle stated that witnessing the downfall of the character triggered an emotional release, which left the audience feeling relieved because they have empathized with the character, but not upset because the downfall was the character’s