How is John Proctor a Tragic Hero in Arthur Miller's "The Crucible"
How is John Proctor a tragic hero? He is the one who won and lost. He has shown us good and evil in this play. Because he was hanged he saved his name and his family's name. And to save his wife. He is the hero of this story.
Proctor is very curious about the witchcraft in Salem but John refuses to get involved. While in prison, Proctor decides to save his life by giving a false confession. Proctor’s Motivation changes throughout the play he goes from not wanting to get involved with witchcraft but as Abigail Willams said his wife was a witch he got involved to prove his wife innocents.
John’s affair was pretty much a main cause to the whole witchcraft trials due to Abby drinking the blood to kill his wife. “You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!” In the play John goes from a man you didn't care about the trails but as soon as his wife was involved he got in invloed. “Will you read this first, sir? It's a sort of testament. The people signing it declare their opinion of Rebecca, and my wife, and Martha Corey”.
Throughout the play John Proctor changes like leaves in the fall. He didn't really care but he was curious. “The road past my house is a pilgrimage to Salem al morning. The town’s mumbling witchcraft” John is helper kind of like a fallen angel. He tries all he can to stop the witchcraft accoment. Tries to stop Abigail and the other girls. Procter get Mary Warren to prove that the other girls were faking. But Mary turns on John and accused John of being a witch. John is arrested and thrown in jail. His wife tells him to confess he is a witch so he doesn't die. But he didn't want to weaken the family name. So he hangs. But this all just proves the kind of man John is by helping others through this dark time. John Proctor is a hero who won and lost. He has shown us good and evil in this play.
In conclusion, John Proctor is a sympathetic character. The reason he is such a sympathetic character is because he understands that the girls are lying and trying to get rid of people they don't like. John is a good man. Even though he did cheat on his wife. He was frozen. But he is a good man.
