John Proctor: His story
John Proctor in The Crucible is depicted as an honorable man in his thirties of great influence in the town. First, he had great amount of land. In Puritan society, land was equal to respect and power in society because people with land were the members of the church. So the plot of land that John Proctor owned gave him influence in the church and a voice in the towns meeting. Secondly, John Proctor was a logical and reasonable man with honorable intentions. He did not wish to accuse anyone to gain more land and power nor did he believe in any of the rumors about witchcraft. Not easily led into superstition or belief, John Proctor was one of those who tried to free the innocent people accused of witchcraft. He attempted to convince the judge that the girls were speaking of lies and pretending. He present the judge with evidence, Mary Warren. Because he knows that there is no such thing as spirits and the devil, he convinces Mary Warren to confess in front of the court and save innocent lives. He also draws up a petition of those who thought that Rebecca nurse, Elizabeth Proctor, and Martha Corey did not show any signs of witchcraft. Although his attempts were hindered by Judge’s illogical reasoning and the Girls pretending of seeing spirits, he still attempted to prove innocence in a logical, professional way.
Despite all these positive characteristics, as a human being John Proctor made mistakes in his life as well. He committed the crime of adultery with Abigail Williams, his house maid. However, he felt guilty and ashamed that he confessed to Elizabeth Proctor his crime and pleaded forgiveness. While he did make a mistake of cheating on his wife, he still had the courage to open up to his wife and plead forgiveness and understanding. After this incident, he tries to make amends to his wife by buying her nice things and trying to make the atmosphere bright. Later in the book, he uses his crime of adultering as evidence that Abigail Williams is a whore, and that Abigail is accusing all these people including Elizabeth Proctor in order to revenge on Elizabeth Proctor.
Despite all these positive characteristics, as a human being John Proctor made mistakes in his life as well. He committed the crime of adultery with Abigail Williams, his house maid. However, he felt guilty and ashamed that he confessed to Elizabeth Proctor his crime and pleaded forgiveness. While he did make a mistake of cheating on his wife, he still had the courage to open up to his wife and plead forgiveness and understanding. After this incident, he tries to make amends to his wife by buying her nice things and trying to make the atmosphere bright. Later in the book, he uses his crime of adultering as evidence that Abigail Williams is a whore, and that Abigail is accusing all these people including Elizabeth Proctor in order to revenge on Elizabeth Proctor.
Connecting to real life
John Proctor in real life is people such as Miller himself who is trying to go against the court and state its stupidity and irrationality. John Proctor all those who were persecuted because they refused to confess or give out names of communist. Because the only way to be free from the court during McCarthyism period was to name people who were communist, many people named random people’s name and this went on out of the people’s fear. However, like in The Crucible, those people who refused to give out names represent John Proctor in this book. These people would not betray their friends and families just to save their own lives. Authors purpose of putting John Proctor is to portray that even in chaos situation like Salem Witch trials and Red Scare, there are still people like John Proctor who keep their sanity and rationality who corrects the system.