Shocker: Another Lousy Male Character Takes Credit for Female Courage

Literary reviews time and time again regard John Proctor as some sort of martyr, praising him for refusing to sign his name away as a lie when Hale begged him to confess. Supposedly this is meant to be the ultimate judge of character, deeming him as someone honest and strongly rooted in his faith and moral code. He is said to be courageous and heroic for standing against the crowd and refusing to yield.
It seems to me that these literary reviews have forgotten the
events that led up to that scene. Considering the entirety of the play, I would
vehemently argue that Elizabeth and Rebecca are truly the ones who should be
idolized. In efforts to clarify why exactly John Proctor is lesser than his
female counterparts in every aspect of altruism, I have provided some of the
highlights of these characters as they revealed their true nature throughout
the play.

John Proctor	Elizabeth Proctor	Rebecca Nurse
1.Cheated on his wife 2.Regretted telling Elizabeth the truth about his affair 3.Didn’t want to accuse Abby of lying out of fear 4.Forced Mary Warren into testifying against the girls, which makes him a hypocrite 5.Was explosive and disrespectful in court 6.Scolded his wife for protecting him from the consequences of his own actions 7.Was willing to lie in God’s name in order to save his life 8.Begged Elizabeth to make a decision for him 9.Was overdramatic about refusing to give his word, made it into a show	Forgave her husband Did not judge John, continued to respect him Convinced John to come forward about Abby’s lies Was not resentful towards anyone and did not throw a fit about the false accusations Handled her accusations calmly and with poise    Protected her husband in court out of loyalty and love that she still held for him even after he cheated Refused to confess to a sin she hadn’t committed Would not judge John for whatever choice he made Clearly her decision was to honor only God and herself, not to appear heroic	Did not cheat on her spouse Upholds an amazing, well deserved reputation in Salem Did not participate in the hysteria at any point Voiced her opinion that witchcraft wasn’t real despite knowing the consequences Handled her accusations calmly and with poise Was calm, collected, and respectful even in the face of disrespect and with the threat of being hanged  Refused to confess to a sin she hadn’t committed Encouraged John to stay true to his faith Clearly her decision was to honor only God and herself, not to appear heroic

Textual Evidence

1. “I have known her, sir. I have known her.” -Proctor, about Abigail

“John, it come to naught that I should forgive you, if you'll not forgive yourself.” -Elizabeth

2. “No more! I should have roared you down when you first told me your suspicions. But I wilted, and, like a Christian, I confessed. Confessed! Some dream I had must have mistaken you for God that day. But you’re not, you’re not, and let you remember it! Let you look sometimes for the good in me, and judge me not.” -Proctor to Elizabeth

“I do not judge you. The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you. I never thought you but a good man, John” -Elizabeth to John

3. “I am only wondering how I may prove what she told me, Elizabeth. If the girls a saint now, I think it not easy to prove she’s a fraud, and the town gone so silly.” -Proctor

“I think you must go to Salem, John. I think so. You must tell them it is a fraud.” -Elizabeth to John

4. “PROCTOR, moving menacingly toward her: ‘You will tell the court how that poppet come here and who stuck the needle in.’” -Proctor to Mary

“John, with so many in jail, more than Cheever’s help is needed now, I think. Would you favor me with this? Go to Abigail.” -Elizabeth

5. “How do you call upon Heaven? Whore! Whore!” -Proctor speaking in court

6. DANFORTH, reaches out and holds her face, then: Look at me! To your own knowledge, has John Proctor ever committed the crime of lechery? (In a crisis of indecision she cannot speak.) Answer my question! Is your husband a lecher!
ELIZABETH, faintly: No, sir.
DANFORTH: Remove her!
PROCTOR: Elizabeth, tell the truth!
DANFORTH: She has spoken. Remove her!
PROCTOR, crying out: Elizabeth, I have confessed it!
ELIZABETH: Oh, God! (The door closes behind her.)
PROCTOR: She only thought to save my name!

7. “I want my life.” -Proctor

8. “I have been thinking I would confess to them, Elizabeth. What say you? If I give them that?”  -Proctor

“Do what you will. But let none be your judge. There be no higher judge under Heaven than Proctor is!” -Elizabeth to John

9. “How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” -Proctor

 When comparing these quotes and situations alongside each other, it becomes apparent that every good thing he did was either from the guilt of cheating on his wife or was inspired by the actions of Elizabeth or Rebecca. He repeatedly demonstrates how desperate he is for Elizabeth’s forgiveness, prompting him to confess to his affair in court and refuse to plead guilty even though he clearly didn’t want to do either of those things. It was not until he watched Elizabeth and Rebecca stay true to their faith and moral system that he decided to do the same, yet he is considered a hero when all he did was follow the lead of two strong female characters who are deprived of the credit they deserve. The courageous ones in this play are Elizabeth and Rebecca, yet it is instead the hypocritical, adulterous, dishonest man who is placed on a pedestal. This tendency to excuse the actions of men and regard them as the hero of the story is one that is prevalent in other well-known stories, such as Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter or the heroic yet underrated Disney princesses including Mulan and Pocahontas. All of these women displayed extreme bravery that went unnoticed, a theme that extends itself into society as women are undervalued in the work force and seen as inferior to men in many cultures.

To recap, the hero of The Crucible has an affair with a child, resents his wife for not immediately forgiving him, acts destructively in times of crisis, and does the right thing only when his wife or his own guilt prompts him to.

Doesn’t sound like the best of heroes to me.

When I Say That The Crucible is Full of Teen Girls (parody of Olivia Gatwood's When I Say That We Are All Teen Girls)

When I say that we are all teen girls,

what I mean is that when Reverend Parris said, "there is a party in this church. … there is a faction and a party", all I heard was

why don’t they like me?

Why won’t they be my friend?

And how can I talk about Reverend Parris without also mentioning that if everyone is a teen girl then so are the Puritans,

their strict social rules,

their whispered but never spoken rumors,

And Rebecca, of course Rebecca,

 her outspoken wisdom easily dismissed,

the way she is begged and ordered to heal people who aren’t broken, and still she is there to help each time her name is called.

What is more teen girl than not being loved but wanting it so badly you condemn a man’s wife to be hanged for witchcraft?

What is more teen girl than the court’s refusal to listen, taking in only the convenient evidence so you can believe whatever you want to?

What is more teen girl than lying to get attention?

Than the whine of being possessed in court?

What is more teen girl than Goody Osburn,

who was condemned for having dirty faces and no money,

who was singled out by the mean popular girls,

who did not go to church and cannot recite the commandments but sometimes when Mary Warren turns her away she mumbles,

sometimes it sounds like a curse,

sometimes she is scolded for begging and for loitering around the church,

sometimes people give her some bread and think she feels grateful, they think she likes to feel grateful, they think Goody Osburn is a teen girl.

And McCarthyism, oh McCarthyism, what a teen girl it is with its resolute yet uncertain decisions,

And the allegations, random and unproven and dictating all of our lives.

Hathorne’s cries of contempt are teen girls,

how they hold so little power and such great influence all at once, how sometimes Danforth tries to silence them but they always return when new evidence is presented.

Imagine the teen girls gone form our world and how quickly we’d beg for their return how grateful we would be then for their loud shrieking to warn us of a spirit that’s working with the devil.

Even the people who sit quietly in the court while women are put on trial,

even they are teen girls the way they watch hungrily as drama unfolds and still are relieved to not participate.

John Proctor, teen girl and his inconvenient lust,

Mary Warren, teen girl and her fear of rejection from the mean girls,

And Abigail Williams, a teen girl who insists that spirits are trying to possess her but still can display generosity and strength.

I tell her we are all just teen girls and she recounts the time John Proctor called her a child even after they’d had an affair, the time she was dismissed by Elizabeth Proctor and hasn’t found work since, the time she was caught dancing in the woods trying to conjure spirits and in a moment was spinning tales of how she bravely fought off the devil.

And of course, there are the teen girls,

The real teen girls huddled in the court room, limbs draped over each other’s shoulders, voices screaming a cacophony of allegations,

And all of the bystanders who watch with delight as these girls accuse and condemn,

Not knowing where they learned to do this,

to harshly judge and deem someone a sinner,

Not knowing where they learned this palpable rage

Not knowing the teen girls who are our most cunning liars, who teach us how to steal power using deceit and manipulation because that’s the only way they’re awarded any,

The teen girls who teach us to scream.

Olivia Gatwood's When I Say That We Are All Teen Girls:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHaCKwYCFZs

In this parody, I tried to mimic Gatwood's use of humor and metaphors to compare various aspects of life to the clichés associated with teen girls. However, I instead aimed to relate the characters and aspects of The Crucible in a way that highlighted the immaturity and chaos that is present in the first two acts of the play. Relating the characters to teen girls not only symbolizes how much power the group of girls have over the entire Salem community, it mocks the seriousness with which people are treating the witch hunt by drawing attention to the logistical flaws of the system. All in all, the classic image of the irrational teenage girl fits quite well with the events of the first two acts.

The Part That Isn't Preached: The Unseen Peril

The dangers of stereotyping groups based on race, ethnicity, culture, etc. are preached to people of all ages. Through this sermonizing, we learn that we can never trust these assumptions, that they're offensive, and that we should not believe them even if they seem to be true. However, something we are not taught is how pronounced the impact is on those who are victims of stereotypes. People who belong to a group that is commonly stereotyped suffer the consequences of our assumptions on a much larger scale than imagined, but there is no way to teach this as a danger of stereotyping because most of us can't understand it. Sherman Alexie's essay, Indian Education, displays how stereotypes can make people resent their own culture. Alexie writes, “…when we look in the mirror, see the history of our tribe in our eyes, taste failure in the tap water, and shake with old tears…” (lines 64-66), his tribe lives with an underlying shame because they are aware of how society perceives them. This embarrassment is the result of being portrayed in a way that does not accurately represent who they are, what they believe, or what lifestyle they choose to live. These people shoulder the burden of walking around knowing that strangers they pass on the street have a preconceived misconception of not only their culture but the essence of who they are as an individual. These assumptions, although false, are hurtful. There are infinite variations of personalities and people that exist within a culture and stereotypes strip them all of their individual merits and accomplishments, defining them in terms of what uneducated and insensitive members of society see from the outside. These stereotypes degrade individuals, entire cultures, and society as a whole and people who don’t experience it firsthand are entirely unaware of how widespread and intense the effect is.