Harlan 1 Chloe Harlan Mrs. Tubbs Period 3 02 May 2013 John Proctor; The Tragic Hero In the play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, John Proctor is portrayed as the tragic hero. He is a man of dignity and integrity, but beneath his tough outer exterior lays a defeated man. Having knowledge of committing adultery, he is gnawed by his feeling of guilt, which leaves him powerless to do anything about it. As the plot of the play unfolds, his admirable characteristics are presented to the reader by his actions that contrast him against other characters in the Puritan town of Salem. Back in the day, Proctor had everything your average Puritan man could want: a goodly farm to ceaselessly toil upon, three goodly sons to discipline, and a goodly wife with whom to make a home.
His sense of over-entitlement led him to be easily manipulated into killing his good friend and leader King Duncan. Duddy likely inherited his love of wealth from members of his family. He even shows movies he dislikes as a result of his desire for money, seen in the quote "Duddy didn't say a word all through the screening but afterwards he was sick to his stomach." (159) While his father does not place a large importance on wealth, his extremely wealthy uncle proves to have a lasting effect on his development as Duddy is instilled with a desire for wealth. Likewise, Macbeth is easily tempted into killing and manipulating many simply due to the desire for power and social praise.
He blames Charlie as the one who caused him to lose his boxing career and he also blames himself for his lack of bravery to act according to his own will. Despite all these, with the support and guidance of Father Barry and Edie, and finally the death of Charlie, Terry is awakened and is confident enough to fight like a contender in accordance to his conscience. His actions no longer depend on others and he finally wins the respect of the other longshoremen. Kazan clearly shows that Terry has his brother Charlie to blame for making him a bum. In the cabin, while Charlie is meant to bribe Terry with a job so that he would keep quiet about the deeds of the union, Terry expressed his disappointment in Charlie.
Hiral Patel 10-15-11 English H Tragic Hero In the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, John Proctor fits the classic Greek definition of a tragic hero. Aristotle defined a tragic hero as a noble person that goes from a state of fortune and happiness to a state of utter misery. The character’s tragic flaw causes this change. He also stated that witnessing the downfall of the character triggered an emotional release, which left the audience feeling relieved because they have empathized with the character, but not upset because the downfall was the character’s own doing. John Proctor is a strong character that represents these qualities.
A tragic hero is one who falls from greatness which leads to his or her tragic downfall. To be a tragic hero he or she must fulfill all of the expectations that a tragic hero would follow. John Proctor is the tragic hero because he does fall from greatness. Proctor has many positive traits about him, such as his noble characteristics and his honorable and righteous qualities. He however also had a flaw, his affair with Abigail Williams.
7. Why is there so much more conflict between Biff and his father? There is so much more conflict with Biff and his father because Wily wants to mold his son Biff into a success that he thinks the American Dream holds for him. Although his tries throughout this molding he fails. Another reason why there was so much conflict was because Biff caught him cheating on his mom.
Change in Pride, Change of Side “The truest characters of ignorance are vanity and pride and arrogance.” --Samuel Butler. Even Samuel Butler can recognize the fatal flaws that plague King Creon while he himself cannot comprehend them. According to Butler, Creon is a true character of ignorance for possessing all of these traits, but not recognizing them throughout the course of his entire life. In Antigone, Sophocles projects King Creon as a tragic hero who is cursed with the tragic flaws of hubris and ignorance and illustrates the recognition of his pride. In his rule over Thebes and ideals of a King, Creon suffers from the incessant flaws of arrogance and pride.
Finally it led to his own death because he wanted to pick up where he left off in the past which wasn’t going to happen because things had changed and times were different. The Great Gatsby as he came to be known, was just a young boy who wanted love more than anything else in life. His pursuit of happiness and desire to achieve his dream took him to his grave. The American dream was corrupted in this book because they all wanted what other people had. They all wanted to be wealthy and to live the life of the rich and famous.
Although Friar Lawrence’s intentions were good, his decisions and actions were the sole cause of Romeo and Juliet’s death. Do you agree? Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is the story of two young lovers who fall for one another only to realise that due to the feud their families’ share their love is destined for destruction. With all good intentions the minor character, Friar Lawrence was one of, but not the complete cause of their tragic end. There are three dominant aspects of their deaths, the feud between the two families, Friar Lawrence and most importantly, fate.
Gatsby’s death is eventually caused by his obsession with finding perfection in his life. This leads him to living a lie, losing his lover, and sending him to his grave. At the young age of 17 Gatsby is driven to create a completely different life, due to the idea that if he is wealthy, he will win Daisy, his once love, over. This obsession eventually drives him to West Egg, across