The Ideals of and Honest Man in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible Essay Example

As humans, our personalities and beliefs change throughout our lives. Over time new struggles and experiences throughout our lifetime influence the shifts and changes in how we act and behave. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, John Proctor, the central protagonist, undergoes a sharp character transformation throughout the story. At the beginning of the story, Proctor is a knowledgeable man that kept to his own devices. He was skeptical of the orthodox Puritan beliefs and objected to many of their ideas. However, he did not publicly speak out against these ideas and let the residents of Salem continue their beliefs without disruption. Despite his doubt of their practices, the people of Salem still regarded Proctor as an honest man that is true to his word. Unbeknownst to the Salem residents, Proctor had engaged in an adulterous affair with Abigail Williams, which tears away at his reputation of being honest and true. As Proctor struggles to cope with the betrayal of his loyalty to truth, the town is plagued with mass paranoia of witches. Proctor comes to town to investigate the claims for himself and finds the claims to be false. He stays out of the conflict; as he usually has done before, when suddenly, an accusation of witchcraft is placed on his wife. At that point, he could not stay silent any longer, leaving behind his kept-to-himself attitude and dishonesty. John’s change in character is put on display throughout the book as he transitions from a reticent and respectful person to an outspoken and honest man.

To begin, John’s character at the start of the book is shown through his silence during the inception of the witch trials to be reticent and respectful. When John first enters town to hear the rumors of witchcraft, he pulls Abigail to the side to speak with her. In conversation, Abigail reveals, “ [The girls] were dancin’ in the woods last night and my uncle leaped in on us. [Betty] took fright, is all” (22). After Proctor is given this information, he remains closed-mouthed while the people of Salem begin to be accused of witchcraft and charged for their “crimes”. Proctor shows that he is a reticent man that will keep his thoughts to himself no matter the consequences that others must face. Later on in the story, Proctor reveals to Hale that “Abigail Williams told [him] it had naught do with witchcraft”(68). At this moment, Proctor realizes that the witch trials were no longer mass paranoia, but on a path to become a massacre. His instincts of fear are triggered and he begins to fight these fallacious accusations. His character begins to move away from his “kept to himself” attitude and respectfulness, to a more outspoken individual. 

At this point in the story, John’s character shift is present, with John leaving his respectfulness and reticence to speak for himself and others. A few moments after speaking with Hale, John’s ideals are thrown into doubt when men come to his home to arrest his wife for witchcraft. John lashes out against the men of the court for arresting his wife, proclaiming “Vengeance is walking in Salem. We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little children are jangling the keys to the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law! This warrant is vengeance! I’ll not give my wife to vengeance!”(76). When his wife is taken away, it ushers in new character traits for Proctor, as he now saw respect and silence were no way to stop a witch hunt. He embraces the realization he had earlier on how to fight these erroneous allegations and his character finally changes. The next day, Proctor journeys into town to speak with the court officials. As the men converse, they agree to let John’s wife be spared for at least one year. Knowing that his wife is safe, John’s old character would have surrendered to the wrongdoers and returned home to his children. But as Judge Danforth asked John if he would drop his charge John responded by saying, “I-I think I cannot”(92). Faced with the option to return to his old life, Proctor could have accepted Danforth’s offer, being respectful and silent as he always was before. However, Proctor underwent a character change when his wife was taken from him and he is now determined to represent the innocents of Salem being executed for imaginary crimes. Proctor’s self-centered lifestyle and character are forgotten and truth shines through his character as he begins to speak up for the accused in Salem. This point marks the pinnacle of John Proctor’s character arc, as from this point forward, John is an outspoken and honest man.

Finally, John embraces his change in character when he begins his plea in court about Abigail’s credibility. The court begins to rule in Abigail’s favor until John blurts out that “ [He] has known her”(110). Proctor expresses his deviation from his respectful and silent self when he announces his affair. Merely some time ago Proctor would never speak of this affair, however Proctor, who had become a more honest and outspoken man, now declared his adultery before a court. As the story concludes, Proctor is faced with the choice of confessing to witchcraft and walking free or denying the crime and being off to the gallows.  At first, he lies and confesses to witchcraft, but then rips his confession, and his wife comments, “I do think I see goodness in John Proctor”(144). Choosing to uphold his honesty over his life shows that his values have been permanently set after choosing to go against the unjust court. John finally spoke his mind and revitalized his adherence to the truth. Proctor had been living in fear of embracing his true self, and now that he was able to speak his mind and his truths, he accepts his death.

In conclusion, the character of John Proctor swiftly changes throughout The Crucible to become an honest and outspoken man while leaving behind reticence and respect. John undergoes a crisis in his identity and at the same time, the town of Salem is thrown into a crisis of its own identity. The town of Salem is existing under the pretense of being a godly town with people true to the bible. However, Salem’s residents hide behind the town’s facade to facilitate personal gain. People like girls of the town appear to be innocent and pure while they arrange the massacre of innocents. Parris is a reverend in Salem, uses to church for material desires, and  Putnam uses the accusations to steal his neighbor’s land. The people of Salem begin to lose trust for another and shed the pretense of being a religious and honest people. Thoughout the story, those that oppose this pretense and abide the rules of the bible are killed for doing so. The conclusion of the story shows that Salem was never a holy or religious town. It was a town of sinners hiding under the falsehood of religion. John was one of these people. Like everyone else in town, he was silent on his true thoughts and sinned. However, though the story he finds redemption through upholding his reputation and atones for his sin. The change of John’s character tells a story. Not a story of a man, but the story of an entire town.