The Crucible Essay Theme: Proctor’s Choice, Essay Example

In the 1953 play, “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, John Proctor commits a series of deeds that lead his Salem community to believe he has become involved with witchcraft. This accusation forces him to make an important decision, he can either plead guilty and admit that he was in league with the Devil, even though this would be a false statement, and live, or he could plead innocent and risk being stoned to death. While pleading guilty would have saved his life, it would have undermined the fact that he was trying to be honest to the Salem community about his bad personal choices, which had little to do with witchcraft. Furthermore, it would have supported the evil actions of Abigail, whose lies killed many members of the community including John Proctor’s wife, Sarah. Since John Proctor believes that he needs to do something to stop the madness that has overcome Salem and prevent Abigail from continuing to get her way. Ultimately, this final act indicates that John Proctor is really a good person, although human and capable of making mistakes. By refusing to plead guilty, Proctor is committing one final act of good with the hope that it will allow his community to realize their hysteria is unfounded and he made the best possible decision he had the ability to in this situation.

One of the major themes of “The Crucible” is the concept of fate and whether one truly has control over their own destiny. Since the people of Salem all have Puritan beliefs, their lives revolve around their worship of God and they have very strict rules regarding how people should behave and dress. As a consequence, the major threat to these people’s lifestyle was influence from the Devil; his involvement in their lives would cause them to commit acts that God would not approve of, which would tarnish their pure lifestyle. Although John Proctor had little free will in his daily life in the community, he was presented with one of the first opportunities to do so when he was given the decision as to whether or not he should go to court to explain Abigail’s claim that there was no witchcraft, that he has Mary Warren’s testimony that her and the other girls had been faking, and even that he had an affair with Abigail, in order to clear the name of his wife from accusations of witchcraft. This is an active decision rather than a consequence of fate because John Proctor was very well aware of the rules that his community set forth and that he himself could potentially get into a lot of trouble for accusing others of lying and especially for committing adultery. However, John Proctor decides to uphold his Puritan ethics and do what is truly right for both himself and his wife; since he knew his wife was innocent of the charge of witchcraft, he knew that he needed to do everything in his power to prevent her execution.

A second time that John Proctor goes against fate is when he decides to not plead guilty in order to uphold the honor of all of those that had died due to accusations of witchcraft. John Proctor was expected to have accepted the guilty plea and claim that he committed his actions because he was under influence by the Devil and that his wife was in fact, a witch. Not only would John Proctor have been lying if he agree to the terms of the court, he would have been damaging the pride of his family. Furthermore, he would be playing into Abigail’s scheme. John Proctor was aware that Abigail was obsessed with him and did not want him to die, so he aimed to take advantage of fate by pleading innocent; he knew that if he died, it would snap Abigail back into reality and she would potentially admit all the wrong she had done. Therefore, John Proctor makes the correct ethical decision by decided to be a martyr for all of those that had died including his wife, and make one final attempt to prevent future witchcraft hysteria. This is an active act against fate because in a godly Puritan society, one would expect that a civilian would always side with the authority of the community.

Although John Proctor’s choice is difficult, he was fortunate to have been provided the opportunity to say what he believed to be the right choice. It is unfortunate however, that the right choice needed to be embedded in so much pain and misery. What went from Proctor’s desire to save his wife’s life caused him to end up in an ordeal of his own. To determine whether John Proctor truly made the right decision, it is necessary to explore the alternative choices he had available to him. When John Proctor committed adultery and lechery by having an affair with Abigail, he had several options available to him. He could have either remained silent, admitted the act to his wife, admitted the act to the court and asked for forgiveness from the community, explained to Abigail what happened so that she could understand that he still loves his wife, or a combination of the above events. According to the consequentialist point of view, maximizing good consequences and minimizing bad ones for all concerns leads to optimal ethical value. In this situation, the worst decision that John Proctor could have made was to remain silent. If he had remained silent, he would have been unable to defend his wife, allowed Abigail to get away with murder, and have done nothing to show his community the error in their ways. The second to worst decision that John Proctor could have made is that he should simply explain what happened to Abigail so she wouldn’t get the wrong impression of his action. While this would be helpful to the overall situation, Abigail may fail to understand or believe John Proctor’s words and become extremely hurt, which may lead her to cry witch more frequently and harm others. The second best decision available to John Proctor is to explain the adultery to his wife Sarah. Although this knowledge would hurt her initially, it would help her understand the reason that she was accused of witchcraft and that her husband truly loves her and will do anything to help her. Even though it is unlikely that John Proctor to do anything to help her case, it is better for her to die knowing the truth, that she is loved, and that her husband regrets making that mistake. According to the actions on the aforementioned list, the best decision that John Proctor could have made was to go to the courts and admit the adultery crime. Although John Proctor risked getting harmed himself, he was protecting other innocent people in the process which makes the act justifiable. Although John Proctor’s ultimate act was the most ethical out of all available choices, it would have been more ideal if he had admitted the act to his wife, admitted the act to the court and asked for forgiveness from the community, explained to Abigail what happened so that she could understand that he still loves his wife. Ultimately however, John Proctor’s act showed that despite the fact that he made a grave mistake by committing adultery and lechery with Abigail, he is still guided by Puritan ethics and wishes to take the actions that will benefit the greatest amount of people even if they will personally cause him harm.

When John Proctor makes his decision to plead innocent in the court, we must consider the narrow-minded opinions of people in the court due to the witchcraft hysteria that was occurring in Salem, Massachusetts. Under normal circumstances, John Proctor and the others may have been spared their lives, but the constraints of society certainly narrowed the options available to all of them. Many of the actions that occurred throughout the story reflect a lack of understanding of all situations in which people do not strictly adhere to the rules of God, which isn’t surprising in a Puritan society. However, the court and others that preside over the daily activities of the Salem people fail to consider that human error is possible in its civilians. This is the one tragic flaw that residents of Salem all had during this time period. While John Proctor’s crime of adultery and lechery was extreme and may have resulted in legal action in normal cases in his society, people were accused of witchcraft for far simpler misgivings including forgetting the words to Hail Mary and other aspects of Puritan religion. It was erroneous for the town to have decided that these and other silly signs were witchcraft without giving their former friends and family members the opportunity to redeem themselves. As a consequence, John Proctor was aware that his decision to plead innocent would incriminate him. He knew that society would not allow a man who plead innocent to witchcraft and had committed two serious crimes against God to live and an example must be made of him. Therefore, John Proctor was certainly aware of the action that he made and its implications. Although he likely did not want to die, he noticed that the people of Salem needed a change in their way of thinking. He proved that it is possible to be a just, godly man, while still making mistakes. While man should try to be perfect and live life in the image of God, Christianity dictates that God made man flawed and that they should live their lives trying to learn from his example. Because the community of Salem arrested people on the basis of their shortcomings, they were not presented with the natural opportunity to try to better themselves, which John Proctor wanted to demonstrate was an erroneous way of thinking.

Ultimately, a good Christian in Puritan society is a person who thoroughly believes in God and Jesus, prays regularly, follows the Ten Commandments and the bible, and does their best to help others. By this definition, John Proctor’s decision led him to be one of the goodliest and dedicated Christian’s out of all of the characters in the play. While following Christian law is essential, the ability to commit good deeds and help others is even more important. The Ten Commandments which guides the daily life of the Puritans states that one should not take the lord’s name in vein, that there is only one God, that the Sabbath day should be celebrated, that family should be honored, that one shouldn’t kill, that one should not commit adultery, that one should not steal, that one should not bear false witness, and that one should not covet. Although John Proctor is in clear violation of some of these principles, including committing adultery, he makes the best of his situation by trying to follow the remaining commandments in an attempt to rectify his situation. As a consequence, John Proctor’s ultimate choice can be tied into an ethical understanding of his religious principles. While adultery is only one commandment on this list, he attempts to rectify this act by instantly regretting it and admitting it to the court to wipe his slate clean. Furthermore, John Proctor is considered good by his religion because he does not take the lord’s name in vein, worships the one true God, celebrates the Sabbath, honors his family, and does not covet. Most importantly to this situation however, he does not bear false witness and does not kill. In fact John Proctor’s actions are the opposite of these two commandments. John Proctor feels that by not taking any action to help his wife Sarah and the convicted people of the Salem community that he is ultimately leading them to their deaths. As a consequence, John Proctor brings his knowledge to the court and refuses to bear false witness and lie by pretending these events did not occur. Ultimately, Proctor’s decision was the most ethical according to his religious practices and he knew that he must report the actions of Mary and Abigail even though his report would not be met with belief.

In conclusion, John Proctor’s decision to plead innocent and not give into the whims of Abigail and her friends was the best decision. Ultimately, this led to the town’s ability to realize that Abigail and the girls were the true sinners and that many innocent people were killed as a result of their actions. In this sense, John Proctor was a hero because he allowed himself to be martyred for the sake of the well-being of others in town. John Proctor was not simply forced to make this choice as a consequence of fate, but rather carefully planned his course of action due to his personal and religious ethics. In the end, John Proctor showed that he was a good man and that his religion was thoroughly important to him by acting similarly to Jesus and sacrificing himself for the well-being of others. Eventually Proctor’s actions brought about the end of the Salem witch trials and allowed the community to live in peace.

Works Cited

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible (Penguin Classics). London: Penguin Classics, 2003.