Examples Of John Proctor's Reputation In The Crucible

The Crucible is a play that was written in 1953 by Author Miller. It is based on the Salem witch trials that took place in Salem, Massachusetts between the time period of 1692-1693. Author Miller wrote the play during the Red Scare as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the U.S government was accusing the people of communism. McCarthyism much alike The Crucible jailed whoever would not give up names and whoever would not confess. In The Crucible there are three characters who value their reputation very much and put it above all else. In The Crucible Abigail Williams is viewed as a typical teenager struggling with rebellion and heartbreak. She like other characters is very concerned about her reputation. An example of her worry …show more content…
Proctor is a good, honest, upright, and blunt-spoken man. He refuses to let others dictate how he will live his life. With such strong values comes temptations that will decipher the course of the rest of his life. An example of this would be when he says, "You will not judge me more."(Miller 1123) This statement portrays how strongly he feels towards his reputation. No matter how high the stakes were he refused to let anybody speak of him as something he was not. Throughout the play he was tested many times but in the end he always finished strong not straying from his morals. When the court was pressing him for a confession he refused to confess to something that was not true and he refused to turn in his innocent friends even though it resulted in him being jailed which then led to his …show more content…
He shows no sympathy over his daughter Betty when she is sick and only begins to care for her when he has to keep hidden that she participated in witchcraft. Instead of coming forth with the truth he hid behind it and instead accused innocent people. He instead of acting like a reverend and protecting the people he put their lives in danger all to protect his reputation. An example of how strongly he cares for his reputation would be when he says, "Abigail, I have fought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked people to me, and now, just now when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character."(Miller 1104) This demonstrates how angry he is about Abigail making him look bad because he has worked hard for people to respect him and now that she is blackening his name he feels he has no other choice but to lie to the very people and put their lives in dangers to keep himself in the