Literary Analysis: A Character from The Crucible
By looking at The Crucible by Arthur Miller, one can infer that the character, John Proctor, reveals the theme of reputation and integrity. These are important because refusing to lie to protect one’s reputation can stop hysteria from spreading. In The Crucible, John Proctor was more worried about his reputation for his family to live with than he was concerned with his own life. Basically, the idea of John Proctor protecting his reputation motivates him to deny that witchcraft exists in the village. Proctor had stated his worry by saying, “The town is mumbling witchcraft” (1.1.511-512). Proctor says this in reference to Reverend Hale walking through town with a stack of books for researching …show more content…
“I mean to please you Elizabeth” (2.1.39-40). Proctor displays remorse for his adultery. This is relevant because it eventually leads to Proctor protecting his name. When Proctor says to his wife, “You will not judge me anymore.” (2.1.193-194), it shows how tiresome he has grown of his troubling marriage. My reason for quoting this is that obviously you can tell that he wants his wife and himself to have a happy relationship. I think admitting his lie to his wife and trying to improve the status of their marriage is really how you can tell he feels remorse.

Act three of The Crucible starts to show how strongly John Proctor feels about his reputation. Abigail lies on Elizabeth to get her killed, but Proctor admits his adultery to the judge. Proctor says this quote because he is making sure the court does not think he is lying about this: “A man will not cast away his good name” (3.1.1091-1092). He tries to explain that, “it is a whore’s vengeance, and you must see it” (3.1.1118-1120).
In Act four of The Crucible Proctor does not want to lie to them for no reason: “Spite only keeps me silent, it is hard to lie to dogs” (4.1.612-613). Like I said earlier, Proctor cares about his reputation before he has to die. He does not want his reputation for his family to be bad either when he is gone. Proctor wants to die and keep his name good, they have already made him sign but he won’t let them post it on the church: “I