John Proctor Tragic Hero Essay

How does one define a tragic hero? A character who has undergone great suffering, or their own destruction? Both? In the play /The Crucible/, by Arthur Miller, John Proctor is the most tragic hero of them all. Aristotle explains that a tragic hero must possess four essential qualities, which are: goodness, appropriateness, life-likeness, and consistency. John Proctor is all of these things. While a tragic hero is usually someone of high social or noble class, Proctor is written to be a common -- albeit well-respected -- farmer. In the beginning of the play he lives a reputable life, until it is revealed that he's hiding a pretty important secret: that he has had an affair on his wife, with Abigail Williams. Abigail, unwilling to accept that what she had with Proctor is done and over with, hates his wife, and …show more content…
Early on in the play, when all the girls were crying witch he could've went to court and revealed to everyone that Abigail was a fraud, and told about his affair, but his honor and need to keep his good name in the town kept him from confessing, even though it would've very likely paused the witch trials. Elizabeth even asked him to go, but his response was a refusal "I know I cannot keep it. I say I will think on it!" (Miller 2.--). Once Elizabeth is arrested (because of Abigail, no less) he is forced to choose between his pride and his wife. He at first tries to further confessing himself by bring Mary Warren into the court, to tell the judges that Abigail and the girls are lying, but this plan backfires when they manage to convince Mary to turn on John, and he has to go to his last resort -- he admits his crime of adultery. Even this goes wrong when Elizabeth is brought in to confirm or deny his allegation and she lies to protect her husband's good name, condemning him. This is an example of John trying to fix his past wrongs and bring justice to light, but he is prone to