Student Essay on John Proctor's Name in The Crucible
John Proctor's Name in The Crucible by Arthur Miller
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Essay
John Proctor is not appropriately named in The Crucible. The word "proctor" means good order and John Proctor is the total opposite. Arthur Miller tells the audience that Proctor has to deal with many problems, "He is a sinner, a sinner not only against the moral fashion of the time, but against his own vision of decent conduct" (20). Proctor is unable to maintain good order because he is an adulterer. There is no order in his family. "She'll kill me for sayin' that! Abby'll charge lechery on you, Mr. Proctor!" (80). In this scene, Proctor is demanding that Mary Warren go to court and wants her to charge Abigail with murder. Here Proctor is caught in the chaos and must deal with different facets of his life. Throughout the proceedings in the court, Proctor lacks order because he is always interrupting and at one point when the girls pretend that Mary warren has sent her spirit against them, Proctor gets very angry, "Breathless and in agony: It is a whore!" (110). This shows that Proctor cannot maintain order because he has to deal with many problems.