My first impression of John Proctor in the beginning of the Crucible was not a good one. I would have definitely called him a "stooge." I guess I'll start with the most obvious reason why, he committed adultery. What makes it even worse is that it was with a young girl, Abigail. There is so many things wrong with this. Elizabeth had trusted him and remained faithful to him, while we was having an affair with Abigail. Then, in Act II, it really bothered me the way he treated Elizabeth. There was the part when he told her the rabbit was good after he seasoned it himself, which may not seem like a big deal, but he could've given her constructive criticism and could've been honest. Also, he kept calling Elizabeth cold and said she judges him too much, but as she said, "The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you." Basically, he felt horrible and guilty about what he did to her, yet he was taking it out on her. Not only that, but he originally did not tell her that he had been alone with Abigail earlier, which is something very important to say. It just made her more angry and suspicious that he didn't tell her.
But, John Proctor was definitely not a static character. Towards the end of Act II when Elizabeth is being arrested, you see the nicer, more caring side of Proctor. As she is being taken away, he promises to help her and that he will get her out of jail. You can tell how much he cares about her and doesn't want her to be taken away. In Act III in the courthouse, he confesses to the affair. I feel like he was finally taking responsibility and owning up to his mistake. He confessed even though it would ruin his reputation forever. One of the main reasons that I think Proctor is a "hero" at the end is that he could have easily accused someone else and save himself, but he decided to not accuse anyone and accept the fact that he will be hung.
I believe that John Proctor was both a stooge and a hero. He was a dynamic character who changed throughout the story.
I agree with you that it is hard to define John Proctor as either a hero or a stooge. while he started out the novel as a stooge, in the end his act of heroism made up for that. I think he was a character that was lost and you do a very good job of explaining that. He was a character that didn't know what to do, he couldn't med his broken relationship with his wife, and he couldn't stop abigail from causing the deaths of innocent people without ruining his reputation. In the end he changed for the better and realized the only way to clear his conscience was to give himself up for his wife. You are right that he was a dynamic character and wasn't really either stooge OR hero, he was both
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you that John Proctor was both a stooge and a hero. You're right when you said that he took responsibility and owned up to his mistake. I feel that the moment he confessed, he showed that there is good in him. Like you said that instead of accusing someone else to save himself he instead decided to be hanged.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on John being both. In a sense he was a stooge but as time progressed he got more a to a point of taking actions with a reasoning and ideology of a hero. I feel that he could have been a little bit more of a hero than a stooge however. Overall, nice job.
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