John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

I think that John Proctor is a hero.  Although some may not agree with my statement, he is the type of type of character that represents in my opinion, life itself.  John Proctor has made mistakes in his life, and he's grown to learn from them.  After he and Abigail had their encounter, deep down he felt wrong for betraying his marriage.  Later, the text shows that he not only wanted to push away Abigail, he tried very hard to strengthen his marriage with Elizabeth.  Although it didn't end so well, you could see he really tried to do the right thing.  At the end, he tried to accuse himself of witchcraft so innocent people would stop dying and that the whole situation would die down.  John put himself on the line to save many innocent lives, which I think, is a hero by far.