John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

John Proctor is made out to be the tragic hero throughout The Crucible.  The dictionary defines a tragic hero as " a literary character who makes an error of judgement or has a fatal flaw that, combines with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy" (dictionary.com).  Personally, I couldn't of explained John Proctor better myself.  Proctor is portrayed as good man, with his error in judgement being that he had had an affair with Abigail Williams. The external forces, better known as Abigail Williams,  then accuses Elizabeth Proctor ( John's wife) of witchcraft, in the better hopes of having her hanged and having Proctor all to herself.  Proctor cries out about Abigail, saying " She thinks to dance with me on my wife's grave!"(page 1333.)  The tragedy to Proctor is (1) his wife may get hanged and (2) his good name may be ruined if anyone finds out about the affair.  I don't believe proctor should have been executed either, even though he made a mistake,  it just unravels and creates a bigger problem not only for Proctor, but for the people around him as well.