The Crucible John Proctor Guilt Analysis

Improved Essays
“Guilt is perhaps the most painful companion of death” (Coco Chanel). In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor experiences guilt that eats him up and cannot forgive himself for what he’s done. Throughout the play, John goes through an internal battle with guilt for cheating on his wife. John will end up forgiving himself after enduring so much. In Act 1 John’s guilt begins to develop as we learn of his affair and see the beginning affects. Act 1 begins with the telling of what happened in the woods with Abigail drinking the charm to kill John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth. This shows the jealousy that Abigail has of Elizabeth because she wants John to herself. Then towards the middle of Act 1 John and Abigail come face to face for the first time in the play. At first John is flirting with Abigail by saying things like “What’s this mischief here?”(20). This shows John's flirtation because he says with a smug look trying to get …show more content…
Act 2 starts with John and Elizabeth talking about things such as, Mary Warren, crops, and more. They begin to argue about John’s affair and how Elizabeth is being judgemental when really John is judging himself. Elizabeth ends up calling out John for being the judgemental and how the guilt is making him think that there is no good in him as seen in this quote, “I do not judge you. The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you. I never thought you a good man, John” (52). This shows that Elizabeth still sees good in John,but for him to forgive himself he must see the good. Act 3 shows how John’s guilt is causing him to be vengeful and trying to get Abigail to be proved wrong when in the end he just gets up accused of witchcraft. “You are pulling Heaven down and raising up a whore!” (111) This quote is John’s last try to get Abigail taken down as he calls her a whore and says that by siding her they are pulling down

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    This scene in the movie makes John seem more adamant about ending his affair with Abigail compared to the scene from the play, since his tone is harsher making him seem more desperate about saving his wife. In the movie, another scene between Abigail and John is added (closer to the end), where Abigail visits John in his cell and offers to buy the silence of the jail guard so that John can escape; in this scene, she expresses her regret for John’s circumstances, saying that she “never dreamed any of this” for him. John, however, seems to express his regret for the affair when he replies to Abigail’s offer by saying, “It is not on a ship we will meet again, Abigail, but in hell.” This scene again shows that Abigail is still considerably desperate to have John (further seen when she tells him, “I wanted you was all,”), while John severely regrets the…

    • 1760 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Both men are powerless. Finally, a third external conflict is the separation in John and Elizabeth 's marriage. At the beginning of Act II, Elizabeth looks as if she wants to speak but cannot, and right before Hale arrives the couple is shouting at each other about the hook Abigail has in John. John 's internal conflict is that he loves Elizabeth and feels that he deserves her forgiveness, but at the same time he is unwilling to go to Salem and tell the court the truth about Abigail because he knows that he will have to admit that he had an affair with her. His guilt for disappointing Elizabeth makes him want to do right by her, but he doesn 't want everyone to know that he has committed a sin.…

    • 1138 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Palmer does a good job interpreting what John means when he disagrees with Elizabeth's suggestion when she implies that he made a non-verbal promise in bed with Abigail, thus the reason why Abigail strives to kill her. John disagrees with this, and Elizabeth continues to doubt him and questions him about what actually happened when John talked to Abigail earlier that day. At this point in the book, John simply considers the sin as a regrettable mistake and believes that they, as a couple, should forget. When Elizabeth accosts John about a promise made in bed with Abigail, John strongly…

    • 1469 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Suffering In The Crucible

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages

    It’s this event that causes Elizabeth to lose faith in John and is the main cause for the growing resentment in their relationship. This represents an emotional trial for Elizabeth as he tries to cope with John’s cheating she also has to think about what drove John to it. Cast a feeling mediocracy upon Elizabeth causing her to be slightly self conscious. Later on in Act III, Elizabeth must testify to John lechery in court in order to discredit Abigail’s testimony. In the attempt to protect John’s honor, Elizabeth lies to the court, and ultimately ends up contributing to Abigail’s victory.…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For as long as we have known, authors have used opposite characters or themes to show contrast and depth in the world they create; Evil vs Good, fire vs ice, light vs dark, the sun vs the moon, the list goes on. Sometimes it is the protagonist and the antagonist that reflects these similar themes and sometimes it’s just two wonderfully written foil characters. Arthur Miller, the classic American playwright of The Crucible, is no exception to this well used tactic, especially with the characters Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor and their complex relationship with John Proctor, that unravels and tangles together during the play. Abigail has a fiery passion for John but also is shown as a toxic flame murderous as they come. On the other…

    • 1648 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abigail's ultimate goal is to have Elizabeths named blackened as much as she has blackened Abigail's own name. When Elizabeth was taken from their houses due to being accused of witchcraft, many start to doubt John himself. During Elizabeth's trial, John admits to his affair with Abigail in effort to save his wife. Proctor says while crying out “Elizabeth, I have confessed it!” After this Elizabeth realizes she has truly messed up and says “Oh, God!”…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the Salem witch trials 200 people were accused of witchcraft and twenty people were actually executed for it. The play that is the basis of the essay is set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 during these Salem witch trials. One of the main characters that this play is centered around, John Proctor, a farmer in his middle thirties. As a morally ambiguous character in The Crucible, John Proctor had both honorable and disgraceful actions that contributed to the work as a whole. John Proctor has dealings in the play that could characterize him as an immoral man.…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Breaking of Charity Many times in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible there were instances where characters would break charity with one another. Although this play is mainly about McCarthyism in the 1950’s and how that is seen during the Puritan times. However, Arthur Miller also shows the idea of how individuals of Salem simply broke charities among each other.…

    • 591 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Literary Analysis “God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together!” said Arthur Miller. John Proctor learned the toll sinning takes on a person the hard way in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Although John is an honest man and has a personal code of conduct he is human and makes mistakes. Throughout the play John goes through his own personal crucible and in the end is judged for his actions. In the Crucible, Arthur Miller suggests that when people sin, they sometimes hurt themselves more than others.…

    • 481 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    As he is being taken away, he finally finds the peace in himself that he has been longing for. John Proctors re-discovers his honor as an upstanding citizen of Salem and God. Ultimately, John Proctor is able to redeem his prized possession of his upstanding reputation and respected named by sacrificing that in order to protect his wife. His crucible is to admit to his affair and in doing so he is able to finally overcome the guilt and resentment toward himself that he is unable to avoid during the entire book as well as regaining respect and love from his wife,…

    • 521 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The court now has to take into consideration Elizabeth’s guiltiness in the process of punishing John for his actions. Sexual repression significantly affects the characters in The Crucible by Arthur Miller.…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In Act two the setting is set in the Proctor home where Elizabeth is singing to her two boys and John is coming in to wash up for dinner. They are both at the dinner table when there is a sense of silent remorse. John is trying to give Elizabeth affection and attention but she isn't allowing herself to receive it because she knows about him committing lechery. Elizabeth and John are having a conversation about him going into Salem and he says something about being alone with Abigail which makes Elizabeth skeptical due to her knowledge of the affair. John is becoming very irritated with her suspicions.…

    • 1264 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He uses the word “goodness”, which is important in this case. Elizabeth forgave his sins and continued to love John. This made him realize the true love he had for her, and the goodness in his life truly was Elizabeth. During the final scene one of the most important developments takes place. John confessed making a bond with the devil in order to save his and Elizabeth’s life.…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On the other hand, John’s relationship with Elizabeth is unstable. His affair sparked jealousy in Elizabeth, therefore she treats him rather coldly. In Act II, John tries to his sin and assure Elizabeth that he has no feelings towards Abigail. Elizabeth’s trust in him is broken, so she doesn’t take this assurance to heart. John eventually gives up trying to get her to see his guilt and tells her that she has no forgiveness in her.…

    • 1226 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    America was built by the dreams of people hoping for better lives. The dream for a better life is now engraved into american society, and because of this authors like Arthur Miller and John Steinbeck explore the ideology of the “American dream” in their books. Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Crucible both share a common theme with John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men; They all follow characters who dream of better lives that they never attain. In Death of a Salesman Willy Loman never had the selling skills to make it big as a salesman. In The Crucible Abigail williams’s attempts her dream of being with the married John Proctor but only gets John killed in the process.…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays