Sophie Secaf 18/10/04
“John Proctor is the tragic hero of The Crucible”. How far would you agree with this statement?
A tragic hero is a literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy. During the play The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, the character John Proctor suffers a change in fortune from happiness to misery. Proctor is an honest, brave man that carries a hidden fact, a fatal flaw. Proctor’s flaw is his lust for Abigail Williams that throughout the play leads to jealousy and hysteria and in the end results to his own death.
Proctor is considered to be a tragic hero; this is because he suffered from his bad decisions, which were the causes of the trials. Abigail, a true symbol of evil, defeated him. She influenced him to betray his wife Elizabeth, leaving her lonely and forgotten. Proctor tremendously regrets his flaw and feels guilt even though Elizabeth forgave him. Proctors marriage still existed but it was very cold and suspicion was everywhere. Everything leaded by Abigail that seduced Proctor. All she wanted was to be better than Elizabeth and defeat her. It was Abigail’s hate and envy that lead something that wasn’t a big thing, into a big confusion. Proctor certainly made mistakes, and he paid for them with his life. No one is perfect, every human being has flaws. Many are courageous, but few are heroic. Proctor showed his heroism by taking responsibility for his mistakes, risking his life in the battle against evil, and doing none of it out of selfishness. He wasn’t trying to save himself, blackening his name did no good for him. Proctor denies he has anything to do with witchcraft. He comes close to confessing to witchcraft but realizes that it disgraces his good name and it’s all that he will leave his children. Proctor says, “ I have three children—how may I teach them to walk like men in the world?” there, he reflects upon the blackening of his name and chooses to die with dignity. He stood up for the innocent people that were wrongly accused and died leaving the message that for him, truth was more important than his own life. Proctor also explains to the judge “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” With this argument Proctor dashes all hopes of living and has established himself as a tragic hero.
