John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

     Before starting this assignment, I had to look up the definition of stooge, because frankly, I didn't really know what the word meant.
     What I came up with were a bunch of different definitions, that combined would be something like, A person who exists only to help and assist other people by doing difficult and trying tasks, but who is basically a joke; a fool; a dupe. The difference between the two (hero and stooge) is that when you call someone a hero, they do things and take the fall for other people, but it is considered a good choice. For a stooge, he or she is basically a whipping boy. (or girl)
     In the classic drama The Crucible, the character John Proctor has an affair with a young girl, defends his wife in court, is accused of witchcraft and of threatening a young girl (Mary Warren) with murder, and is ultimately hung for his "wrongdoings". John Proctor could have avoided the death sentence by simply confessing or admitting that he practiced witchcraft, but he refused, because to say so would be a lie.
     Many would argue that John Proctor is a stooge for doing this, and bearing his punishment, but I believe he was a hero. John Proctor could have confessed, and listed off even more names for the court to interrogate, and those people would have listed off more names, and the cycle would have continued. He could have escaped the death sentence, and lived a happy life with his four children (although not very happy, considering the court had decided to hang his wife as well, once she gave birth to his fourth child).
     However, Proctor did not confess. He decided that telling the truth, and setting an example for the people of Salem in order to end this insane cycle of lying, was more important, and that the issue at hand was bigger than his life. I agree with John Proctor. When he was hung, he must have become something of a martyr, along with Rebecca Nurse and Giles Corey. Their deaths were what really made the citizens of Salem question the trials going on, and if the victims were really guilty of the the crimes they were accused of.
     If John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse had not bore their punishment and instead confessed, who knows what would have happened? How many more innocent lives would have ended before the people of Salem realized that what was happening was wrong? John Proctor was a hero.