John Proctor's Reputation In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Reputation is of the utmost importance people today. Whether you live in a rural community of a metropolis, your good name is one of the most precious things that you posses. A good name can lead to favorable treatment and elevated standing in social spheres, whether it is deserved or not. Likewise, a bad name can be followed by mistreatment. Again, this may or may not be deserved. This is not only the case in today 's world. It has been this way for hundreds of years. It was the same way in colonial Salem, Massachusetts, where Arthur Miller 's classic play Crucible is set. In their staunch Puritan society, the implications of a good or bad name are even clearer. In the time of the Salem witch trials, a tarnished name could put you on the end of a rope. Regardless of this grisly fact, reputation was a weighty matter in their society. Reputation was of particularly notable importance to Abigail Williams, Judge Danforth, Reverend Hale, and John Proctor. Although Abigail can be thought to be sadistic and devoid of human sympathy or emotion, she does have feelings, especially in regard to her reputation. In the first act of Crucible, on page 1140, Abigail launches a verbal attack on John 's wife when talking with him saying, "She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her!" Abigail 's passionate hatred of Elizabeth Proctor becomes an integral part of the play throughout. This important plot element is directly related to the value that Abigail places upon her own reputation. The rumors spread were based in truth; however, one can hardly blame her for not being exactly ecstatic about the village whispering of her lasciviousness. The extent that she took her revenge to was more than excessive, however, it isn 't to hard to empathize with her a little bit after pointing out the fact that her name in the village has descended a slippery slope, largely due to the Proctor 's. Judge Danforth 's actions are also influenced exceedingly by concern for his reputation. One can understand, after all, he put himself in a tough situation by condemning all those people. When the guilt and repercussions of the hangings to be conducted the next morning are considered, he says to Reverends Hale and Parris in act four, page 1222, "Now hear me, and beguile yourselves no more. I will not receive a single plea for pardonment or postponement. Them that will not confess will hang. Twelve are already executed; the names of these seven are given out, and the village expects to see them die this morning. Postponement now speaks a floundering on my part; reprieve or pardon must cast doubt upon the guilt of them that died till now. While I speak God 's law, I will not crack its voice with whimpering." He is clearly concerned with his situation, and sees no other way to keep his reputation as pristine as he would like other than to go ahead with the executions. Although this is flawed reasoning, it can surely be understood how someone in his situation would see no other path than the one on which he was currently traveling. Judge Danforth chose to ride out the executions to the end to preserve his …show more content…
Proctor 's internal conflict of whether to sign away his honor is the most prominent in the play. At the climax of the play, in the fourth act, on page 1232, he answers Danforth when asked why he won 't give them the signed confession. The script says that he cries with his whole soul, "Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sell myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!" His conflict, like the aforementioned Reverend 's, is spiritual as well as sociological. His reference to the welfare of his soul definitely comes into play a few lines later when he decides to go to the gallows instead of signing over his honor to the court. The tragic hero of the play, John Proctor makes the ultimate sacrifice to keep both his temporal and eternal reputation