John Proctor, Hero or Stooge

John Proctor was a one of the most important characters in the play. Although he’s only somewhat complicated, one of the ways that the story could be viewed is through having him be the central character. The central characters are Abigail, Parris, Proctor, and Hale and as such, the story could be viewed in its entirety through their points of view and could make perfect sense. Abigail’s point of view is that she’s in love with Proctor and most of her actions are motivated by this fact. Parris is a paranoid minister that wants to protect his position from the supposed faction collaborating against him. Hale is a minister that wants to use this town as his experimental setting to learn and utilize his skills of uncovering the devil’s work. Proctor is a farmer that has had an affair and is trying to make up for it while maintaining his silent protest of Parris’s ways. Hale and Parris, especially Hale, have journeys that change how they feel from the start of the story to the end yet Proctor doesn't have this type of journey. His journey is one that helps him to find true peace. Since the start of act one, he has been trying his absolute hardest to earn Elizabeth’s forgiveness and has begged her time and time again for it, yet she never gave it to him. She knew that in order for him to truly be at peace, he had to forgive himself first, and she told him that. He thought that he had forgiven himself but he really hadn't, not until the end. He confessed his sin to the whole court and let out all of his secrets. Even when his confession wasn't received kindly, he persisted that he was telling the truth. In the last scene, his pleads with his wife one last time but even then she repeats her message that it isn't her place to forgive him. When he finally does give the “confession” to witchcraft, although everyone else saw it as witchcraft, he knew that it was much more than that. He finally proved to himself that he was a good man by not giving up on his friends, a man that deserved forgiveness for the sin that he so regretted and that allowed him to die a happy man. He may have had to give his life for it, but John Proctor was a hero that died at peace, and just so happened to saw the town in the process.