Sarah Aristizabal
Mr. Pfeiffer
English II
5 November 2018
John Proctor Analysis Essay
The Puritans were a group of people who were very strict in Catholic religious matters; they believed everything the bible told them and followed the rules to a T. As a Puritan you are expected you are expected to be dedicated and disciplined when it comes to your religion. But, in Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, one of the main characters, John Proctor, is shown to be a flawed man, according to their religion(?). The most obvious reason is that he cheated on his sick wife with a minor, he ignored his puritan duties for selfish reasons and was planning to withhold information from the court to save himself. John cannot control his lust, has too much pride, and was willing to throw his friends under the bus to save his own life are reasons why Proctor was a bad man.
In the first act of The Crucible, we are first introduced to John Proctor by Abigail Williams revealing that they’ve had an affair in the past. We are told that while his wife was sick, without a second thought, John had acted upon his impulses and desires for Abigail. Elizabeth said, “John, you are not open with me. You saw her with a crowd, you said.” (55). John offended that his wife is implying that he might be lying to her, begins to shout at her, saying, “I should have roared you down when you first told me of your suspicion. But I wilted, and, like a Christian, I confessed. Confessed!” (55). John told his wife that when she first accused him of cheating, that he should have just continued lying to her. He didn’t care that his wife was ill, John seems to have believed he was above the law of God and his community.
In the first conversation we see Abigail and John have in the play, John confronts Abigail about what they’d been doing in the woods she confesses what they’d really done. She says, “(All we were doing was,) We were dancing in the woods last night, and my uncle leaned in on us.” (22). Abigail revealed that Betty was just frightened, and that her illness has nothing to do with witchcraft. Elizabeth had told John that he should tell the court what Abigail had confessed to him about what they were really doing in the woods that night. John ignored his wife withholding the information, letting the trials continue. John then waits till his wife gets accused as well to tell what Abigail had confessed to him. Then the court questions why he’d taken so long to tell them what she’d said to him. At this point, they didn’t believe John anymore.
Committing lechery, not going to church, and harboring the truth makes John Proctor a bad man.
“…I like it not that Mr. Parris should lay his hand upon my baby. I see no light of God in that man.”-Proctor, pg. 66
As said by Rev. Hale, “that is not for you to decide. The man’s ordained, therefore the light of God is in him.”
When Abigail was confronted by John about what they’d done in the woods, Abigail confessed, “We were dancing in the woods last night, and my uncle leaned in on us.”(22)
