Arthur Miller “The main point of the hearings precisely as in the seventeenth century Salem, was that the accused made public confession, damn his confederates as well as his devil master…”
John’s quest for heroic status is a far light in the distance when the audience see the affair between him and Abigail. In act 1 the audience see John Proctor as a ‘sinner’ because of his flirtatious actions towards Abigail. We procure a higher opinion of John when he defended Elizabeth ‘You’ll speak nothing of Elizabeth’. While Abigail was enticing him he defied Abigail he calls her ‘child’ trying to tell Abigail their relationship is over with and not to pester him again.
When in Betty’s bedroom he expresses he has no belief in the occult the audience can feel the tension between John and Parris because witches are written about inside the bible. John strong mindedness gains respect from the audience to John because he isn’t easily influenced by others views.
The setting in act 2 is the Proctors house the room is dark and empty this could resemble Elizabeth and John’s relationship because of John’s relationship with Abigail. John undoubtedly speaks his mind he shows his opinion of Parris and Putnum. The audience feels the cold atmosphere because they are both trying to shun away from the affair. We feel sorry for John because of Elizabeth coldness towards him. Johns fails to keep our admiration when the audience realize that he won’t go to court to tell the about Abigail’s dancing in the woods, when he withholds the information from the court allows the witch-hunt to escalate into madness. We see that John values his marriage and reputation more than the madness escalating in the village. Elizabeth influences John and the tension in their relationship contributes to his defensive behaviour and stalling about going to court. The audience feel the embarrassment of John when he fails to remember all Ten Commandments; he forgets the commandment of adultery. John tries to save Elizabeth from harm when being taken to the jail after, John’s Achilles heel Abigail tells the court Elizabeth was dabbling in witchcraft. He is determined to rescue her from the laws firm hand on her. We see John climbing the ladder of heroic status and edging towards the top rung. When he is talking to Mary Warren he commands her to go to the courthouse and confess to what really happened in the woods, Mary tells him ‘she’ll charge lechery on you’ John is now aware that Mary Warren knows about his affair, he wonders how many other people know of his sin. John wants to set Elizabeth free from a crime she didn’t commit ‘My wife will not die for me’. Johns potential for heroism begins to be realised.
Mary Warren is brought to the courthouse to recant he’s tries to get Mary to tell them the witchcraft is a hoax, when the girls start taunting Mary, John supports her he needs the confession to rescue his wife and neighbours. John starts becoming more heroic after he hears his wife will be saved for a year but he battles on to save his friends from being executed. More respect is secured when John confesses to adultery this is the last thing to do to expose Abigail. The audience are fearful for John anticipating how Elizabeth may answer Danforth. When Elizabeth is questioned about John and Abigail, Elizabeth answers ‘No sir’ she lies to save John, the audience feel the distress John experiences, after wrestling with his conscience and confessing, this will not be believed in court. This gets the audience engrossed in this act. It maybe considered at this point John’s qualities exceed his flaws.
In act 4 John still believes himself to be a sinner and thinks it would be hoax of a man to die as a martyr ‘I can not mount the gibbet like a saint. It is fraud. I am not that man.’ John battles with his principles and decides to confess to seeing the devil, we feel sympathy for John because of Elizabeth’s coldness towards him she’ll not help him in his moral dilemma, ‘I am not your judge, I cannot be’. John refuses his confession to go public he doesn’t want his three sons to think that he ‘sold his friends’. John reaches heroic status when he decides to rip up the confession and take personal dignity over life.
I agree with the statement ‘John Proctor is the tragic hero’ because John started off being fraudulent and insincere, as the play went on we saw him gain a lot of respect. He gained his respect because he was loyal to his friends. I think the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character that is ready to lay down his life to secure one thing his sense of personal dignity.
