Proctor Brace Research Paper

The only way John Proctor can save himself is by falsely confessing to being involved with witchcraft; however, he does not confess. This describes another example of situational irony. Proctor decides to tell the truth and not lie to himself because he now understands the meaning of a good reputation. As critic Richard Hayes says, “The dilemma of man, fallible, subject to pride, but forced to choose between the ‘negative good’ of truth and the morality, and the ‘positive good’ of human life under any dispensation.” Proctor would rather die than live with the town believing untrue statements about him. When Proctor is asked to explain why he decides to tell the truth he replies, “Because it is my name!...How may I live without

The first step for Proctor to regain his self-respect is when he goes to the court armed with three main weapons in order to free his wife, Abigail’s admission to him that there was no witchcraft, Mary Warren’s testimony and finally, Proctor is prepared to admit that he and Abigail had an affair. This would blacken Abigail’s now saintly reputation and discredit her in the eyes of the court. Even though Proctor’s goal of freeing Elizabeth and putting an end to the hysteria is not achieved, he takes significant steps towards regaining his self-respect. The first step being that he does not stop fighting the false accusations even after he finds out that Elizabeth is pregnant and therefore safe for the time being. He feels he owes a greater duty to the community and proceeds. The second step is that he has now just openly admitted his adulterous lechery; he is no longer a hypocrite. He has publicly embraced his sin.

He overcomes these conflicts by deciding to testify against Abigail and confessing to the crime of lechery. It is at this moment that he realises that he must participate in the community and that his individual needs might have to be sacrificed for the good of all. Another motivation for Proctor could have been that he wanted to replace his wife's alleged guilt with his own and that he wanted to be redeemed of his sin.

Another inner quality that defines John Proctor is the value he holds to his good name. Proctor is a firm believer in the fact that one’s name is the only thing that remains after death, and what is done with it while living can affect one’s posterity for generations. This is the driving force behind his actions in the final act of the play. At first, he felt no shame in lying to the court about his accusation of witchcraft because he felt there was no more damage he could do to his reputation and that one more sin would not make any difference. His attitude changed when he realized his confession would mean blackening the name of those who already had died, and his sons would have to live with that mark on their names. He knew he could not teach his sons “. . . to walk like

Despite his being an insignificant and non-status-holding member of society, John Proctor is a much-respected man in Salem. However, in determining his fate, he continues to make several critical and irreversible mistakes that harm his reputation. For fear of being exiled in a town where reputation plays such a large role in their daily lives, Proctor initially tries to hide his crime of adultery, but his affair with Abigail triggers a major series of events in Salem, where simple, unproven accusations escalate to a far larger issue: “Abby—you mean to cry out still others?” “If I live, if I am not murdered, I surely will, until the last hypocrite is dead” (Miller 150). In the end, Proctor decides that for the sake of his desperate circumstances, it would be better to admit to his affair, but by the time he decides to reveal his crime, it is too late to reverse all past actions. He is convicted of witchcraft and doomed to be hanged, later, when given a chance to live, he caves in and confesses to seeing the Devil, only to go back even on this last lie, because he does not have the heart to be freed and saved by a lie.

Throughout the play, Proctor struggles with his honor as he changes from viewing it as his reputation to believing it is based on his own private moral of truth. The isolated Puritan community in which Proctor lives forces him to try and achieve a pious and perfect lifestyle, which ultimately pressures him into lying about his affair with Abigail in order to maintain a good reputation. This view changes in the courtroom, when Proctor becomes extremely frustrated with the lies and deceit that Abigail is telling the judges, Proctor screams in anger, “I beg you sir, I beg you - see her what she is… She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me; I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a

Proctor takes great pride in having an admirable reputation and, like his name, longs to keep it respectable. It took Proctor his whole life to gain the trust of the people in Salem and build

as his beliefs. This paper will discuss Proctor's change in character and his struggle with getting to

            By methods of denying hypocrites, redeeming his relationship with his wife, and surrendering his life to save others, Proctor has indeed proven himself to be an admirable character.  Despite the dirty deeds of his teenage mistress Abigail, Proctor was able to successfully overcome his biggest fears and stressors in order to put an end to the Salem Witch trials.  If Proctor’s legacy is remembered and followed, then similar experiences in history to come will surely have a much better than if people are to follow the simple minded lead of the citizens of Salem,

In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, John Proctor is a farmer that is wedded to Elizabeth Proctor. John is trying his best to provide his best efforts to show improvements of himself towards his children. It has been reported by the town folks that John is a good person. The thing about John was that he committed adultery with Abigail Williams which is their house servant. This decision found its way to the Salem Witch Trials and that is where a majority of people were accused of witchcraft.

“Pride in what you do and who you are is a strong foundation, but don't be defined by your oppression; use your anger, don't let it use you,” (Dave Mckean http://meetville.com/quotes/tag/pride/page57 2010-2014 Meetville). Proctor tries to free himself from his pride or from his honest conscience. Proctor has many sins from the past catching back up with him, putting his wife, family, himself, and even the town in danger. Proctors pride saves him from committing more sins, but still, in a way ends in a tragedy. Proctor seems to have the weight of the world on his shoulders at this time period.

Proctor is great guy with a great fault. His only fault is his past cheating incident with Abigail Williams, one of the girls in the town. This creates all guilt in the story. He feels incredibly guilty because he is truly in love with his wife. He is honestly trying his best to recover, “ I mean to please you, Elizabeth!’ as it is obviously shown. (Miller, II, 1052).

One thing to show this is when Proctor says “ I have given you my soul. Leave me my name”. He is saying he went against what his believes and lied for the greater good and by doing so he is risking being sent to hell in a afterlife just to save the ones being convicted in the trials. He is wanting his name to be remembered for the good he did and not the bad because when he dies all he will leave on earth is his name and he doesn't want that to be a bad thing. But this is contradicting what he stated earlier in the story when he says to Elizabeth

Many of the people liked the Bracero program because the program provided them with food and housing. They didn’t fear any harm after they had joined the Bracero program. The Americans were treating them with respect, no sort of racism until after WWII had ended. None of the people were treated with respect anymore, they were being racist to them. They did not feel safe but they had dealt with it until they had to much. Some people in the Bracero program had left and went back to Mexico to be with their own kind as they say, that it would be better for them to just be

However, Proctor is shown to be only concerned with his “name” which is affected by his adulterous sin. Proctor’s lust is described by Miler as making him “sweat like a stallion whenever [Abigail] came near.” Miller’s imagery portrays a character that recognises his immoral actions but is unable to wash his sin, as “[his wife’s] spirit twists around the single error of [his] life, and [he] will never tear free.” In addition, the author shows Proctor caring for his reputation and gives him the ability to stop the accusations, yet his desire to preserve his name keeps him from testifying. Colour imagery is employed to describe Proctor’s quest to keep his good name from being tarnished and “there be no blush about [his] name.” Moreover, Miller uses Proctor’s blemished marriage to describe him as the tragic hero, which contributes to Proctor’s flaw. The relationship between Elizabeth and Proctor is presented to the audience