John Proctor The Crucible

The combination of fate and external forces sometimes requires people to exercise good judgement—the impact of a bad decision can be multiplied. That is the situation John Proctor found himself in and unfortunately for him, he exercised poor judgement and became the classic “tragic hero.” In fact, as a result he ultimately dies for a crime he did not commit. Another necessary part of the tragic hero is that he or she has a complete reversal of fortune brought by the hero's own flaw. Proctor's life completely turned upside down when he refused to own up to his past mistake of having an affair with Abagail, eventually setting the whole town against him. At the end of a tragic play, the audience usually feels pity or remorse for the deceased …show more content…
One example of this is when Proctor admits, “were I a stone I would have cracked for shame this seven month” (Miller 114). Proctor shows his guilt and that guilt causes him lasting stress. The reference to the rock, which is generally very strong and represents strength or fortitude, and the fact it is begins to crack under the pressure, is a measure of the sheer weight of Proctor’s guilt. This stress causes Proctor to make even more poor decisions and more cracks in the rock develop under increased pressure. John proctor is trying to stay loyal to himself—to keep the cracks from spreading, but it is clear that it is hard for him to accomplish this. When he tells Abigail, “I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I'll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind’’ (49). John proctor is trying eliminate temptation and is willing to take very extreme measures to do so. He probably was not referring to actually cutting off his hand, but simply depriving himself of anything that would make it less likely he could resist her, including physical touch, but also just being near each other. He realizes how big of a mistake it was and the only way to prevent it from happening in the future is to never see her …show more content…
The church starts a campaign to influence others to stop liking Proctor, but Proctor retorts, “there are many others that stay away from the church these days because you hardly ever mention God anymore.” (94). While frustrated with the church, he actually makes matters worse by pointing out the fact that they spend less time talking about God and more time focused on ruining his good name. The congregation comes to the defense of the church and not Proctor and it made it easier to later come to the decision to kill him. Proctor may know that being critical of the church would make things worse, but he cannot help himself because he only cares about his reputation, especially when he states that, “a man will not cast away his good name. You surely know that” (191). Proctor cares more about his reputation than anything else, including his family, friends, and the health of the town as a whole. That attitude costs many lives throughout the story and ultimately costs John Proctor his own