“The Lightning of My Being”: The Byronic Struggle and Apotheosis of John Proctor

Though some view John Proctor, the protagonist of Arthur Miller's Salem drama, The Crucible, as a modern example of the tragic hero, this article considers whether he bears an equal or greater resemblance to the Byronic hero, a character type with a more diverse and complicated heritage than commentators typically recognize. In particular, I examine Proctor's resemblance to three Byronic types—the Gothic Villain, the Noble Outlaw, and the Prometheus figure—with the aim of highlighting Byronic features of Proctor's heroism that Miller would have encountered on the page, stage or screen, even if he had never read Byron.