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The Crucible: John Proctor And John Hale - Good Citizen Vs. Good Perso

The Crucible: John Proctor and John Hale - Good Citizen vs. Good Person


In The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrays the two main characters, John
Proctor and Reverend John Hale as "good men". The term "good men" in this play
is ambiguous.   Reverend John Hale was a good man in the sense of being the
perfect and good citizen of Massachusetts in the 1600's.   He was pious, adherent
to the laws and beliefs, and a good Puritan Christian.   John Proctor, on the
contrary would not be considered the greatest citizen. He was not so religious,
nor the perfect Christian, and was not so adherent to the Puritan's laws and
beliefs. However, he was still considered a "good man", as a person rather than
being an ideal Puritan citizen. He was very honest, moral, loyal to his friends
and family, and was generous.   The major difference between the two are good
citizen vs. good person.

The most important trait to prove that John Proctor was a good person
was his honesty. In every scene in the play that John Proctor is in, his
commendable honesty stands out.   It didn't matter how much trouble he would
bring himself into, his philosophy was "I may speak my heart" (Miller, p.30).
Proctor's honesty eventually lead to his downfall and death.

The first incident in the play where we see Proctor's honesty is after
the affair he had with Abigail. He realized his mistake and was honest and
admitted it to his wife Elizabeth.   In the next situation where Proctor is
involved he tells the Reverend Parris why he does not like him, and it also gets
him into trouble. He tells him, "Can you speak one minute without we land in
hell again, I'm sick of hell! (p. 30). He is honest, yet disrespectful to his
reverend.   While in court, John Proctor is too honest to the judges. He admits
his guilt of not being a religious Christian and says " I have once or twice
plowed on Sunday" (p.91) and he also admits not going to church every Sunday. He
also admits that he committed adultery and had an affair with...