People for centuries have held on to Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero. Many authors cling to this idea that a tragic hero must be of noble birth or royalty making it rare to see a tragic hero be anything but high-born. In his play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller defies the rules of this interpretation of a tragic hero and forms his own modified version. Miller takes the Aristotelian idea and changes it so the hero is not royalty but just a regular man. This man can be identified as John Proctor, who starts out as a well-respected man and as a result of bad decisions, he paves a path for his own demise. John Proctor has a tragic flaw that leads him to his downfall; this flaw causes him to suffer a reversal of fortune. Like every tragic,Proctor recognizes the consequences of his actions and redeems himself, only to die a
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Although at times he is considered too honest, he is viewed as a good man. However a good man does not mean perfect, so Proctor’s fatal flaw is revealed right away. His fatal flaw is his desire for Abigail Williams that leads to an affair. It was this affair that creates a rift with Proctor and his wife and a want for vengeance from Abigail. This affair is the cause of the hysteria in Salem. Like a domino effect, one action lead to another, but like any tragic hero, he does not see what he has caused. He denies what he has done and cannot own up to his mistake. There are many instances in which Proctor denies the affair he had and makes statements like “... I confessed. Confessed! Some dream I had must have mistaken you for God that day. But you're not, you're not, and let you remember it! Let you look sometimes for the goodness in me, and judge me not ”(Miller 55). Here he is talking to his wife Elizabeth claiming he only had dreams of Abigail and nothing more. He denies and cannot admit that he made a mistake and accuses Elizabeth of being the wrong
Although at times he is considered too honest, he is viewed as a good man. However a good man does not mean perfect, so Proctor’s fatal flaw is revealed right away. His fatal flaw is his desire for Abigail Williams that leads to an affair. It was this affair that creates a rift with Proctor and his wife and a want for vengeance from Abigail. This affair is the cause of the hysteria in Salem. Like a domino effect, one action lead to another, but like any tragic hero, he does not see what he has caused. He denies what he has done and cannot own up to his mistake. There are many instances in which Proctor denies the affair he had and makes statements like “... I confessed. Confessed! Some dream I had must have mistaken you for God that day. But you're not, you're not, and let you remember it! Let you look sometimes for the goodness in me, and judge me not ”(Miller 55). Here he is talking to his wife Elizabeth claiming he only had dreams of Abigail and nothing more. He denies and cannot admit that he made a mistake and accuses Elizabeth of being the wrong