I have to say hero. While John isn't a superhero or a you saved my baby! hero, he still was heroic in his own way. He could have lied to protect his own life when his close friends would be telling the truth and dying for it. He chose to do the right thing, and not be selfish, and I think that makes him a hero.
You still need to be convinced? Let's look at it the other way around. John gave up his life to tell the truth, because he believed it was unfair. A definition of stooge I found was "a weak or unimportant person who is controlled by a more powerful person." Comparing these facts, I think John is doing the opposite of being controlled by a more powerful person (i.e. Parris, Danforth, Hale, etc.) by withdrawing his confession. If he really was being controlled, he would have confessed, without a doubt in his mind. But by withdrawing, he did the opposite as they wished, likely starting the rebellion Parris and Danforth had hoped to subdue.
I hope I've convinced you. I think that John did the right thing in this case, and doing this helped repair his relationship with his wife for the little time their marriage had left. Oh, one more thing. Hero is defined as "a person who is idealized for courage or noble qualities." If you don't think John was courageous in his decision, I think you should re-read Act IV...
I agree with all of your points and I also think he is somewhat a hero. The only thing I didn't like was the definition you gave of hero, was/is John idealized for what he did? I mean multiple other people in this play were executed because they refused to lie, are they heroes as well? - Elli Dastrup
ReplyDeleteI agree that John Proctor should, in the end, be considered a hero. What he did was heroic, even though in the end it was what a true Puritan was expected to do anyways. I mean he could have been considered a stooge by the definition he gave, but I think you are right when you say that he didnt give in because he was letting people control him- he stuck to what he believed. The only questionable thing here is what makes John a hero and not everyone else that gave up their lives for the very same cause. Or are they considered heros too?
ReplyDeleteI agree that Proctor could be viewed as a hero a lot easier than he can be viewed as a stooge. But your argument suggests that most people who make a difficult decision could be viewed as a hero, do you agree?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with this post, and I love the way it is written. I like how you used the definitions of Hero and Stooge, because I thought it was a very good way to support your argument. There was one thing that you didn't discuss in this post was the fact that he almost did confess, before he ripped up the paper. I still agree with your argument that it is a hero, and I think it is very sound, but I was just wondering what your opinion was about that and how it fits into your argument.
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