Abigail meets up with John Proctor in the village and you can tell that John knows that it is Abigail who has caused the problems in the village but that he finds her very childlike and at this point does not know how dangerous Abigail is. In fact Abigail admits to John at this point that they were only messing about in the woods and that what they were doing was nothing more than a childish prank and not real witchcraft.
Abigail on the other hand wants the love of John Proctor but John refuses Abigail and he tells her that they will not carry on their affair he says to her 'I will cut of my hand before reaching for you again.'
Abigail reacts in a very jealous way as she is burning with jealousy and says terrible things to John about his wife Goody Proctor. John is calm and tells her not to speak badly of his wife.
If we are being fair to Abigail at this point we should understand that she was deeply in love with John Proctor, she did not think of their liaison as an quick affair but one of deep love and she could not understand why she was now being shunned by the man she loved so much.
The witch hunter Hale arrives in Salem he has come from Beverly and when he meets with John Proctor the two men acknowledge that they are both intelligent men who want to get to the bottom of an increasingly disastarous problem.
Mr Hale begins by examining the girls who are still in a trance for signs of the devil. The first girl he examines is Betty Parriss then he asks to see Ruth Putnam. Whilst seeing Ruth Putnam he asks the people in the room if there had been any unusual behaviour and Reverend Parriss tells him what he saw in the woods and who he saw including his niece Abigail and his daughter Betty. Of course Abigail who is in the room is questioned about the events of that evening and she just tries to explain that they were dancing, dancing was not allowed but did not hold the penalty of death. When it appears that Mr Hale is becoming more concerned about the ‘soup’ they were making and a frog jumping into the soup Abigail realizes that she could be in deep trouble.
All the girls were brought to the church to be questioned by Mr Hale and when Mr Hale asked if there was a casting of spells Mary Warren points at Abigail and Abigail denies casting any spells and blames Tituba.
All the blame is now being laid on this poor black girl who was at no more fault than any of the other girls seen in the woods. Abigail says that all the spells cast were from Tituba and this puts Tituba in a terrible position she also has to find a way out of. To get out of this dangerous situation Tituba admits that the devil is with her but Mr Hale says Tituba is the eyes of God and it is at this point that things take a dramatic turn for the worse.
Tituba starts naming people she has seen with the devil Sarah Good, Goody Osbourn…
When this name is mentioned Mrs Putnam who has three dead children now blames Goody Osbourn for the loss of these children as she was the midwife.
Suddenly Betty wakes and names George Jacobs as being with the devil and also Goody Howe with the devil and Martha Bellows.
They carry on screaming names out not realizing what terrible problems will occur because of this.
The girls now see their way out of being condemned as witches, all they have to do is say they have seen other people with the devil and that they are the eyes of God.
John Proctor is told of the imprisonment of many women from Salem and he cannot believe that so many women have been put into jail. His wife tells him that Abigail is apparently the most afflicted of all the girls.
The scenes in the film show John and his wife speaking as equals to one another. John tells his wife that Abigail told him exactly what went on in the woods and Goody Proctor tells him he must go to the court and tell the judges just what Abigail has said but John knows that when Abigail told him these things they were alone and it will be difficult to prove. There is a lot of tension between John and his wife with regard to what happened between John and Abigail and their story is really only the same as a story today of adultery and a wife forgiving but not forgetting what has happened.
Many judges have been brought in to Salem to judge the accused. The ladies have to confess to being witches and if they do so they will not hang. This must be very very difficult for the accused because they have to admit to something that they are not and be branded a witch for life.
We also see at this time Putnam having heated arguments with both John Proctor and Mr Jacobs with regard to land lines. Eventually Mr Jacobs is also branded a witch by Ruth Putnam which shows how the village as a whole was using this witch hunt to get back at people who they hated.
Now we see a servant of the Proctors, Mary Warren who is going every day to the witch trials and John is very annoyed with her for doing so. Mary Warren tells the Proctors that she has to go to court as she is an official and she informs Goody Proctor that she has been accused of being a witch but that this had been dismissed by the court. She presents Goody Proctor with a little rag doll she has made whilst sitting in court. Mary Warren will not tell the Proctors who accused Goody Proctor of being a witch.
Goody Proctor is aware that it is Abigail who has accused her of witchcraft, she knows and it was apparent to me that Abigail was trying to find a way of getting rid of John’s wife. In reality Abigail knows that Goody Proctor does not lie and will not admit to being a witch and will therefore hang.
Proctor goes to see Abigail and tries to stop her stupidity but Abigail says that she has a bite from the spirit of Goody Proctor, and now we can see just how evil Abigail is.
John Proctor warns Abigail that if she cries witch against his wife he will wreak vengeance upon her ‘it will be the end of you’ he tells her. Although she loves John Proctor she is not wary of him and it doesn’t change her mine about branding Goody Proctor a witch she sees herself as above the law because the courts have given her power over everyone in Salem.
At this point I believe that the judges realize that this witch hunt is a farce but they want to believe witches exist . They discuss the deaths of the children at birth and the land rights. It seems as though they cannot back down, they have to prove there are witches in Salem whatever the cost to the community, it is a matter of cleansing the area of Masachusettes of the Devil and the judges see this as an opportunity to show the whole area that witchcraft and Devil worship will not be tolerated.
Mr Hale comes to the Proctor’s farm to warn them of the accusation of witchcraft against Goody Proctor. Hale is a man in anguish, he seems confused not knowing right from wrong and is worried about darkness prevailing in the village. Hale certainly doesn’t believe that all the people convicted of witchcraft are witches at all.
Proctor tries to explain to Mr Hale how angry he is with Reverend Parriss, he tries to show Mr Hale how Parriss is not a good man of God and is only interested in wealth. Hale asks John to repeat the 10 Commandments
which they do together because John misses out the commandment against adultery. Hale asks about the non-baptising of their youngest child and John explains to him that he did not want Parriss’s hands on his child.
Proctor tells Mr Hale about Abigail’s admission to him of what actually went on in the woods but Hale being a man of God is convinced or is perhaps trying to convince himself that the girls have told the truth.
All the officials who have been brought to Salem for the trials seem to be frightened of the consequences if they do not find witches, they are watching their own backs. It has become one of the cruelest trials where everyone involved in accusations is watching their own back. The girls as a whole are frightened and have gone too far down the line to come back and tell the truth, older people who have accused others of witchcraft are settling old debts of hatred and the judges cannot be seen to look foolish.
Now we see Rebecca, a kindly, gentle woman accused of killing the Putnams children.
A Warrant now comesfor Goody Proctor and the man carrying the warrant insists on searching the house. He finds the doll given to her by Mary and also finds a needle in the doll. Mary, who is a truthful girl and bears no hatred to the Proctors explains she made the doll in court and put the needle in the doll for safe keeping, but Abigail had bent over in court screaming in pain saying it was Goody putting a knife into her, hence the search for the doll.
John Proctor cries out that vengeance is what has come into the village, and he is quite correct but his wife decides to go to jail.
John Proctor wants Mary to go before the court and to tell the truth about the other girls but Mary is frightened that if she does so the girls will turn on her, but John gets her to go to court to tell the judges the true story . When this court is in session another man by the name of Giles Corey comes forward to say he has facts that will change the minds of the judges.
The judges convene to hear Mary Warren tell the truth and are thwarted by the rantings of reverend Parriss who is frightened that if the judges believe her his life will be ruined.
It comes to light that Goody Proctor is actually pregnant and the judges tell John that it will stop his wife from going in front of the court for at least a year and the insinuate that in a year all this will be forgotten as anything can change over one year.
John cannot believe that the judges are carrying on with the proceedings and brings forward a petition to show 91 people have seen no signs of the jailed women ever dealing with witchcraft. This is all in vain as the judges do not want to be seen as foolish.
Giles Corey’s facts are based on someone overhearing Mr Putnam telling an acquaintance that he made his daughter say that Mr Jacobs had come to her at night like a spirit. The problem being that Giles will not give the name of the person who overheard Putnam talking. Obviously Giles did not want to get another person into trouble, knowing that that person would also be likely to end up in jail as a witch. Because of this refusal Mr Corey is put under arrest for contempt of court and later in the play he is laid out on the ground with stones put on his stomach to make him speak the name of the person. Mr Corey is an honourable man and even the worst type of torture would not allow him to speak the name.
Mr Hale has now become totally perplexed that so many people have been condemned to death, he feels a lawyer should be appointed to speak on behalf of the accused but the judges refuse, they argue that only the girls could have seen the spirits not a lawyer.
Mary is brought before the judges and so are the other girls. The judge puts in Mary’s mind that satan has got hold of her or all the girls are positively lying.
Abigail is also questioned by the judge and lies, the judge cannot understand why Abigail would want Proctor’s wife dead.
Mary is put through tests by the judges even being asked to faint on command which she finds impossible to do, she is goaded by Parriss who knows his reputation is totally at stake.
Abigail knowing that she could be found out as being a deceitful liar storms up to the judge and questions him as to whether he believes them. Abigail then starts to shake and pretend that Mary is afflicting her.
John Proctor by this time has seen enough and admits to making love to Abigail and calls her a whore.
The judge asks Abigail if Proctor is telling the truth but Abigail denies without saying anything.
Good Wife Proctor is called for by the judge ‘to touch the bottom of this swamp’ but Goody Proctor has to admit that she threw Abigail out for harlotry. Both John and Abigail had to turn their backs away from Goody Proctor and we have to remember that John had told the court that his wife never lies.
The judge asks Goody Proctor about the dismissal of Abigail Williams and she tells the judge ‘she dissatisfied me and my husband’. Goody being a good Christian didn’t wish to tell the court that her husband had been adulterous and when asked by the judge if her husband was an adulterer she replied ‘no.’ This was the first lie Goody Proctor had told in the whole of her life.
Goody Proctor then learns the terrible truth that John has told the court about his liaison with Abigail and she looks on in dismay not believing that she has done this to her husband.
Hale actually believes Proctor is telling the truth, I feel that Hale realizes at this point that Goody Proctor was lying for the first time because when Hale went to Proctor’s house and asked John Proctor to repeat his Commandments he missed out adultery and now realizes that he must have blocked the adultery with Abigail out of his mind.
Now Abigail knows that she has got away with her lies and deceit and at
t this point Abigail starts screaming to divert the court’s attention saying Mary has the Devil in her The girls repeat everything Mary is saying, pretending she is making them do this.
At this point Mary sees that if she doesn’t save herself nobody else can and she turns and says the Devil came to her and told her to give her name to stop his wife from hanging. Mary has now condemned John Proctor. Hale tries to intervene but is cut down by the judge. John Proctor says the judge is ‘pulling heaven down and raising up a whore’ he then screams ‘God is Dead.’
Abigail seeing that Hale could be a problem for her goes to the judge telling him that Hale’s wife is a witch but the judge tells her ‘you are mistaken child, understand me’ this is a warning shot to Abigail that she is going too far.
John Proctor is sent to jail and his visitor is Abigail Williams who wants to have him set free and go away with her on a ship. She realizes that all her plans have been thwarted and she never dreamed John would end up in jail. Abigail says that the jailer on her word will set him free and they can board a ship for Barbados together.
John Proctor replies to her offer with the words ‘it is not on a ship we will meet again Abi but in hell.’
The perpetrator of all the things that happen in Salem leaves, Abigail Williams with stolen money disappears.
Reverend Parriss now sees that something must be done to save the lives of John, Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey. The judge says that if Proctor confesses to being a witch then there will be an end to the deaths.
Hale goes to Goody Proctor to inform her that her husband is marked to die and that John must just tell a lie to stop the hanging and begs Goody to get John to lie. Goody knows her husband will not lie to save his soul and promises nothing but asks to speak with her husband alone.
They talk of their baby not yet born and their boys. John knows he is about to die but says he is thinking to confess just to be done with the problem. Goody says she will accept whatever he does. John says ‘it is hard to give a lie to dogs’ and that it is only spite that makes him stay silent. Goody replies ‘whatever you will do it’s a good man does it’ she says she has her own sins to deal with.
Goody admits to keeping a cold house and asks for his forgiveness.
John shouts to the courts ‘I want my life’
The next problem begins when the judges want a signed confession that is to be pasted on the door of the church.
He is asked if he saw Rebecca Nurse and others with the devil, John cannot lie and so he says that he saw no-one with the Devil.
Hale pleads with the judge to let Proctor just sign his own confession which Proctor does but then reality strikes him and he argues that he cannot bring his boys up to be good men if this lie is pasted to the church door. He pleads that he has given this court his soul could they not leave him with his name. Proctor tears up the piece of paper with his signature on in and condemns himself to death.
Hale pleads with Goody to change John’s mind and Goody replies ‘he has his goodness now God forbid I take it from him.
Three innocent people are sent to be hanged and now we see the village people look on in total silence.
This play showed peoples greed, ignorance, arrogance, hatred and all centred around one girl’s unrequited love for a married man. It showed the good people dying whilst the tormentors stood by and gloated.
It showed us how the might of the many blows away reality. Mass hysteria of young girls convinced grown men, mature judges that Salem was the Devils playground.
