Period 2 LA11H Hero he.
ro [heeroh] (plural he. roes) 1. A man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. 2.
A person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child. That is the dictionary definition of a “ hero”. All of us have a hero. To some, a hero might be a favorite actor or fictional character.
To others, a hero may be along the lines of a father or uncle. But what truly makes someone a hero? The word means different things to different people. To me, a hero is a person of admirable traits or qualities that overcome hardships and stand up and defend in something they believe in. In the pieces of The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter, the true meaning of a hero is truly revealed.
In The Crucible, there are a fair amount of characters that may be called “ heroes”. Others can be classified as “ good people”, others even “ heroic”. But the true hero of this piece is an unlikely one. A person who was not perfect and had many faults, as well was not completely good or bad. This person was John Proctor, the true hero of the play.
He begins as a mere farm worker like an average everyday person. As his life progresses, he makes bad decisions and runs into even worse conflicts. The faults and imperfections of John Proctor were clear. He was definitely not a perfect character.
He cheated on his wife by having an affair with a teenager. He went to church when he chose. His actions weren’t primarily the best. He had the chance early in the play to put a stop to the girls’ accusations, but his desire to keep his good reputation kept him from testifying against Abigail and the others.
These were all negative things about that character of John Proctor, but what makes him a hero? Clearly this truly proves him to be completely opposite from a hero… What’s great about John Proctor’s character is that he realized all of his faults.
Knowing that he was a bad person and that he had made mistakes, he tried to do something about them. He tried to fix things with his wife and make her feel better and more secure. He had his reasons to back himself up for not going to church. (#62) ” But Parris came, and for twenty week he preach nothing’ but golden candlesticks until he had them” a clear statement declaring why he not attend church with Reverend Parris leading the sermons. He distinctively tried to fix his cons and mistakes that he made throughout the play as the good starts to reveal through his actions. Then the accusations hit his personal life and one involved his wife and others.
This would be the ultimate test of if John was really changing for good. Eventually he admitted to everyone that he was an adulterer. (#102) “ On the last night of my joy, some eight month past. She used to serve me in my house, sir. A man may think God sleep, but he sees everything” This is where Proctor has officially changed through my eyes. He, in all of the things he has been going through, confesses to the worst thing he could have possibly done in his life publicly for everyone to hear.
Proctor had a downfall as a result of his confession. He was sentenced to jail and hanging for going out on a limb and trying to save others lives and prove their innocence. When he wanted to sign the confession to save his life, he realized it wasn’t right. (#133) “ I have given you my soul; leave me my name! ” he said.
John Proctor stood up for himself and for what he believed in. He showed courage and integrity that he gained throughout the play and denied his chance to live. Then there’s a completely different story with somewhat similar conflicts. The story of The Scarlet Letter. This story contains multiple heroes in my opinion. What is fascinating, is that there are 2 views in this story and there both through the hero’s perspectives.
Hester Prynne begins as the “ bad person” so to speak in the story as she has Committed adultery, but it is not known who with. She keeps her head high as well as her secret through the story as she faces public humiliation, scrutiny, and conflicts with Roger Chilling worth. She endured all the scorn and rejection of the village people. She raised her daughter all alone in a place where they were both outcasts and manages to gain her place back in society among the others again. I believed Hawthorne viewed Hester as the main character as well as the hero of the story. We follow Hester throughout the play and go through the hardships along with her.
He developed her as sympathetic woman who suffers while she helps those less fortunate then her as she patiently waits for her life to improve. Her basic goodness helps Dimmesdale in his time of distress. This scarlet letter in her life, symbolizes the suffering that she has gone through and she wears it on her breast like a badge of honor. (#153) “ it lies not in the pleasure of the magistrates to take off this badge, were I worthy to be quit of it, it would fall away of its own nature”. The scarlet “ A’ does not mean “ adulterer”, it means “ Able”. Then there’s Arthur Dimmesdale, the other adulterer.
He is kept safe throughout the story, but realizes that he needs to confess after countless vigils and inner conflicts. (#138-139) “ ye have both been here before, but I was not with you. Come up hither once again, and we will stand all three together. ” His conscience begins to eat at him and starts to realize what is right. Like proctor he begins to stand up for what is truly and morally correct.
He and Hester were the ones that went through the most hardships in this story and coincidentally, they are both the hero’s of the story. I believe Hawthorne also wanted the minister to be a hero. Even though he was cowardly and lived in secret behind Hester’s refusal to confess, he finally confessed to the whole town that he was Pearl’s father and that he had done wrong. That would have been tremendously difficult.
By making the minister admit what he did wrong, I believe that Hawthorne set him up as the other hero. he word hero means different things to different people. Whether it be someone they look up to in their family or someone in society like Proctor and Hester, a hero is defined by their actions and triumph over all odds. As exhibited in these two pieces of work, a hero is present, but punished for wrong doings.
What makes them heroes is their willpower to overcome the negativity of society and constant battles they were faced with. The characteristics exhibited by these characters were those of a real “ Hero”
