Crucible

The Crucible Literature Essay Daniella D’Antonio 11B In “The Crucible”, by Arthur Miller, John Proctor is a hero for giving up his life. He is a great man of honesty and not many people would do what he did. A hero is thought to be someone who shows great amounts of courage and determination. This definition of a hero definitely fits John's character. He has more courage than anyone else in the book. Abigail is one of the main problems in John's life. She causes a lot of trouble with John's family and the whole town. Their affair is an enormous conflict. John fights mostly with it internally and it tears him up inside until he has to confess. He cannot tell anyone and after he confesses to his suspecting wife the affair destroys his marriage. John confesses to lechery

with Abigail and he also confesses to being a witch. In the end, John decides not to confess because he does not want to ruin the Proctor name. It was not easy for John to do that. John pays his price for lechery with Abby while he is also proving his innocence of witchcraft. John does not want his name taken away. He says "No because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name I have given you my soul; leave me my name!" John does not want to disgrace the Proctor name. Elizabeth sums it up best at the end of the play when she says "He have his goodness now, God forbid I take it from him. He does not want to do this for the sake of his children. " John rips up the confession he has just signed when he realizes that what he is doing is just going to make his family's lives worse. John does not see the point in it, because of his sin of lechery; he cannot live a saint"tms life so why live at all John dies with everyone knowing the truth about him. He says he will not sign the papers. John says, "You have made your magic now, for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. Many other people throughout the play confess to witchcraft and sign away their lives to a lie. John Proctor"tms actions teach the reader valuable lessons, one of these being; you should not live a lie like some people do but you should do what is right, like John, and pay the price for whatever it costs you to have the truth.