Examples Of John Proctor's Flaws In The Crucible

The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is about a small group of girls who accuses most of the adults in village on the account of witchcraft. The witch trials took place in a small town called Salem, Massachusetts, in the year of 1692. In the book you can choose a number of people who are responsible for the witchcraft trails that took placed, but the character that stands out the most is John Proctor. Arthur Miller demonstrates to the world that because of John’s characters flaws of Stubbornness, Guilt and Pride he can be considered the reason for the witch trails in Salem to still take place. These flaws contribute to Proctor because with these fatal flaws he can be responsible of innocent people being killed even himself as the tragic hero. One character flaw that John Proctor displays in The Crucible is Stubbornness. At the beginning of the play it opens with the girls getting caught in the woods by Reverend Parris, the town preacher. His daughter Betty is “playing sick,” but as the scene goes on Abigail then comes into Proctor way wanting to talk to him. As the conversation goes on he says to Abigail, “Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I’ll reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind. We never touched, Abby.” (Miller …show more content…
If Proctor stepped up and told the town of Salem that Abigail and the girls were just “sporting” the whole Witch hunt could have been avoided. Because of Stubbornness and Pride being portrayed he let his reputation get in the way. Guilt played a role by after committing to the sin of adultery he realizes that the only way to come clean is to commit of having an affair with Abigail Williams in order to save everything he lived for, but realizes it is too late. Through Proctor’s flaws he is considered the tragic hero in which died as and honest and heroically