Coralie Casimir
A.P English
Mr. George
January 4, 2010
Essay
A Laborious Journey to God
In his novel The Crucible Arthur Miller describes the Puritan society as an inverted group of people. In the town of Salem most men, women, and children in the play are living a phony life filled with lies and extortion, which was far from their ideology. The chosen people of God seemed to have become hypocrites, liars, and selfish people. In this world of treachery there were still a few upright people, and one of them was John Proctor. As a protagonist, John Proctor was an honest and out spoken man, with one fatality; his lechery with Abigail Williams. In his struggle to gain salvation John look first to people for his redemption. Fearing the eyes of God John does not dare look to Him for salvation for most of the novel. He was constrained with the belief that there was no ritual for the washing away of sin. It did not matter how remorseful someone was, the Puritan belief stated that they had to live with the sin forever and nothing they did would help them get rid of their bad deeds. John Proctor was able to find his road to redemption by moving away from Puritanism and personalizing his religion, from there he was able to become a laudable man who is ready to accept God’s grace.
John Proctor fell short from salvation because he did not believe that he was worthy of God’s salvation. John looked to people for salvation but never to whom it truly mattered. He went to his wife and the court to find some form reconciliation with himself but he was rejected. Even if they forgave him, deep inside he would never have the redemption he wanted. The key factor to Proctor’s redemption was that he had to forgive himself: “He was sinner, a sinner not only against the moral fashion of the time, but against his own vision of decent conduct” (Miller 20). Proctor believed because he had committed adultery that his religious life was over and he was bounded to go to hell. Proctor failed to realize that he was not perfect and like every other person, he made mistakes. It was a big mistake but nonetheless he was sorry for what he had done.
Proctor never was able to recognize his own goodness while the readers were easily able to see him as an honest man. This was noticeable because Arthur Miller surrounded him with a bush of wicked characters, who were only looking out for themselves. Their only good trait was that they were good enough actors and pretended to be good people. Arthur Miller made it much easier for his audience to sympathize with John because he was constantly looking for salvation. Because he is surrounded by foes like Abigail Williams or Reverend Parris who were exploiting people through their powers, it was easy to feel sympathy for an honest man with one fatal flaw.
One thing key component keeping John Proctor from gaining salvation was self realization which he gained at the end of the play. Up until the final scenes of the story he still did not believe that he deserved God’s salvation. Even his wife Elizabeth noticed it: “John, it come to naught that I should forgive you, if you’ll not forgive yourself” (136). Proctor did not believe in himself or the weight of his name. Proctor believed that he was worse than he truly was, while many looked to him for direction; even the court looked to his name to justify their careless actions. Nevertheless, he did not understand that he had to be a martyr to stop the ridiculous witch hunt going on in Salem.
Another thing that was keeping him from his redemption was his obsession with finding salvation. When he did not find it the way he wanted, he simply gave up and signed his name over to the Devil: “I am no saint… Let Rebecca go like a saint; for me it is a fraud” (138). Nonetheless, at that exact moment he understood that salvation did come from man but from God, that he was worthy of being saved, and most importantly that was the only way to stop the witch hunt. He said “I cannot mouth the gibbet like a saint” (136). On the other hand he decided to do just that so he can save other people of Salem. John had to know that the witch hunt did not center around him gaining salvation but million of people died for an unjust cause. He knew that his life was nothing when it came to the salvation he gained
From the beginning of the novel to the end John Proctor changed from being an overage Joe to a martyr for his conviction. John is like an average Joe because he is someone most people can relate to through his struggles. He is an honest man who provided for his family. He has a strong belief in religion and has strong moral stances. Similarly to everyone else he is not perfect; he has is flaws. His shortcoming might have been more fatal than most people’s but no one inherited the human trait of perfection. The simplicity of his character made it easy for the readers of the play understand his struggle to salvation. Also the fact that he is a character that most could comprehend made him like an average Joe.
John Proctor changed from being a simple person to a martyr for his conviction because he was willing a die to save the innocent soul of others. It took loosing everything and especially his name for Proctor to recognize that his salvation was in his hand and not in the hand of others. His sins and religious life was between himself and God, not between himself and the public’s opinion: “God sees my name; God know how black my sins are! It is enough” (142). This was how John had gained his salvation. To gain redemption he had asked God for forgiveness. With deliverance from his sin he also acquired selflessness. There he decided that his life had no value if he stayed alive. If died, his existence would count for much more.
Through the novel, John was able to embody true Christianity. He was not a perfect man but he sought forgiveness. One thing about Proctor was that he personalized his religion. If he did not agree with something he did not participate in it. For instance, he did not believe that Parris was giving God the reverence He deserved so he stopped going to church. In his way, John Proctor redefined his religious belief.
People tried to form all kind of utopias but when there is a crack in the foundation it all falls apart. They will always be fallacies in the human race; no one is born perfect. Perfection is not attainable in the human race. So it is evident that John Proctor. John was a man looking for redemption. At first he look for it in the wrong places like in his wife or the court but not to God. What brought upon Proctor’s redemption was that he stopped looking to the public eye for salvation but himself and untimely God. The way he perceived his religion was revolutionary for a man of his time. He understood the relationship man and God, while many of neighbors’ relationship with God was between man and man because they cared more about the public opinion rather than about God’s rightful opinion.












Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York: Viking Penguin Inc, 1953