John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

John Proctor is a character in The Crucible who has an affair with a young girl named Abigail. John Proctor is sort of an outcast because he doesn't go to church like most people in Salem. This is because he feels that Reverend Parris rarely speaks about God in his sermons anymore. Abigail is a young girl, Rev. Parris' niece and she has practiced witchcraft and instead of admitting this, she accusses others of this crime.

A stooge is a person who is under the control of another person. Whereas a hero is a person distinguished by exeptional courage. I believe that John Proctor is a stooge because in a way, he is controlled by Abigail. Joh Proctor's wife is arrested for witchcraft and he knows that Abigail is behind it. He wants to tell the court that Abigail was behind it but he feared that Abigail would tell the whole court that she had an affair with Proctor. If this happened, Proctor's wife, Elizabeth would find out and he would be hated more by society. He already has one strike against him because he does not go to church anymore, matters would be made worse if everyone found out that he has committed the sin of adultery. Like I said, Proctor is a stooge because he is under the control of Abigail. He knows that if he says that Abigail has been practicing witchcraft, then Abigail will tell the court that they had an affair with each other. This causes Proctor to keep his mouth shut and this shows that Proctor is just a puppet and Abigail is the puppet master yanking his strings!