In literary work, it is important to have a character who thinks for him or her self. These characters, who often bring changes to the society in the story, are evident in Arthur Miller?s The Crucible. John Proctor, the protagonist and a person who thinks for himself, is put in jail because he is falsely suspected of witchcraft. He decides at first to confess and save his life, but soon after decides to revoke this ?confession? to die with honor. As he did not think only of himself and his own needs, John Proctor can be thought of as a hero of the Salem witch trials.
It can be seen why in his final actions Proctor was respected by the people of Salem even though he was not a large part of the Puritan community. Although he had the chance to save his own life by admitting he was a witch and implying all of his friends were also witches, he did not. Instead, he went against the wishes of even his wife, Elizabeth, and died in silence. By doing this, he not only did his part to save his friends, but also saved the respect of the Proctor name and the opportunity to pass his land to his sons. Had he confessed, his land would have been taken from him and his children would have been shunned, fatherless and penniless.
It takes a great deal of courage to sacrifice oneself for any cause. In this play, Proctor was willing to die for his beliefs. A martyr to his friends in Salem, it was people like him who ultimately stopped the trials. If everyone had blindly followed the court, then the court and its theocracy would have killed many more than twenty people. There would be no one to stand up for what was right and stop the oppression of people's individuality.
Other than his honorable death, there are many reasons that Proctor was a hero. For example, he tried from the beginning to stop the court from arresting everyone, even though he could have simply gone back to his farm and not been involved at all. Also, he was the only one brave enough to accuse Abigail Williams of being a 'harlot' in the court, and tried in general to point the court in the right direction. Although few people would support him in his efforts to denounce the court, he stood up for his ideas and this makes him a person of virtue and courage.
In literary works, people who think for themselves, such as John Proctor, play an important role. People who think for themselves in society play a critical role as well. A society without these courageous, righteous individuals, there can be no change or advancement in civilization. Many examples of people who advanced the human race because they thought for themselves can be found throughout history; for example, Martin Luther King stood up for the rights of African Americans, and Christopher Columbus challenged the age old theory that the Earth was flat. Like these two legends, Proctor advanced the Salem society by telling the truth about what was happening, although the trials were not stopped until many other people stood up for themselves and followed Proctor's example.