The Great Dilemma of John Proctor in 'The Crucible'

502 Words3 Pages
The Great Dilemma John Proctor, the tragic hero of The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, has the mind of an honest man, but he also has a hidden secret—his act of adultery with Abigail Williams (Reverend Parris’s niece). Her obvious jealousy, emphasized by Proctor’s ending of their affair, gives the inspiration for the witch trials; Proctor then accepts some of the responsibility for what events happen. He feels that the only way to end Abigail and the other girls from their lies is to plead guilty to his adultery. Proctor abstains for a long period of time from admitting his sin, however, for the sake of his own good name and his wife’s honor. Eventually, Proctor’s efforts to expose Abigail as a fraud without revealing the vital information about their affair fail, and he makes a public confession of his sin. But by the time Proctor confesses, it is too late to stop the trend from running its path, and Proctor himself is arrested and accused of being a witch. At this point in the play, Proctor faces a new predicament and struggles with his conscience over whether to save himself from the gallows with a confession to a sin that he did not commit. Hale and the Judges almost persuade him to do so, but in the end, Proctor cannot bring himself to sign his confession. Such an action would dishonor him and his fellow prisoners, who are persistently rejecting to make untruthful confessions; more important, he realizes that his own honor, soul, and his honesty are worth more than a weak escape from the gallows. Proctor dies and, in doing so, feels that he has finally removed his guilt for his failure to end the trials when he had the chance. As his wife says, “he has his goodness now.” Proctor changed from a being a very kind, passive and level tempered person to an aggressive, powerful leader in the court when challenged by a mental choice. Proctor decided that the

More about The Great Dilemma of John Proctor in 'The Crucible'

Open Document