Tragedy of the Common Man

A detailed Summary of Tragedy of the Common Man

In, The Crucible, several girls were found dancing, playing games and making a couple acts that could have been considered as witchcraft. Instead of these girls admitting to these acts and getting into a little bit of trouble, they start accusing other people of witchcraft just to get out of the trouble that they were in. As a result many people were hanged and one person died from being stoned. After reading the play and seeing the movie of The Crucible, I now know what the tragedy of the common man is. I know what it is because it was displayed through out the story. The tragedy of the common man is when a high standing basically good man creates a flaw. This flaw in turn causes a downfall for this character in the story. Then the man recognizes his shortcomings, which in the end creates the audience to feel sorrow. Most often, the sorrow is from the death of the man. In, The Crucible, John Proctor represents an example of the tragedy of the common man.

We learn from the beginning of the book that John Proctor is basically a good man and one of the most respected people in town. Proctor is so well respected because first of all he is from a noble family in this town of Salem, Massachusetts. Also, he owns a large a

We feel this sorrow also because John Proctor, an innocent man just like the others who were hanged and one who was pressed were killed. They were killed because of these girls who didn't want to get in trouble for dancing and having fun in the woods. How could the judicial system just watch and let this happen? The judicial system was at fault because they let all of these innocent people die. Also, isn't it ironic that the people who made false confessions lived and the people who didn't, died. All five parts of the definition of the tragedy of the common man were shown by John Proctor. In The Crucible, John Proctor represents an example of the tragedy of the common man.

The third part of the definition of the tragedy of the common man is that there needs to be a flaw that causes a downfall in this character. John Proctor has several flaws that all lead to his downfall. One flaw is his inability to forgive himself for committing adultery with Abigail and disrespecting his wife. He thinks that he only needs to forgive his wife for his lechery but in reality, just how Elizabeth tells him, he needs to forgive himself. Proctor is also extremely reckless with his behavior and free thinking which are both other flaws of his. His freethinking is the reason he has such reckless behavior. Several examples of his free thinking are committing adultery, farming on Sundays instead of going to church, not being the good Puritan he's supposed to be and when he brings Mary Warren to court to testify against Abigail. Committing adultery, farming on Sundays instead of going

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Approximate Word count = 1068
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English