During the time of the Salem witchcraft trials, a number of wrongfully accused citizens were killed, due to the mass hysteria that had enveloped the community. Among these Puritan citizens is John Proctor, whom I believe dies a hero, not only because he refuses to surrender to the corruption in society, as did the rest that were put to death, but also because, in doing so, he is able to relieve himself of a guilty conscience. John Proctor is a respected man who chooses to die for what he hopes will make up for his past sins, and unlike many of the accused, who lied in order to save their lives, Proctor does what he knows is seen as right in the eyes of God.
John Proctor lived a life in which every day he tried to make up for his past sins by doing all he could for his wife. However, coming from a Puritan society, forgiveness and the ability to forget wrong doings did not come about easily, which, of course, contributed to his individual guilt. ” John, it come to naught that I forgive you, if you’ll not forgive yourself. It is not my soul, John, it is yours.” (Act Four, Lines 25-28).
John held all this guilt inside, and in the end his search to find some goodness within him self was finally complete when he decided not to fulfill Hale’s request to lie. Proctor ultimately viewed his decision as the last chance he had to honor his wife and soon to be born child.
Besides the individual guilt he was relieving himself of, John Proctor knew that to lie would have been the wrong thing to do when it came down to being Puritan. He knew that the society in Salem was disintegrating at a rapid pace and in the end he refused to subject himself to their corruption. At one point John proclaims to the town’s authorities, “You are pulling Heaven down and raising up a whore.” (Act three, Line 9) During that time not many knew how right he was, and of course, soon after his death, people realized he was right. John proves to the community that even though he might not have been perfect, he was still a good and virtuous person inside, who would have rather died a saint than to live as a liar. In the end, Proctor became quite the martyr by displaying that having goodness with God came first.
The Essay on The Crucible John Proctors Decision To Die Was Justifiable
... than live a life of guilt and carry a blackened name. John Proctors decision to die is reasonable and believable. Proctor has come to regard ... as well. John Proctors frequent absences from church services didnt exactly gain him favor in the eyes of other disciplined puritans. Having an ... must show them he is and was committed to the society before it started to become a corrupt and confused community. ...
Eventually, John Proctor gained more from his heroic decision to die, than he probably would have if he had lied to stay alive. Even Elizabeth, his wife, knew that in dieing he was gaining something he had been searching for, for a long time. “He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him.” (Act Four, Lines 13-14) Only as time went on, and the people of Salem realized how biased they had been, did the memory of John’s courage, as well as the rest that refused to live as liars, truly stand out to prove that the society had made a horrible mistake by murdering these heroic and saintly people.
