Umberto Eco once stated “The real hero is always a hero by mistake…”.  The meaning of this quote is that a true hero is not someone who plans on doing a heroic action, but someone who does not plan on being a hero but does become a hero making the best of the situation that he is put in.  I agree with Umberto Eco and his idea on heroism, and there is a novel and a drama that purvey this.  One being The Crucible, Arthur Miller’s work and the other To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  Atticus Finch and John Procter are both protagonists and both become “heroes by mistake” by making the best of the situation that they have been put in.

In The Crucible, John Procter is living in a small Puritan town in Salem Massachusetts.  The setting takes place during a time of a corrupt government in 1692.  Innocent people of the town are being convicted of witchcraft and sent to jail, to some known as the witch trials.  John’s wife, Elizabeth Procter, is one of the innocent people who is sent to jail.  She has been cried out by Abigail Williams, with whom John Procter has committed the sin of adultery. John does what he thinks is the best thing to do in this situation and goes to the court to try to save his wife.  Mr. Procter does everything possible to try to get his wife out of jail including admitting to adultery which was a horrible sin to the Puritans.  This alone would be enough to make John a “hero by mistake” because he doesn’t want to be thought of as a hero for trying to save his wife but he does what he thinks is the right thing to do in the situation and becomes a hero not on purpose for what he does.

John is sent to jail for trying to overthrow the court and was blamed for doing witchcraft himself.  If he were to admit that he did witchcraft his life would be saved and he would be allowed out of jail with nothing more than a sign on the church door with his name on it saying that he admitted to doing witchcraft.  However John refuses to admit this, giving up his life because he does not want his reputation to be ruined for himself, his family, Rebbeca Nurse and Giles Correy, who have died because they refused admit to being a witch.  John never expects to have himself hanged this is another example of him being a “hero by mistake”.

Atticus Finch the protagonist in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, is another great example of a “hero by mistake”.  The setting of this novel is during the Great Depression in the small and racist town of Macomb, Alabama.  Atticus is a lawyer for the county and is presented with the case of a black man raping a white women in where he has to defend the black man, Tom Robinson.  What most people would have done in this situation would be to not put any effort into the case because they would be defending a black man. Atticus does the opposite he does everything possible to keep this man out of jail, because Atticus chooses to defend Tom well he is faced with many conflicts.  One night Atticus sits outside of the jail where Tom is being held because he gets news that an angry lynch mob is coming for Tom.  Sure enough the mob show up and Atticus stands up to them and makes them all go home without one drop of blood being spilt.  For doing this he is a hero.  When the court case is over Tom Robinson is convicted, but Atticus is still a hero to many people, especially the black community of Maycomb who applaud as Atticus leaves the court.  Some particular ones being Tom Robinson, and his children because he does the best he can with the situation he is put in.

Neither Jon Procter or Atticus Finch set out to become a hero.  John was just trying to protect his wife but ends up telling the court about his act of adultery and to lose his good name to save his life in the end to keep his reputation.  Atticus presented with a court case having to defend a black man in a racist but does his best to defend him even thought the odds are against him.  Both characters took the situations that they were put in and doing the best that they could with it.