In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the normal criteria that a central character fits, is not met by the apparent protagonist, John Proctor. Common traits one might expect to find in a traditional hero are humility, patience and caring. John Proctor, while he is the principal, has many qualities that could instead assume him the role of the antagonist and land him in the adversary box. His background and slight character flaws cause him to take on the personalities of both a protagonist and antagonist. Proctor, because he exhibits qualities of both types of characters, is what is known as a tragic hero. Tragic heroes are characters within stories that due to a judgment error, is the cause of his/her own demise. In Proctor’s case, his error was made when he refuses to give up the names of other alleged witches, and refuses to allow the court to hang his confession in the center of town. John Proctor embodies three major signs of tragic heroism. Proctor, even through the rest of the village perceives him as great, knows deep down inside that because of past sins, he will never be able to live up to his reputation. As well, John Proctor is a tragic hero because he had the power to stop his own execution, therefore his downfall was no one 's’ fault but his own. This reluctance to forfeit the names of other “witches” could be seen as a character flaw. The final criteria that Proctor meets for a tragic hero is that the punishment received is way too severe for the “crime” committed.
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.
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible John Proctor is a good and honest man inside but everyone has some darkness in him or her, just like John Proctor. He committed adultery which he truly regretted, he died because of this sin, and he tries to ratify his sin as best as he can. He sacrificed his life to save his name and to keep his honor. John Proctor also sacrifices his life so that his children can look up to him as an example which is why he is a tragic hero. To be a Tragic Hero, a person has to make a judgmental error which is why John Proctor is a tragic hero.
A man 's reputation in many forms is his, life’s work. To have your reputation dismantled is like taking away one 's accomplishments and life’s work. Arthur Miller 's The Crucible is a play about justice and injustice, and how our justice system can be easily corrupted. The story revolves around a man named John Proctor, the tragic hero of this story. John Protector is a symbolic character created by Arthur Miller, because he faced the justice system head on. Proctor’s biggest flaw would be his great amounts of pride, which unfortunately led to his own death. In Arthur Millers’ The Crucible, he characterizes John Proctor as the tragic hero of the story because of all that he lost, through his relentless crusade to free his wife and exposing injustice, illustrating that no hero is perfect.
The Crucible was based in 1692 in and around the town of Salem, Massachusetts, USA. The Salem witch-hunt was view as one of the strangest and most horrendous chapters in the human history. People that were prosecuted were all innocent and their deaths were all due to false accusation of people’s ridiculous belief in superstition and their paranoia. The Puritans in those times were very strict in personal habits and morality; swearing, drunkenness and gambling would be punished. The people of Salem believed in the devil and thought that witchcraft should be hunted out.
The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is a play that takes place in the sixteen nineties during the famous but tragic witch trials. The entire community is in pandemonium yet certain characters are also fighting internal conflicts. Miller uses three characters that manifest this internal battle ever so clearly: Mary Warren whose whole world turns upside down, John Proctor who must weigh the importance of his family against his reputation and Reverend Hale who must decide whether to do his job, or do what he knows to be right.
The Crucible is a novel based on the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts, written by Arthur Miller. The Crucible demonstrates forbidden temptation between John Proctor and Abigail Williams, honor and dishonor in the town of Salem, ruthless revenge, and the strive for high social status. The narrative style of this play is standard 1950s everyday language. The Crucible is set in a theocratic society of Puritanism in 1692.
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Affairs, heartbreak, accusations, and death. A tragic hero is a literary character that makes a judgement or choice error that leads to his own destruction. In “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, we are exposed to the Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts. As readers, we are engaged in the hysteria and absurdity disseminating during this time period. Along the way, we are introduced to many characters that help us to grasp the severity of the Witch Trials, one of them being John Proctor.
In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, the main character, John Proctor fills the role of a tragic hero as Miller defined it in his essay, “Tragedy and the Common Man”. John Proctor has the qualities and experiences of a tragic hero. These traits include to have flaws, a good heart, be common man, and have an optimistic and enlightening death.
Imagine, all those close to your heart, your dear friends, or the innocent are being accused and convicted of a horrible crime. Would you tarnish your own name if it would save them? In the American tragedy The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many readers consider the protagonist, John Proctor to be the tragic hero. According to Aristotle, a tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgment error that inevitably leads to his/her own destruction. The hero would rather die than to tarnish his name, dignity, and honor. The protagonist, John Proctor, is the embodiment of a tragic hero.
Arthur Miller wrote the famous play, The Crucible, in order to compare the Salem witch trials to events of his time and to expose the social injustices that existed in his society due to the controversial Communist scare that was occurring. Though Miller wrote The Crucible for this purpose, its themes are quite appropriate when considering current events, as the audience is met with the ever-prevalent themes of the severity of false accusations, reputation, and integrity. There is no doubt that many current events relate to these themes, what with situations of destroyed reputations at the hands of others, integrity being called into question, and false accusations flying left and right.
Abigail Williams is the antagonist, she lied extensively well and ruined the lives of many by making false accusations.
What is the definition of “hysteria”? Hysteria is a state of extreme or uncontrollable emotion, excitement or anxiety, especially among large groups or segments of society. Specifically, hysteria is a delitescent killer causing the death of nineteen people in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. However, hysteria does not just appear out of nowhere. There are driving forces such as taking revenge, protecting their reputation or abuse of power that bring about the irrational fear taking over community. Hysteria is the main theme of the play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. Miller conveys the theme of hysteria by creating an environment where people act on their grudges and showing how it can corrupt the entire society which is exemplified by many characters throughout the play, as they eventually ruin one another in the process.
One of the most controversial and iconic plays that came from the 1950s was Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. During a time when the U.S. was worried of communism taking over, Miller released The Crucible, which helped to capture the hysteria that was occurring. The play presents itself as a metaphor for the House of Un-American Activities Committee that was created during the Cold War when communism was spreading, but Miller never actually referenced it in the play. Although Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is set in the late 1600s, it offers a fine example of allegory of McCarthyism in the 1950s.
“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.” This is a quote by Benjamin Franklin and it explains how the puritan society in The Crucible work. this quote shows how fragile a reputation can be, you can spend your whole life increasing your reputation, but one wrong move and it’s completely wrong. In The Crucible, many of Arthur Miller’s characters are very concerned with their reputation. In early American Puritan society reputation was one the most important values in their community, which leads to many characters that overvalue their reputation. Characters in this play become so obsessed their reputation that it causes