Analysis of John Proctor

     When I think about the person John Proctor is perceived to be during the story, many different ideas of characters come up in my mind.  With him being one of the major characters this far into the story you get to see almost every side of him very early on.  First seeing John he seemed to be one of the leaders of Salem that many of the people tend to look up to and try and model themselves after.  When he walked through town people were always coming up to say hi to him and he was very well liked throughout the town.  John Proctor really seemed to be a one of the few model citizens in Salem.  But once John and Abigail are shown together in the same scene this all seemed to change.  We learn that Abigail was kicked out of the Proctor household for reasons that weren't named but it was inferred that it was due to John having an affair with Abigail.  Personally, when I heard this it kind of came as a surprise to me because of how John seemed to be  such a good person and a good family man.  From this point the view of him just came changing into Act II.  We see him and Elizabeth's relationship for the first time and it is not at all what it seemed like when John was telling Abigail how much he cares about his wife.  It was almost like the two could not stand each other and they had to try just not to fight.  They both seemed to get fed up with each other very fast and how their relationship works is a wonder to me considering how they acted during most of this act.  Mr. Hale then comes to visit the Proctor's to warn them that Elizabeth had been named a witch in court John goes from husband mad at his wife for worrying about him to a man that acts like he would give his heart and soul to the woman who he wed.  John basically tells the men that he will have to tear Elizabeth out of his arms and he will not let his wife die for him.  John Proctor has changed drastically in my mind and this would make him be a very dynamic character through just two short acts.  He also seems to have many personalities that would make him round as opposed to flat.  When it comes to how the other people in Salem view John, they tend to think of him as one of the leaders that people want to look up to and be like. Then, when he's with Abigail he tries to be a family man despite his former affair with the girl.  Finally, when he is at home with Elizabeth he is a strong, hard-working, loving, family man.  He seems to want to show Elizabeth that he will work hard to make their family work even if he won't just come out and say it.
     One quality about John that I think everyone can see is how much he values his reputation.  He loves when other people think good of him and he wants to do whatever it takes to make that happen.  John is proud that other people think highly of him.  He enjoys being a hard-working, family man and he cannot stand the idea of other people ruining that.  Such as his affair with Abigail.  While he made a major mistake that I think everyone will agree he regrets very much,  he realizes his mistake and will do whatever he can to make it up to his family and I believe that he is also trying to make it up to himself and prove to himself that he loves his wife and his family.  I feel like whenever Abigail tries to come on to him and he holds back, deep down inside it is a moral victory for him in proving to himself that he can be faithful to his wife again.  Another quality he has is how hard-working he is.  Almost every time you see him besides maybe once he is doing some type of work either in town or out at his house.  You always see him and Giles doing hard manual labor and this shows what type of people these two men are.  The one thing in the world that motivates John to act the way he does has to be the affair over everything else.  I feel like everything he does is to try and get back to how he used to be and John really wants to show everyone and himself what a good man he really is.
     John faces many different conflicts within the story but the major one would have to be his battle against society about how witchcraft is not real. There have been many occasions where he has shown that he does not believe in witchcraft and this has almost forced him to be sort of an outsider despite other people believing the same thing just being too scared to come out and say it.  We start to see his battle with society grow more and more as Elizabeth is accused of witchcraft and taken on trial.  While he's battling all of society with this you could also say that the real conflict comes down to just Abigail and him.  After all, she is the one who has been trying to get rid of Elizabeth and has now fake stabbed herself just to get a reason to accuse her of witchcraft.  There's been more than just that though that John has been fighting with Abigail about such as the affair and the fact that he knows Abigail and the other girls are faking it.