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In Arthur Millers play, The Crucible, the small town of Salem is engaged in hysteria due to the accusations of children that many of the townspeople took part in witchcraft. Among the accused is John Proctor, a strong, faithful farmer. A contemporary writer, W. H. Auden, defines a modern hero, not as the doer of great deeds, but the man or woman who, in spite of all the pressures of society, manages to keep his own identity. John Proctor fulfills the requirements of this type of hero by his actions throughout the story.
His hero status is shown by his efforts to save his wife from being put to death, his attempt to prove the children are making deceitful claims, his unwillingness to confess to practicing witchcraft when accused by town and lastly his ability to maintain his identity throughout the book. Proctor is a tragic hero in his efforts to save his wife. Proctors first display of trying to save his wife is shown when the Court officials come to take Elizabeth away. Proctor is so angered by this attack on his house that he rips the warrant and tells them to leave forcefully saying, Damn the Deputy Governor!
Out of my house! (77), demonstrating his intense love for his wife. Proctor shows signs of being a hero when he attempts to go into court to save his wife and prove the girls liars. However, he ends up being accused himself. Mary Warren is in court testifying when she suddenly breaks down hysterically, pointing at Proctor, fearful of him: My name, he want my name. Ill murder you, he says, if my wife hands! We must go and over throw the court, he says... [Proctor] wake me every night, his eyes were like coals and his fingers claw my neck and I sign, I sign (119).
Thus John Proctor fails in trying to rescue his wife from the false accusers and the Court and instead he becomes accused as a witch. Proctor establishes that the children are lying in court with respect to their accusations of the townspeople. Proctor first learns of this through his household servant, Mary Warren who is one of the accusers. Proctor takes away from the events that Mary Warren and Abigail, the lead schemer, are trying to kill Proctors wife by accusing her of witchcraft. They come up with the idea of what is basically a voodoo doll that Mary Warren constructs in court and gives to Elizabeth. Proctor puts two and two together and deduces that it is all a fraud.
Proctor decides to go to court and expose the girls. Tragically they turn on him and he is accused of being the chief devil helper (114 - 120). Once again, Proctor tries to do well but is falsely accused and is represented as a hero who stepped up against the pressures of society. Lastly through all the trouble Proctor faces he is able to maintain his identity. Proctor denies being a witch, although being accused, until the day of his death. He comes close to confessing to witchcraft but realizes that it disgraces his good name and its all that he will leave his children.
Proctor says, I have three children how may I teach them to walk like men in the world when he has sold his friends and his good name (143). Proctor also explains to the judge 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 (143)! What was most important to him was to make a stand against the insanity of the town, for himself and for God, and using that as a last resort to make people aware of what was happening. This last stand against society is an example of Proctor's great character. With his last plea Proctor loses all hopes of living, but the thing that is important to him is that he dies with dignity, by remembering who he is and what he stands for and this is what truly make John Proctor a hero. It is evident, that John Proctor is a hero in many ways.
His unmerciful fight to free his wife, expose the children as frauds, and not confessing to witchcraft demonstrates this. And lastly, by remembering who he is and what he stands for in the end truly makes John Proctor a hero.
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