In act one, the audience finds out about the well-respected John Proctor’s affair with the niece of Parris, and the Proctor’s former house maid, Abigail Williams, “I know how you clutched my back behind your house...” He has great guilt for his affair with Abigail, yet his lust for her still lingers. This lust is one of the flaws of his personality that Arthur Miller uses to make John Proctor an Aristotelian tragic hero. Later on in the play, the accusations of witchcraft have gotten out of hand and people have been hung. Proctor and Hale, a witch hunter, try to make everyone see sense, but their pride lies in the way of justice, and yet more people are hanged, including Proctor and Rebecca Nurse, one of the best respected people in Salem. When Proctor and Abigail are left alone, he flirts with her “Ah, you’re wicked yet, aren’t y’!” This has a double meaning in this case, as John means it in a sexual way as well. Abigail tries her hardest to make John return her feelings for him, by flirting and saying things like “Gah! I’d almost forgot how strong you are, John Proctor!” John’s weakness for Abigail is the cause of his own downfall in the end, as he admits to his affair when he is put under questioning. This is a noble act, as
Abigail was lying, and he ruined his good reputation for the sake of justice to the others of the town. Although this is such a noble act, and there seems to be a way out for most of the condemned people, Elizabeth is asked about it, and denies all knowledge just to try and save John. This results in everyone back to where they started, on a waiting list to be hanged.
Elizabeth and John Proctor’s marriage seems to be on the rocks in act two, when they are sat eating dinner, as the stage directions show that they find it very difficult to speak to each other and there is a very bad atmosphere in the room, “[it is as though she would speak but cannot].” This awkward atmosphere is the result of John’s previous affair, and the tension is broken, when they begin an argument over her. Although they seem very far apart, later on in act three, John admits to being a lecher “I have known her, sir.” Admitting to that took a lot of courage, and it sheds a new light to the audience of John Proctor. Elizabeth is called in to prove this, and although Proctor has told the judges she will not lie, she says she knows nothing of the affair, for the sake of saving John’s name. This ends in Elizabeth being taken away, and John being accused of lying. Another sign of their love for each other is in act four, when Elizabeth cannot forgive John, as he cannot forgive himself. This shows his respect for her, and his need for her approval, which could have been the cause of his affair, and his hamartia. In the end, John dies for Elizabeth, as that is the only way he can gain his self-forgiveness, and Elizabeth’s forgiveness, “He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!” The way that he allows himself to be hung, shows that he has another characteristic of a tragic hero, as he realizes that he was the one that started all of the commotion in Salem, by having an affair with Abigail.
John Proctor seems to redeem himself in the final act, because he shows how much he cares for Elizabeth, suffers willingly for his actions and has a reversal of fortune, by ending up dead. The way that he is shown as so regretful and ashamed by Arthur Miller in act four, “I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang!” makes the audience respect him, and see him as a good man again. Arthur Miller portrays him as a tragic hero in act four, more than the rest of the play, because he breaks down, and the audience sees all of his personality, as he fights for his wife’s forgiveness and his life and good name.
The emotional trauma in act four-Proctor’s life being ripped up as he tears the paper up-shows the audience that John Proctor is a good man, and has feelings and emotion like any normal person, so the audience, in a way, sees themselves in him. As well as this, the audience feels sympathy for him, because he doesn’t really deserve to die. He suffers more than he deserves, because of his pride, which is another flaw in his personality. He has the chance to sign a form, that will save him from hanging, but because it will be pinned up onto the church door, he refuses, as he feels he has lost everything apart from his good name, “I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” Another nobility in act four, is when he is asked whether
he knows of anyone else who may have been ‘with the devil,’ and he will not mention anybody else’s name to the court. This shows a resemblance to Arthur Miller, the author, as when he was questioned in the 1950s about allegedly supporting Communism; he never involved anybody else in it. I think Arthur Miller based John Proctor around himself, as well as the real-life John Proctor from Salem.
I think Proctor deserves respect for letting himself die, and being so noble. He suffered a lot more than he should have, because there is no death penalty for lechery, but witchcraft-the reason he was hung-does have the death penalty. Although he officially died for being a witch, I think he really died for having an affair, and this is what I think makes him so well-respected. I also think that he is spiritually wounded by Elizabeth, when she won’t forgive him, “John, it comes to naught that I should forgive you, if you’ll not forgive yourself.” He is also physically wounded, as he has been in prison for the past three months, and “[He is another man, bearded, filthy...].”
