The Crucible The Tragic Hero
A tragedy should bring fear and pity to the reader. A man in this tragedy notshould be exceptionally righteous, but his faults should come about because of a certainirreversible error on his part. This man should find a bad or fatal ending to add to thetragedy of the story, for this man in the tragic hero. The protagonist John Proctorportrays a tragic hero in The Crucible; his hamartia of adultery causes great internalstruggles, he displays hubris by challenging authority, and he encounters catastrophe John Proctor's decision to betray his wife causes internal struggles and ultimatelyleads to his catastrophe at the end of the drama. Hamartia is the primary error of thetragic hero which provokes part of his misfortune. Proctor's serious mistake of adulterydelivers problems with Abigail Williams and indirectly causes his jailing. Abigail is agrown young woman, and yet she is an orphan who mistakes John Proctor's sex for truelove. When Proctor tells Abigail that the relationship can no longer continue, the girlbecomes angry and sorrowful (1098). In order to prove Abigail's sinfulness and todiscredit her in front of the court, Proctor proclaims
The courtjails Proctor; Elizabeth Proctor's selfless act backfires. Though John Proctor is not a perfect man,his beliefs and values are in the right place; he listens to his heart. John Proctor's recognition is his discovery that he contains goodness. Whenasked about her husband, Elizabeth's soul is twisted, for reporting the truth could destroyher husband's reputation, but lying means breaking her solemn oath to God. Danforth feels he must choose Abigail's argument over that of Proctor's, for otherwise thetownspeople might view Danforth as a murderer because of his orders to execute thosepeople accused of witchcraft by Abigail and the girls. His statement is necessary, though, to the salvation of hiswife. John Proctor's sudden change through recognition and reversal is amajor crisis in the play, and from this stems his catastrophe. Because sheis selfless, Elizabeth chooses to lie and save her husband, but perhaps condemn herself tohell for such a sin. Proctor resents the Church because Parris runs it. Near the end of The Crucible, Proctor believes that he has lost the battle ofwitchcraft. Proctor delivers to thecourt his statement that Abigail and the other girls are frauds. When his head tells himto listen to the court because it is the law, and when Hale tells him to choose to live as anaccused witch, Proctor does not listen because he knows that these acts are not in his bestinterest. The catastrophe is the closing part of adrama that results from the crisis. John Proctor exposes hubris through his hate of Reverend Parris. "For now I dothink I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor" (1166).
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