Why John Proctor's Death Was Pretty Selfish and Unnecesary

Although John Proctor died to send a message to the people of the town, I honestly think his death was selfish and unnecessary. His death was selfish because he did not consider how others would be impacted by his death. For example, he has three sons and his wife Elizabeth is pregnant with a fourth kid. These four kids have to grow up without a father. Also, this means Elizabeth will have to find a way to provide for her kids and raise them on her own, which is a lot for one person to take on. John Proctor did not consider this when making his decision, conveying how he was selfish in making his decision to die. In addition, he does not consider Reverend Hale's feelings. Reverend Hale feels very guilty about the deaths of the people caused by the witch trials as evident by "There is blood on my head!" (Miller 312-313) and this guilt is further intensified by John Proctor's death. Before John Proctor is sentenced to hang, Hale tries to convince him to sign the confession saying how John cannot die, but John Proctor ignores Hale's wishes and chooses to follow through with his decision to die. John Proctor chooses to die out of pride, without considering how his decision will impact those around him, thus his decision to die is selfish.

Not only was his decision selfish, but it was also unnecessary. People in Andover were already starting to rebel after realizing that the witch trials were wrong, and this happened before Proctor's demise. Thus, Proctor did not have to die for people to realize that what was going on was wrong and that change is needed. Also, Abigail Williams left town, so it is not possible for the trials to continue, as the girl in charge and main accuser is not there to accuse. John Proctor dies so that the people realize that what is going on is wrong and that change needs to occur. However, his death is not necessary for these things to happen as people were already realizing that the trials were wrong and there was no way for the trials to continue without Abigail Williams. Thus, I do not think Miller's choice in having John Proctor die was really necessary.

Why John Proctor is Honestly Kind of Annoying

After reading Act 1 and 2 of The Crucible, I believe that John Proctor is quite annoying, despite him being considered to be a good and logical man. First of all, it is not fair that John Proctor tries to act like he is a good man despite his affair with Abigail. It wouldn't be as bad if he ended the affair on his own after realizing it is wrong, but he doesn't even stop the affair until his wife catches him and fires Abigail. If Elizabeth Proctor never caught John, who knows how long John would have continued the affair. Even seven months after the affair is over John tells Abigail, "I may think of you softly from time to time" (Miller 450-451) indicating that he still has lingering feelings for Abigail despite being married to someone else. If he still thinks this way about Abigail, this again raises the question of if/how long he would have continued the affair if he did not get caught. One of the Ten Commandments says not to commit adultery, so it is quite annoying that John Proctor legitimately thinks he such a good man, despite being a Christian who broke one of the Ten Commandments especially in such a religious society.

Also, it is pretty annoying how John Proctor gets so mad at his wife for being suspicious when she catches him lying about there being a crowd during his encounter with Abigail. It's not Elizabeth's fault she is a little suspicious after finding out that he was alone with the girl he cheated on her with. According to the stage directions, John Proctor's anger rises when Elizabeth simply points out his lie. Instead of calmly reassuring his wife that there is nothing to worry about, he gets mad at her, as if she has no right to be suspicious that her husband was alone with Abigail and has no right to simply state facts. Elizabeth did not even raise her voice when pointing out the lie, even though she had every right to be angry considering John Proctor lied to her about a sensitive subject. John Proctor gets mad at his wife for not forgiving him quickly enough, failing to consider that some wounds take time to heal. I find it quite annoying that John Proctor gets mad at his wife simply for not forgiving him fast enough for cheating on her. Considering reputation is so important to the people of Salem, Elizabeth can easily make a scene and ruin John's reputation, but she chooses to keep quiet and tries to move on and John Proctor has the audacity to get mad at her for not forgiving him fast enough which really annoys me. Also the fact that John Proctor got angry simply for being caught in a lie is something I find quite annoying about John Proctor, considering that even Elizabeth kept calm and did not get angry. So, needless to say, John Proctor is pretty annoying.