Character Traits In The Crucible

The Crucible Character Essay Sometimes it takes a blind man to see what is hiding in plain sight. In the book The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, the reader sees how easily mass hysteria spreads throughout Salem when young girls accuse fellow neighbors of witchcraft. John Proctor serves as the story's main character whose decisions affect himself just as much as the novel. Throughout the story, John demonstrates his traits as well as conflict and growth as he comes to terms with his decisions. Throughout the novel, Proctor’s actions and words show certain traits that make up his character. His most common trait is his harsh personality which surfaces many times. It is most visible in his speech such as when he tells Mary Warren “I’ll whip the Devil out of you!” (Miller 56). He does this after she angers him by revealing that people in Salem are being accused of witchcraft. Although Proctor could have remained calm and assessed the situation he chose to become violent after hearing something he strongly disagreed with. His harshness leads him to not just try to severely punish Mary by beating her, but also makes him quick to anger. Proctor clearly admits that he is quick to anger when he tells his wife “begrudge me not my anger!” (Miller 59). Consequently, this shows that his anger …show more content…
Thus the conflict helped build his character by allowing him to express himself which let the reader see his harsh personality, personal conflict, and growth as he struggled to save his wife and neighbors who were unfairly being accused of witchcraft. For this reason, it is well established in the story that starting a mass hysteria is harder than ending it as seen by Proctors failed attempts to stop the false accusations. In conclusion, sometimes those whose views are ignored are sometimes the only ones who see the