John Proctor

I would consider John Proctor a major character. This is because he is a very big part of the story but he isn't necessarily the main character. Because of John's affair with Abigail, his own wife, Elizabeth, was accused of witchcraft. I think that John could be a dynamic character as well. Even though we have only read up to Act III, John has already changed. He was first made out to be as a low, cruel man because he cheated on his wife. Now John claims that he loves Elizabeth and everything he does is to try to please her. Honestly, he seems like a pretty good man, besides the fact that he had an affair. I feel like John will do everything in his power to get Elizabeth out of jail. The last type of character John would be is a round character. To the people of Salem, he is considered one of the leaders of the town. But to Abigail, John is a man that once shared an intimate relationship with her but now he refuses to touch her. On the opposite side, to Elizabeth, John is a dirty cheater that is trying to earn back his forgiveness.

For the most part, John has many good qualities. One, for example, is that he confessed about his affair to Elizabeth. Granted, it never should've happened in the first place but in his defence, it is better to come clean than have Elizabeth find out later from someone else. I also like the fact that John doesn't get all worked up about the witchcraft like everyone else in town does. He even admitted that he doesn't believe in witches! He doesn't care that much about what people think of him. He is also very motivated to get Elizabeth out of jail. He knows that his wife is not a witch and he will do everything to prove that to the people of Salem.

I think that John Proctor's conflict is mostly external, such as man vs. man and man vs. society. In this case, it would be John against Abigail. John had an affair in the past, but he made it very clear that he doesn't want it to happen again. Abigail does not seem to understand this. She still loves John and she thought that he felt the same way about her. But John says that he does not want to lay another finger on her again. So he faces the battle of Abigail trying to win over John. Although Elizabeth is not necessarily an antagonist or an enemy, I think John also faces a battle when it comes to her. Elizabeth still doesn't trust John because of the affair so he is constantly trying to please her and earn his trust back. Now on the other hand, John has to deal with man vs. society conflict as well. The whole town of Salem was told that Elizabeth is a witch and whether it's true or not, that's what they're going to believe. It is up to John to convince everyone that his wife is not a witch. It will be a very hard thing to do since the town people believe every little word that comes out of Abigail's mouth. John has a big job ahead of him but I believe he can overcome it. So besides external conflict, I do believe that John deals with some internal conflict as well. A good example would be man vs. himself, where John has to decide whether to tell Elizabeth about his affair and possibly ruin his marriage or to not tell her but feel forever guilty. John ultimately decides to tell her about the affair and in my opinion, that was the right decision.