The Tragic Hero of the Crucible A tragedy should bring fear and pity to the reader. A man in this tragedy should not be exceptionally righteous, but his defects should arise from some irreversible error on his part. This man should find a bad or fatal ending to add to the tragedy of the story, for this man in the tragic hero. Protagonist John Proctor plays a tragic hero in The Crucible; his hamartia of adultery causes great internal strife, displays arrogance by challenging authority, and encounters catastrophe through recognition and reversal. John Proctor's decision to cheat on his wife causes internal strife and ultimately leads to his catastrophe at the end of the play. Hamartia is the tragic hero's primary mistake that causes part of his misfortune. Proctor's grave mistake of adultery creates problems with Abigail Williams and indirectly causes her incarceration. Abigail is a young adult woman, yet she is an orphan who mistakes John Proctor's sex for true love. When Proctor tells Abigail that the relationship can no longer continue, the girl becomes angry and saddened (1098). To demonstrate Abigail's sinfulness and discredit her in court, Proctor claims to have had an affair with this wicked child. Outraged court officials summon Elizabeth Proctor to find out the truth. When asked about her husband, Elizabeth's soul is twisted, because reporting the truth could destroy her husband's reputation, but lying means breaking her solemn oath to God. Because she is selfless, Elizabeth chooses to lie and save her husband, but perhaps to condemn himself to hell for such a sin. This scene indicates dramatic irony, as Proctor knows what Elizabeth is not… at the center of the card… her sin of adultery, as it causes ruptures in his bonds between his wife and Abigail. He grapples with authority, because Proctor is not one to listen to authority simply because it is the out of the question thing to do. He too risks death because he chooses to be a noble man and denies any accusation of witchcraft. While John Proctor is not a perfect man, his beliefs and values ​​are in the right place; listen to his heart. When his head tells him to listen to the court because it is the law, and when Hale tells him to choose to live as an accused witch, Proctor does not listen because he knows that these acts are not in his best interest. He follows his soul, a lesson the whole world should learn to follow. Bibliography Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Literature, timeless voices, timeless themes. Ed. Ellen Bowler et al. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1999.