John Proctor: Hero or Stooge?

I think that throughout The Crucible John Proctor changes multiple times, but ultimately ends up as a Hero.  He is one of the only characters with the audacity to stand up for himself and the rest of Salem and try to put an end to the madness that Abigail and the other girls have caused.  I think that he grew throughout the play because in the beginning he was neither a hero nor a stooge, he just kept to himself didn't really meddle with other peoples business.  Then in act II when Proctor is informed that Goody Corey and Rebecca Nurse were accused as witches he starts to see just how bad the situation with Abigail and the girls really are.  When Cheever takes Elizabeth from John it really just sends him over the edge and he decides to take matters into his own hands.  I think this is when we start to see him become the hero of this play.  Once we finally see John confess to the court that he committed adultery with Abigail we see him become the bigger man and worsen his name for the sake of his wife and the other innocent prisoners.  However later when he decides to give in and confess my vision of John fell and he became the stooge.  Everything he worked for he was going to throw away and all for self-preservation.  Luckily this moment of doubt is short-lived because John decides to rip up the confession and face the consequences.  He stands up to the court, pushing them to their limit, making them knowingly send an innocent man to his death because they already chose to trust a little girl's word over his and are to worried about their own image to stop the hangings.  This defiance against the wrong doing of the court is ultimately what makes him a hero.