John Proctor stooge or hero ?

I feel as though John Proctor is a hero. I feel as though he tried to lie to save his life but he was too much of a leader to do so. You know what they say " if you stand for nothing, you will fall for everything" .  So by sticking to his word that he was innocent and the girls in the court was lying, he was sticking by something he believed strongly about. I feel he was not only a hero for himself but for the people that couldn't. He was a leader for those that just confessed and blamed others to save their lives. I also feel as though he was a sacrifice for the community. Because after Rebecca Nurse, Martha Corey, and John Proctor were killed the community started to notice that maybe the court was getting out of hand. So in a sense this needed to happen to stop it. Even though his heroism wasn't noticed right away, it was for the better of the people afterwards. In addition, he gave up his life with his family. He had three sons and one expecting child. The three sons will remember their dad as an hero but the child that is not born yet would never know his/her dad.