John Proctor is the protagonist of Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, set in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials. Proctor is a farmer who lives on the outskirts of Salem with his wife Elizabeth. He had previously committed adultery with their former servant Abigail, who starts the witch hysteria in an attempt to get John for herself. Proctor is an honest but prideful man who struggles to confess the truth of his affair, fearful of damaging his good name, as reputation was highly valued at the time.

1. Given Circumstances
John Proctor from The Crucible
Many actors have used the six given circumstances to analyze the character they
are to play in order to get in touch with their character. By using the six given
circumstances, the actor will have a better understanding why the character reacts a
certain way at the given situations. I am going to use the six given circumstances to have
a better comprehension of the character John Proctor in the play The Crucible.
The play The Crucible is set in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts in late August. This
was during the time of the witch trials. People during this era were very religious if a
person did not attend church they were considered outcast or were looked upon weirdly.
Salem Massachusetts was a small town where everyone knew everyone so things were
hard to keep a secret. John Proctor does not like the people he has to deal with in town;
he does not attend church and beliefs that there is nothing wrong with that. Proctor beliefs
that a good person is not measured by the time they spend in prayer but by their actions.
Proctor seems more like a day person because he works all day in the fields.
The setting of the play is in a small village called Salem, is set near the bay, had
been settled for forty years. England thought of the land as a “barbaric frontier” was the
people were barely making ends meet. The people from Salem do not celebrate
Christmas, they do not have parties and they do not allow having a theatre. They use the
holidays to concentrate even more on prayer. When the people were not in church they
would work the land to the fullest for corn so they had no time to “fool around”. John
Proctor takes his work very seriously. The people of Salem are Christian they believe to
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2. see Salem as a New Jerusalem so they do not allow any new ideas into the town afraid it
may corrupt the town.
In Salem people seem to interact through church and work. Proctor lives right in
the edges of town with his wife. He is an honest man who speaks his mind with on flaw
his lust for Abigail. Before the play starts John had committed adultery with Abigail who
used to be their maid. Abigail is extremely jealous of Elizabeth, John’s wife; Abigail
starts the hysteria along with the girls in her attempt to have John for herself. When
Elizabeth found out that her husband had cheated on her with Abigail she fired her and
became cold with John. John seems to repent his doing and tries in his own way to make
it up to Elizabeth, he stops seeing Abigail. Back in this time people had great value for
their names. John was a proud man who wanted to keep his good name. When the
hysteria began he couldn’t say the truth which might have stopped the chaos but was
afraid and could not. When John finally confesses it is too late.
John Proctor has his own land he is a man who is well off in this time. He is proud
of what he has because he has worked hard to have everything he has. He works on the
lands everyday.
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