Category: Pride

Pride is a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired. Most individuals strive to take pride in something, whether it is product they own or even a business that they are a part of. The word pride can be used in either a good or bad way. Pride in a positive way is when a person is proud of something that they achieved. A person might take pride in the amount of effort or hard work that they put in to beat the opposing team after the rugged game is over. Pride in a bad sense could be when a person has too much of it, and it leads them to lack respect for others. Someone with too much pride could be described as arrogant or overconfident.

When a person has pride in something, it will most of the time make them go to extreme lengths regardless of the path that it takes them. Pride is a very strong feeling that can drive people to do things that they normally would not and get them out of their comfort zone. Without pride, one is most likely to settle for a more calm, or mediocre life. When someone does not have pride, there is not nearly as much motivation to get the goals or job that you want completed done. In society today, many people value themselves on how much pride they have, or how much they have accomplished compared to everyone else. Although this may be a good thing considering all that one has acquired, many times too often those people let their family or friends suffer because that individual can be too scared or will become offended if they let their amount of pride go, or decrease.

Pride is mainly gained through positive approval received from others and is associated with success and satisfaction. Feelings of pride serve to enhance an individual’s self-concept. When pride is at stake, individuals are motivated to work longer and harder to achieve their goals and success. Pride serves individuals and groups positively, however, experienced pride may lead individuals to feel special and entitled. For example, in sports it can lead to participants cheating, engaging in violence, and selfishly taking advantage of others. Coaches can become controlling and abusive towards athletes as they seek success and improvement of their pride. Although pride may mostly seem like a negative thing that someone can have, there are also many positives to it as well. Pride can help to push out negativity in someone’s life, can increase the leadership that one shows, and finally it shows that that person ultimately cares about what they are doing or believe in as long as they remain humble while showing that pride.

As centuries, or millenniums I should say, have progressed there has been absolutely no human being who has completed any journey with clean hands. Mistakes are inevitable. It is a conventional individualistic human activity that occurs unknowingly. However there is a difference between acknowledging the fact that you did something wrong vs acknowledging the fact that you did something wrong and not doing anything about it. Leaving it as it is while you are at state of being fully conscious of. Which is where the term “pride” begins to be pertinent. The year of 1692 is where Purist Salem, Massachusetts, underwent an unfortunate incessant phenomenon of witchcraft accusations and trials. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, narrates the numerous ways in which such incidents have occurred. In Sophocles’ ​Antigone​, the character Tiresias wrote, “Think: all men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil: the only crime is pride.” In the profound excerpt, Tiresias is asserting that by nature it’s clear that individuals will make mistakes, simply because they are human, however, only a wise person will come to the realization that they have made that mistake and recognize that their continuous substandard actions are erroneous. A good man is bound to make mistakes, however, Tiresias fails to grasp that not every good man is willing to die for them. Tiresias makes this affirmation in order to show that the excerpt is valid, and the examples of this can be seen in the pride of John and Elizabeth Proctor from the play ​The Crucible.

Throughout the play, pride reappears as a relevant theme which also leads to unfortunate adversities among the characters. John and Elizabeth Proctor have a strained relationship. Not stable whatsoever. Unnecessary conflict is a never ending dilemma. Elizabeth has absolutely no trust over John ever since she found out about the affair he had with Abigail, a woman who lies in order to conceal her affair and prevent charges of witchcraft. Elizabeth now has difficulty in forgiving John for what he did. Act II opens with John and Elizabeth having a dispute as she prepares his food. He did not seem to enjoy it, so he further seasons it while she is turned away. This small symbolic gesture comes to show that he is making an effort to improve the situation in their relationship. By being a civil and wise man he sat his pride aside in order to prevent any upcoming controversy that could’ve have occurred. He desires to mend his relationship with his wife Elizabeth. In spite of that, Elizabeth attempts to speak with John regarding the accusations, but regrettably the conversation becomes uneasy as a disputation arises. Elizabeth loses all faith in John, as she is living with a man who betrayed her. She feels as if John does not want to prove to her that Abigail is a fraud because of their previous relationship. It is obvious, yet unfortunate, that John is upset at her lack of trust, so he took it as a chance for him to vent all his frustration. As they evidently end up in an argument John, with all irritation built up, tells Elizabeth, “You will not judge me more, Elizabeth. . . Let you look to your own improvement before you go to judge your husband any more” (II, 54). He explodes as he is expressing his emotions effectively. He further refers to their house as a court which shows that he feels that Elizabeth is constantly judging him and he has no escape from it. In other words, John is fed up with the entire situation. He is tired of the ongoing arguing that is futile, due to the feeling of incapability of producing any useful result. His anger continues building as he says, “You forget nothin’ and forgive nothin’. . . Your justice would freeze beer!”(II, 54-55). It is relevant that he says “beer” because, unlike water, beer is not pure. Regrettably, John allows his pride get in the way of comprehending his wife’s feelings which as shown, created more tension. Moreover, in the end of this act, Elizabeth has been accused of witchcraft and John comes to defend her verbally.

Despite the difficulties that rage between the two, Elizabeth, just like any other wife in her shoes, wants to save their relationship. Elizabeth attempts to let John know that Abigail is after her for the reason that she wants Elizabeth dead in order for her to be the one left with John. Which lead to an argument. John angrily yells at Elizabeth over the fact that she can’t seem to let his mistake go and she responds with, “You’ll tear it free— when you come to know that I will be your only wife, or no wife at all! She has an arrow in you yet, John Proctor, and you know it well!”(II, 62). Here, Elizabeth furiously explains how Proctor needs to understand that she, Elizabeth, is his only wife, that Abigail can no longer be a part of the picture or he’s going to end up losing her. John cheating was unfortunately detrimental to Elizabeth. She was awfully hurt by her husband, and to make matters worse, her pride added more strain to the unstable relationship they already have. In act III, after Elizabeth has been taken and jailed, John confesses his sin in the court to demonstrate his moral character and a truth that only Elizabeth would know, but she lies to protect his name. With this, it is obvious that they are both putting in effort to atone for their mistreatment of each other. However, by act IV, John is now in jail as well. Elizabeth is pregnant, and the baby belongs to John. Perhaps this symbol of new life may demonstrate that their relationship can begin anew, although the government has them bound away from each other. Elizabeth visits John the day he is supposed to be hung as he asks her for forgiveness for not confessing and she responds by stating, “it is not for me to give, John. I am-” (IV, 136). She refuses to accept his apology because she feels as if it’s not her place to forgive him. Clearly, she doesn’t feel the need to forgive him if he cannot forgive himself first, which is shown when she tells him, “…it come not that I should forgive you, if you’ll not forgive yourself” (IV, 136). Elizabeth does not come to a realization that the only possible way Proctor will forgive himself, is if she herself forgives him. She does not understand that if she were to put her pride aside, as a sagacious person would do, her husband may have forgiven himself. Which is a substantial reason as to why pride is overly important in this play. The decisions one makes in state of being prideful or not does actually lead to certain consequences, good and bad.

Both Proctor and Elizabeth’s pride was concealing them from seeing the truth in their situation. Elizabeth was blinded as she didn’t feel the need to forgive her husband and Proctor couldn’t see the need to reveal the truth about Abigail in order to end the accusations. As Proctor stated, “I will fall like a ocean that court! Fear nothing Elizabeth” (II, 78) he is demonstrating much pride as well as how he will rescue Elizabeth from the court. Proctor will do whatever is possible to save his wife. However, according to Danforth, the court burns away all the lies in order to spill the truth. They manipulate you in order to come clean. Proctor’s temper became unbearable, as he threatens Mary Warren to confess that the girls are lying. In court he decides to confess adultery in order to save his wife, which is out of the extreme, having in mind their relationship before hand. When Proctor says “I speak my own sins; I cannot judge another. I have no tongue for it” (IV, 141), he is portraying what is simply said, he will not speak of others in the manners of judging or accusing other individuals if it is not himself. While Danforth, on the other hand, is attempting to convince him to prove his witness, but he will not do so. This comes to show the wise and enlightened side of Proctor, him putting his pride aside and stating something that is reasonably correct and agreed by most. In dealing with both Abigail and Elizabeth, we see John struggle to regain a sense of honor and goodness. As Abigail continues to insist that they revive their affair, Elizabeth continues to punish him. John becomes an accuser of both women. As he is hesitant to engage in the anger drama of Salem, the witch trials, he is seen to be in a pool of his own troubles. Ultimately, John has to stand alone as he walks to the gallows. At this point, he has survived relations with his former mistress and has found self forgiveness and forgiveness from his wife. But unfortunately, the telling of this truth earned him death, and Elizabeth watched in honorable pride that her husband did what a good man would do.

As individual human beings, perfection does not exist, there’s no such thing. Everyone is flawed. However, as one makes a mistake it is in their own will to repair it. Allowing one’s pride get in the way as well as lying about their wrongs may result in a worse outcome than the one they began with. Teiresias makes it clear that it is just fine to make mistakes, it happens. Nevertheless, it takes a good man to admit to his wrongs, while those who can’t, find themselves in greater problems. The author gives this message to the readers in hopes that they’ll find it relevant and view beyond the literal meaning of his words is ideal.

A sentiment of one’s own value or a sense of excessive conceit, pride is the fatal flaw of which leads to his destruction, yet shepards Proctor’s redemption. Although hidden throughout most of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, pride is an underlying force that drives most of Proctor’s decisions in the play. Being prideful of his reputation and name while being driven by guilt, John Proctor would rather be put to death and redeemed than live in the shadow of shame.

First, reputation, a building block of the Puritan society, is the belief or opinion that are generally held about someone or something. Having too much pride to admit to the community that he and Abigail had an affair, Proctor keeps this information to himself until his reputation is on the line. He and Elizabeth talk about the foolishness of the trials when John admits “[Abigail] told it to me in a room alone…for a moment I say. The others come in soon after” (Miller 2.130-133). John confesses his adultery to Elizabeth, but she clearly still distrusts her husband. The confession changes Elizabeth’s outlook at her husband, and in turn Proctor feels convicted. He knows that she now distrusts him and believes he is lying. To rebuild his pride in himself and Elizabeth’s trust in him, Proctor makes an excuse trying to put their strife at rest. He holds a large piece of his pride in his name and how highly his family is thought of and he does not want marks or issues within his family. Although he does care about his marriage, he is more driven by the amount of respect his name carries. Proctor also wants to end their strife because Elizabeth holds his adultery against him and she could turn him into the courts.

Likewise, as John is interrogated by the court in order to save his wrongly accused wife, Proctor realizes that he alone can save his wife. Proclaiming his secret relations with Abigail to public and the court, John turns the court against Abigail as the allegation reveals her motive to kill Elizabeth. Proctor, breathless and in agony, proclaims “[Abigail] is a whore,” but the court demands proof which forces Proctor, as he trembles, admits “I have known her, sir. I have known her” (Miller 3.835-842). Broken and exposed, Proctor finally reveals his secret affair to the court. Danforth, dumbfounded, asks a few questions in hopes that the confession would be a lie. In this moment, Proctor feels guilty and a lack of pride in his past actions, but continues to plea his wife’s innocent by saying “you will believe me, Mr. Danforth! My wife is innocent, except she knew a whore when she saw one” (Miller 3.875-877). As Proctor pleads and confesses, he lacks a sense of pride in himself, but is driven by his guilt and is prided in his wife’s immaculate reputation. After his confession, Proctor feels devastated. Since the disgraceful incident occurred, he had been able to keep this secret to himself and rot in guilt. Proctor is miserable as he confesses, but is driven by the guilt he holds and is using this confession almost as an apology in hopes to feel a sense of redemption.

In addition, in the town of Salem, your good name is the only way one can get others to do business with them or even get a fair hearing the the court. Proctor’s self-worth is entirely tied up in his name and how others perceive him. Proctor is willing to confess and sign the confession to save his wife, but when the court officials try to take the confession away to show to the whole town, he backs down. Proctor cries out “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!’ (Miller 4, 725-730). The court wanted his name as a show of power, but Proctor, being prideful of his name and shameful of his actions, didn’t want the dirt of his confession staining his name. His title carries power and a sense of purity, and after being stained with his actions, Proctor’s name is now looked down upon as he is seen as guilty. Proctor also pleads “Because it speaks deceit, and I am honest! But I’ll plead no more! I see now your spirit twists around the single error of my life, and I will never tear it free!’ (Miller 2. 415-418). Proctor carries such shame in regards to his affair that he snaps as he backlashes against the court. He sees that they are focused on his affair and getting his confession, and not his well-being and forgiveness. Proctor cannot bear to have his reputation be smeared with this confession of witchcraft, because if his reputation is damaged then he no longer can think well of himself. His cry for empathy shows that the shame he carries with his sin had eroded the pride he had for himself and his reputation.

Also, Proctor is so shameful of his actions that he is broken down and is grasping on to the one thing he has left, his dirtied name. Although he clings to the little pride he has in himself, he has a change of character. Ready to lay down his life to save his name, Proctor seems to have lifted a weight off of his shoulders by confessing. During the trials, he also seems to come to the conclusion that he does not want to carry all of the sin now tagged to his name and accepts his fate. In another piece written by Miller titled “Tragedy of the Common Man” he says that “the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing–his sense of personal dignity.” This quote directly relates to the emptiness that Proctor feels after he is convicted and is left solely with his dirtied name that he once took so much pride in. At this point of Proctors journey, he seems to not be afraid of the thought of death as if he believes it is his only portal to redemption.

Lastly, Proctor walks boldly to the consequences his past actions caused without remorse for his them. After his confession, he does not refuse death, nor does he seem scared of it. Lifting the weight of sin off of his shoulders, Proctor’s confession opened the door to redemption and acceptance of his life that had not been opened before. Preceding his death, Proctor says to the court “his eyes full of tears…You have made your magic now, for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor” (Miller 4. 746-748). Even though Proctor knows he is going to face death for the actions he has committed, he sees a glimpse of goodness and redemption. The weight of confession and shame is a lot to take for someone who takes so much pride in his reputation, but his pride and confidence inclines after his confession as he feels released from sin’s shackles. He sees the road leading to death before him as the consequence to his actions and a way to be freed of his sins, not a ruthless punishment for witchcraft and his affair.

Therefore, Proctor, the flawed tragic hero, is driven by his pride which leads him in making the choices he made throughout the play, eventually leading to his death. From confessing to Elizabeth and the court, to ultimately lying about witchcraft all while battling with shame as it clung to his feet, Proctor was driven by his pride with the goal of self redemption. Proctor can’t let go of his affair that binds him. He feels that death is the only way he may be able to reconcile with his sin and mistake, and more importantly with himself. Although the Centuries change, the moral building blocks remain. People must be honest with themselves and reach their own self redemption, even if that means risking their lives for the sake of their own good.

Pride carries a broad variety of connotation among differing people. Pride can represent someone’s whole self worth or simply be another set of syllables in the English language. Pride may be someone’s support to get up every morning, and it is the backbone to their entire personality(Compound). Pride can represent whatever you need it depict, but everyone’s perspective is up for interpretation. Pride is capable of being an individual’s segway to propel a long lived goal or be the reason they take a few steps back due to an immoral decision. The Crucible, effectively demonstrates the consequences and backfires that pride can have on a community. Not only can an individual’s pride result in disputes in their lives, but it has the ability to disturb the lives of others. Arthur Miller, in The Crucible, presents various characters like Abigail, Danforth, and Proctor, that cause detrimental and toxic issues in Salem all over the risk of having pride in their clean reputations. With Abigail’s pretentious nature, she arrogantly ranks her name at a high and innocent status in the Salem community. The insidious (vocab) girl puts on prodigious (vocab) acts, as able to be observed during multiple instances during the play, and it snowballs into her having absolute control of power and much harm in the town. The power that Abigail gained in return for her snobby and narcissistic ego only fueled her confidence and negatively affected the town completely. Parris is accusing her and Betty for pursuing witchcraft in the woods, and Abigail arrogantly remarks,”There be no blush about my name”(Miller 12). Though she has already committed immense crimes, such as false accusations of Tituba and a secretive affair with John Proctor, she is still boasting her name as clean within the society (Complex). Her embodiment of innocence, I believe, is all a deceiving mask for the public. Her inner plentiful confidence subsequently leads to her wrong- doings,

Pride carries a broad variety of connotation among differing people. Pride can represent someone’s whole self worth or simply be another set of syllables in the English language. Pride may be someone’s support to get up every morning, and it is the backbone to their entire personality(Compound). Pride can represent whatever you need it depict, but everyone’s perspective is up for interpretation. Pride is capable of being an individual’s segway to propel a long lived goal or be the reason they take a few steps back due to an immoral decision. The Crucible, effectively demonstrates the consequences and backfires that pride can have on a community. Not only can an individual’s pride result in disputes in their lives, but it has the ability to disturb the lives of others. Arthur Miller, in The Crucible, presents various characters like Abigail, Danforth, and Proctor, that cause detrimental and toxic issues in Salem all over the risk of having pride in their clean reputations.

With Abigail’s pretentious nature, she arrogantly ranks her name at a high and innocent status in the Salem community. The insidious (vocab) girl puts on prodigious (vocab) acts, as able to be observed during multiple instances during the play, and it snowballs into her having absolute control of power and much harm in the town. The power that Abigail gained in return for her snobby and narcissistic ego only fueled her confidence and negatively affected the town completely. Parris is accusing her and Betty for pursuing witchcraft in the woods, and Abigail arrogantly remarks,”There be no blush about my name”(Miller 12). Though she has already committed immense crimes, such as false accusations of Tituba and a secretive affair with John Proctor, she is still boasting her name as clean within the society (Complex). Her embodiment of innocence, I believe, is all a deceiving mask for the public. Her inner plentiful confidence subsequently leads to her wrong- doings, most of them being fatal towards other people, and she is well aware of the damage she is committing. Her psyche ultimately wrecked the town of Salem all due to the misconduct of her vanity. Similarly, Judge Danforth shares many of these cocky flaws in his personality as well.

Judge Danforth, a very experienced and respected judge, is a newcomer to Salem, but he is not timid to prominently boasting his high status and reputations to the entire community. Danforth is very quick to side with the girls and continually sticks up for them because I believe he does not want to backtrack and face the damage he has already dealt with during this case. At all costs, he is trying to sway away from the idea that he might have been wrong in his first assumptions, so he wants to show how serious he is about his accomplishments before. When Francis Nurse is remonstrating (vocab) against the judge, Danforth seems to brag about his prior triumphs as a high court judge:”And seventy-two condemned to hang by that signature”(Miller 87). Though Danforth might have been sufficient enough in other trials to gain the high court that he has, he is doing absurdly the opposite in Salem, and he seems satisfied to say that he believes the children(Compound- Complex). By stating such a bold statement, he is essentially announcing that he proudly has hung many before, and definitely will not shy away from it here, despite the evidence that anyone besides the children may supply. His arrogance is causing the community to crumble beneath it due to multitudes of eminent members of society being put to death. The pride Danforth bears consistently causes an abundance of evils, mainly affecting the town. As of result of one of Danforth’s mistakes, Proctor follows, but his mistake surely is not as evil to the town Salem itself.

Though he may be a wary subject to most of the town, Proctor stands firmly behind the reputation and meaning of which his name represents. Unlike, the other two, John Proctor is not cocky towards his name, but rather shows self-confidence. He depicts that he would rather die for the cause of his name being respected and pure than to have it be trampled on for being a lying phony. The modest pride he carries still negatively affects the town, causing the citizens to be very distraught and saddened. Following his short-lived confession to avoid hanging, Proctor revokes his confession while wailing,”Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang!”(Miller 143). I believe the whole reason in which why John Proctor took the hanging is because her sees that the innocent people being hanged are very valuable in this community, yet they maintain their morality and are taking the death penalty. Proctor gains that same moral sense, and sticks with his gut to be an honest man. Once Proctor withdraws his confession and gathers that there is meaning and ownership to his name, he endures the death sentence. I believe, the Salem community is negatively affected during this, and realizes that this whole shenanigan must be a charade if these well-respected individuals are willing to go as far a death to prove their holiness. Though it is up for debate whether Proctor made the correct decision or not, his pride and integrity ultimately troubled the town, in a different manner than the previous characters.

In Miller’s, The Crucible, he describes many characters, such as Abigail, Danforth, and John Proctor, as manifesting community-wide dilemmas which arose from pride relations. Abigail, Danforth, and Proctor’s actions all took a toll on the town of Salem, and snowballed into more issues commencing all at the fault of their reputations and dignity. Though pride in yourself is crucial to self- esteem and living a joyful life, grim outcomes can come from too much of it or absence of it. Everything, including pride is good in moderation, and harmful in excess, one just must be cautious to what that word means to them. Pride is a mysterious word, the value of it all comes from the beholder themselves.