Is John Proctor the Villain? An Inside Look on the Characters of Vistamar’s Spring Play

On Thursday, April 18th, Vistamar’s play, John Proctor is the Villain, opened the PAS door for audiences! Here’s the insider scoop: 

In John Proctor is the Villain by Kimberly Belflower, there is a heated debate on whether John Proctor is really the bad guy or not. The Crucible, performed earlier in the school year as Vistamar’s fall play, paints John Proctor as the hero and Abigail Williams as the villain. The Crucible was written in 1953 by Arther Miller, and has since been read and performed by many schools across America. John Proctor is the Villain is set in a modern day school called Helen County High where students are reading The Crucible and relating it to their own lives. They dive deep into the nuance of each character, and question whether John Proctor is the hero he is made out to be. 

The story follow four of the students, Beth Powell, Nell Shaw, Ivy Watkins, and Raelynn Nix, who are studying The Crucible in their favorite teacher, Mr. Smith’s class. Out of nowhere, Raelynn’s ex-best friend, Shelby Holcomb, shows up at school after being gone for months because of a fight between the girls and Raelynn’s boyfriend, Lee Turner (Lee cheated on Raelynn with Shelby). However, when Shelby returns to school, she claims that her absence was about more than the fight; she had an affair with everyone’s favorite teacher, Mr. Smith. The girls are struck by the news. They want to believe their friend Shelby, but Mr. Smith is their favorite teacher! The best even, not to mention the fact that he is also the school’s heartthrob. They don’t know who to believe, but the scariest thing is that their lives are starting to resemble the characters from The Crucible. The kids can’t help but ask: Who is really in the wrong, John Proctor or Abigail?

To answer this heated question reporters from the Vistamar View went to Helen County High in rural Georgia to uncover the truth about what the students think about the John Proctor case.

The first student to greet the Vistamar View walked out of the classroom after finishing their presentation of a school project. Her name is Raelynn. She came out laughing with her friend Shelby, who just returned back to school after claiming that she had an affair with Mr. Smith. To answer our question she said, “Of course, John Proctor is the villain. Abigail was 16 and he was a married man with children.” Her friend Shelby stops laughing when we ask her the question. She says, “Everyone is pointing at Abigail even though John Proctor is the real problem.” She declares it with a serious expression so we don’t ask anymore questions.

The next student to walk out is Nell Shaw. She is a new student from Atlanta and is getting used to living in rural Georgia and the drama in her new friend group. She shares, “Honestly, I think John Proctor is the villain because if all men in the world were like him, it would just be way worse.”

Nerd and book-lover Beth Powell walks out debating whether to believe Shelby and Mr. Smith. She was the main advocate for starting the feminist club at Helen County High and wants to believe Shelby’s claim, however, she admits to us that she considers Mr. Smith to be her best friend. When the Vistamar View asked Beth about her view on the true villain of The Crucible she couldn’t make eye contact with us. “Um, I have read the play so many times but John Proctor doesn’t really seem to be the villain. Some people just make mistakes, you know.”

Another student, Lee, has the same view but says things a little differently, “John Proctor and I are tight.”

To rebut this, Lee’s friend Mason responded with, “I don’t know. Dude is complicated so I guess he is the villain.”

Another girl named Ivy walks out and says, “He can’t be the villain. He probably had good intentions.” From reading the local news, we can guess that Ivy is still dealing with discovering that her father is having an affair with his secretary. She shares that she has a close relationship with her father.

We also got a chance to talk to Ms. Gallagher, the school counselor. She subbed for Mr. Smith when he was out so she was there during the students debate. She was serious when we asked her the question. “John Proctor was the villain all along, we all just didn’t see it before. We were all fooled by his stupid name.”

After speaking with all the students and Ms. Gallagher, we got the chance to speak with Mr. Smith himself. What does he think about the characters in The Crucible? Knowing about the scandals that have recently gone down in this school Mr. Smith’s answer is unsurprising. He says, “John Proctor isn’t the villain because he is such an amazing character in American lit and he stands up for his name which shows courage.” 

It is hard to know if the students’ answers were fully based on their knowledge of The Crucible, but we can assume that the current events in the school had a lot of impact on the answers we got. So, with the testimonies from all the students at this high school, the Vistamar View now asks you: Is John Proctor the Villain? And more importantly: How can we stop all the John Proctors in this world that are getting away with abuse and have their name to protect them?

Photo Credit: Rylan Brooks ’25