Sunday, September 21, 2014

John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?


Hero. It is a word with many definitions. A hero is a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. It can be someone who is willingly able to risk their life to help and save someone else, whether it’s someone they know or never met. Or it can just be someone who does a good deed thinking about helping someone or others.
In The Crucible, John Proctor, in my opinion, is a hero. Yes, he committed adultery and also lied to many about seeing Abigail, including his wife Elizabeth. But everyone makes mistakes that we regret because he did regret it and felt ashamed of what he did. He also only lied to protect Elizabeth from getting her feelings hurt because he loves her.

In the end, he confessed everything to save the life of Elizabeth who, if pregnant, only had one more year of life. I consider him a hero for stepping up after his confusion and his feelings of what to do. He could have just let Elizabeth die and no one really ever had to know about the affair but he did the right thing in the end.

1 comment:

  1. I like how you included your own definition of what a hero is. I agree that John Proctor was a hero, despite his many faults. It's great how you included that everyone makes mistakes, and everyone has regrets, but John still loved Elizabeth even though he'd once hurt her. The last paragraph about saving Elizabeth was great and well-written.

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