John Proctor Hero or Stooge?
In my personal perspective I would have to say that John Proctor seems to be the hero in the story compared to a stooge that is controlled by the people. The reason I say this is because since the beginning John was never a believer in witch craft, even though the whole town was believing in supernatural powers beyond the Christian control. In 'The Crucible' John proctor seems to portray a character that uses reasoning as his best character trait, even though it's ironic since for the most part we know that him and Abigail had an affair together. Even though he committed adultery he tries his best to keep his relationship with Elizabeth stable. Towards the end we can see that Proctor does all that he has in his power to save his dear wife. This then displays a way on how we can view the character as being a hero. His determination of trying to stop the madness in which people are believing so that he could not only save his wife, but stop the insanity that is caused by beliefs that, to him, make absolutely no sense. Another part in 'The Crucible' to display him being a hero would be when during court he confesses to the sin of adultery that he has committed with Abigail. This shows that even if he knew he would get tried as a sinner he wanted to make sure to confess for the love of his family and for the truth to be told. Even if he was ashamed he didn't bother to stop his revealing as he knew it was the best thing he could possibly do in order to stop some insanity. Towards the end we learn that he was one of the people who ended up dying, but we also know that he did his best in keeping his morality for he knew that his secret was wrong and that he should've stayed faithful to Elizabeth. In the end the chain was broken, liberating others of the madness thanks to John Proctor who was his own hero.
Great post, Jefri! I liked your perspective on Proctor's viewing as a Hero, especially when you said that "Towards the end we can see that Proctor does all that he has in his power to save his dear wife." This is significant because of it's truthfulness, and that Proctor would even go as far as to spoil his good name as an upstanding member of the town just to keep her safe. Unfortunately, we see that this plan does not pan out, and sadly we later see him in jail.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I would move to dispute you is when you said that John would say he was an adulterer, which "shows that even if he knew he would get tried as a sinner he wanted to make sure to confess for the love of his family and for the truth to be told." I disagree with this because at this point in the story, Both he, Francis Nurse, and Giles Corey all had given their depositions (Francis his 91 signatures, Giles the statement that Putnam was buying all the land, and Proctor Mary Warren's deposition), and yet still Abigail was denying the charge of being a false witch-hunter. I believe he was using this last-ditch move to throw doubt on Abigail's convictions, and to show that the court was raising this whore (pardon me) up to be a holy vessel, while condemning great Christian pillars of Salem (e.g. Rebecca Nurse) to die by hanging.
Nice post, I enjoyed it!
Hey Jeffri! Great blog entry, I agree with what you said about John because yes he might have done bad things but he redeemed himself and tried to somewhat make amends for his sins. Cool entry! I like to see what people have to say about John.
ReplyDeleteGood job Jefri! I completely agree with your blog entry, it was along the same lines as mine. Even when John knew he could confess and get out of his charge of "witchcraft", he never confessed because he wanted to show that his beliefs mattered. Also that saving his friends that might have been hung in the future, for the same reasons, are worth saving. He was also a hero on a personal level, because he decided that lying was not the right choice.
ReplyDeleteVery thorough analysis here Jefri! While I do believe that Proctor's morals developed throughout the story and were based on his faults, I ultimately agree with your line of reasoning for him being a hero.
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