John Proctor-Hero or Stooge

John Proctor is neither a hero nor a stooge, but somewhere in the gray area in between. Though, to me he is more of a hero than a stooge. He shows some heroic characteristics but also had some flaws. Like everyone else, no one is completely perfect; everyone is flawed in some way.

Proctor had his own belief in things and didn’t want his life to be controlled by the church. The definition of stooge, according to Merriam-Webster, is one who plays a subordinate or compliant role to a principal. Was Proctor used as a puppet? No. He was open to the fact that he didn’t attend church and that he saw no religious worth in Parris. When Hale was questioning his fate, on page 1301 he said,” I like it not that Mr. Parris should lay his hand upon my baby. I see no light of God in that man. I’ll not conceal it.”

Though, he committed adultery with his maid, Abigail, which was very stooge-like.  In the Puritan society, this was a big sin. This was the only major flaw I could see in him. But as the story progressed, he did what he could to fix this whole witchcraft commotion and to save the innocent from the growing power of the group of young girls caught dancing in the woods. Proctor could’ve easily just did whatever he needed to do to just save his butt like what everybody else was doing. Abigail, Proctor’s mistress, didn’t like Elizabeth, Proctor’s wife, after she was fired as a maid. This whole situation was started when Abigail drank a charm to kill Elizabeth. When that wasn’t enough, she accused Elizabeth of witchcraft. Proctor knew the girls were going too far with this nonsense so he tried to talk sense into her. At the same time, he was trying to fix the rift between him and Elizabeth. He was honest with his wife what he did with Abigail. On page 1294 he said, “I should have roared you down when first you told me your suspicions. But I wilted, and, like a Christian, I confessed. Confessed!” He realizes what he did was wrong and apologized for it. He later testifies against Abigail and tells everyone that he had an affair with her. Also, unlike the others, he didn’t believe there was witchcraft in the town and tried to think sensibly.

At the end, when they asked about Rebecca Nurse, he didn’t want to ruin her name or speak about anybody else. Proctor kept the questions focused on himself and not others. He ultimately lies about seeing and working with the devil but unlike others, he didn’t accuse anyone else. Proctor didn’t want to sign the confession because he didn’t want to sell out his friends and ruin his name as a result of signing. On page 1356 he says, “I blacken all of them when this is nailed to the church the very day they hang for silence!” He shows that he still has dignity when he doesn’t sign over his soul to the lies.  His honest and good character from this outweighs the affair he had with Abigail. He dies with his dignity still strong and name not ruined.