Proctor’s decision to die also solved his inner conflict with him self. This conflict is his affair with Abigail Williams, which really exasperated him. ‘Because it speaks deceit and I am honest! Bit I’ll plead no more! I see now your spirit twists around the single error of my life, and I will never tear it free!’. This quote from John explains how he cannot tear his guilt away from himself, and that he feels very bad for making this single big error of his life. By choosing to die Proctor did not have to live with guilt of defying his wife and God.
The most important reason John Proctor decided to die is that he would not blacken his name throughout the town. If John betrayed his friends by confessing their sins, a man of his nobility could not live through the guilt. Also John did not want to ruin his reputation as a man who stands up and would die for what he believes in. John Proctor knew the importance of a name and how it defines someone. If Proctor were named a sell out, then his whole family would be instinctively named as sellouts too.
John Proctor was a man with strong beliefs that if his name was blackened he would have no reason to live at all. When he chose to die, he proved to everyone that he is not a sell out to an unjust court. Friendship and family is very important to John Proctor and he did not want his family to be looked upon as sell outs because of his wrongful doings. It is a very good decision that John stood his ground and died for what he believed in.
John Proctor was absolutely devastated when his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, was arrested for having a puppet which the court mistakenly thought she was using for a method used to hurt someone. John took it into his own hands and decided to fight in court to bring her justice. By doing this he ended up sacrificing his own name to the court by admitting he was a lecher, this was to try and save his wife. He also accused Abigail of being a whore. Elizabeth was called into the court and asked if her husband had committed lechery. Elizabeth refused to blacken her husband’s name, and denied it.
John was asked many questions about other people he may have seen with the devil: many of who were dead. John couldn’t admit to seeing them with the devil because he was lying about the confession, ‘They go like saints. I like not to spoil their names’. Meaning he did not want to lie and blacken their names when they had died to save it.
John refused to his name be signed on paper with his confession and he ripped it up. He did it to save his own name. He couldn’t have risked his wife and children knowing that their husband/father’s confession, to doing work for the devil was hanging on the church wall. He ripped up the confession because he didn’t want to sacrifice his name for confessing to something he did not do. It was his name that he would have given away, and he was not prepared to do that. He just didn’t have himself to think about, he had his wife and 3 children too. He did not want to leave them with a name that was blackened. Elizabeth helped John to forgive himself.
The main thing we can say about John Proctor was that he was willing to die to save his own name. Today many people still die for their beliefs.
Samuel Parris is the minister in Salem. He is in his mid forties and has a daughter Betty Parris and a niece called Abigail Williams. He is a very honest man and is concerned about being faithful to himself and his family.
We are first introduced to Paris when he is at the side of his daughter Betty Parris’s bedside praying for her recovery. Her father caught her in the forest conducting with the devil.
Parris is continually weighed down with fears that others conspire against him. Parris knows the truth that Abigail is lying about the dancing and the witchcraft, but perpetuates the deception because it is in his own self-interest. Parris fears any defence against the charges of witchcraft as an attack upon the court and a personal attack on him.
‘It is a weighty name; it will strike the village that Proctor confess.’ Parris believes that Proctor is a man with a reputation and he sees John as a threat. If Proctor confessed more people will believe in the accusations.
Parris came upon the children of Salem and Abigail dancing and conducting against their religion. They were accused of being in a pact with the devil by many of the towns’ people. Parris said to Abigail ‘If you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know it now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it.’ Parris shows that he is more concerned about his name than Abigail’s. He is worried about what people will think of him and whether he may lose his job.
Abigail Williams is one of the main characters in ‘The Crucible’ but however she is the least complex. She tells lies and manipulates her friends and entire town and eventually sends 19 to their deaths. Her motivations seem more complex than simple jealousy and a desire to have revenge on Elizabeth Proctor.
Abigail is a seventeen-year-old girl who is the niece of Reverend Parris; Abigail was the Proctors' servant before Elizabeth fired her for having an affair with John. She is a malicious, bitter girl who, in an attempt to protect herself from punishment when her cousin falls ill after Reverend Parris finds them dancing. Despite her accusations, Abigail is a shameless liar who charges witchcraft against those who oppose her, even Elizabeth Proctor in an attempt to take her place as Proctor's wife. Abigail's heartless nature stems partially from past trauma; she is an orphan who watched as Indians murdered her parents because she is an orphan and an unmarried girl her reputation is very important to her, as it needs to be good to find a man and carry on her family.
As she is Parris’s niece she uses this to her advantage in the village. Because Parris is a well respected man who would do nothing wrong she feels that people see her in the same way and will never think bad of her.
When Abigail Williams was in court she denied everything, part of her denial was accusation. She believes that by shifting the blame onto some one else she wouldn’t be held responsible for her sins and her name would be untouched. She saved her own name by convincing the court that only Mary Warren was involved in the devil. She manipulates throughout the play and in the court she carries on manipulating even after Mary Warren confesses.
In the play she says ‘My name is good in the village – I will not have it said my name is soiled’. This shows she does care about her name. When she realises she has power she doesn’t care about her name.
She really loves John but hates Elizabeth and wants to get rid of her so she can be Proctor’s wife. Her jealousy of Elizabeth is so strong she accuses Elizabeth of conducting with the devil. When John hears about this he feels much stronger towards Elizabeth and doesn’t want anything to do with Abigail ever again.
I think Abigail Williams is a very strong-minded and spiteful girl who manipulates all the time and thinks she can do anything and get away with it because she is Parris’s niece.