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The Crucible - Protagonist, John Proctor

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The Salem witch trials were a time of vengeance and despair in which citizens were wrongly accused and killed for uncommitted crimes. In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible he depicts how the witch trials disrupted peace within the town of Salem. Throughout the play there are several dynamic characters, but the character that changes the most is John Proctor. He is able to admit his unholy mistake and use it as evidence to attest that the witch trials are vengeance driven. In this play, John Proctor transforms from a man full of guilt and sins to a man who reveals his integrity in a corrupted society. In act one, John Proctor’s sin of lechery causes an internal struggle to maintain his good name. In a town full of dishonesty, John fits in perfectly. He committed the sin of lechery with his previous servant Abigail. Once John’s wife, Elizabeth, discovers the affair she quickly removes her from their household. John is ashamed of his actions and wished he never committed such an atrocity. The tension between John and Abigail is exposed in their first conversation with each other: “I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind. We never touched, Abby” (23). Proctor believes his affair with Abigail damaged him in the eyes of God, his wife Elizabeth, and himself. He cannot forgive himself and neither can Elizabeth, which makes their relationship uncomfortable. Throughout the play, Proctor strives to regain a positive self-image. After the court unjustly accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft, Proctor marches down to the court, determined to prove her innocence even if it means jeopardizing his good name. He brings Mary Warren, a deposition signed by ninety-one land owning farmers, and prepares himself to publicly announce his affair. He dreads revealing his sin because guilt and regret already overwhelm him. But, he hopes that admitting his affair will bring to the courts eyes that Abigail has accus

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