John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

    If you ask me, the character of John Proctor is neither a hero, nor a stooge in The Crucible. However, I feel that he had the potential of being an aspiring hero in the play. Obviously Proctor is no saint. Some reasons that cause me to believe so is the fact that he does not go to church every Sunday, he can not name the Ten Commandments, and only two of his three children are baptized. He even committed lechery by "getting to know" Abigail. So why, then, do I think he could in fact be a hero? Well, despite the fact that he has made lots of errors and proved unfaithful more than once, he was the one who began to suspect that Abigail and the other girls were lying about the witchcraft just so they could get attention. Also, he was the one who wanted to take the matter to the court and try to free his wife, along with hundreds of others accused. He even admitted to his lechery in an attempt to make the judges believe his evidence. In fact, Proctor could have been the hero at this point, had Elizabeth not lied about why she fired Abigail from being their servant. Although John Proctor's evidence and claims were overlooked by the court officials, it was the thought that counted. Just the fact that he tried to help and tried to free the accused rather than just sitting around and watching it happen, not caring about anyone other than himself shows that he is most definitely not a stooge. While these claims may not prove that he is also not a hero physically, he had the mentality of a hero throughout most of the witchcraft nonsense, and this is why I believe that he could be a hero if more people had believed his claims and worked with him rather than against him.