In Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”, a whole village is put through trials and tribulations that essentially turn their lives upside-down. Few survived through these tests and even fewer kept their pride and dignity until the end; John Proctor is one of them. Proctor is found in the center of all the action in “The Crucible”. He has to balance his situation with Abigail and his wife with the chance that both he and his wife are facing the end of both their Christian and mortal lives. Proctor does this, however, and in the end he is seen with his pride and dignity still intact.
John Proctor had started out in the book as someone who had something to hide. He, at some point, had had an affair with Abigail Williams, who became the mastermind behind all of the town’s witchery and destruction. However, Elizabeth Proctor, John’s wife, had found out about this affair, and, in an effort to show her that he only loves her, John had since “gone tiptoe in [their] house all seven month since…” (Act II, pg 54). Once he hears about Betty’s condition, he soon finds himself in town and in a room with Abigail, no less. It is in this very moment when he sets Abigail straight and tells her that he “may think of [her] softly from time to time. But [he] will cut off [his] hand before [he ever reaches for her] again.”(Act I, pg 23). It is at this point when Abigail begins to target Elizabeth Proctor as she is “blackening [Abigail’s] name in the village [.]” (Act I, pg 23). This is when the wheels of destruction began turning in Abigail’s mind. She loves John Proctor so much that she is more than willing to take his wife out of the picture completely. This does not work too well with John, because he has done nothing but try to gain his wife’s trust back over the seven months that he has kept away from the village. Later on, as more and more townspeople were being condemned for witchery, a man named Mr. Hale visits the Proctors’ home. He is a minister brought in from another town and has gone around visiting all those who have been accused of witchcraft. Because of the fact that the village is ran almost entirely upon theology, a simple test of The Commandments is asked of Mr. Proctor. John slowly makes his way down the list, but then finds that he is missing one. Elizabeth knows which one it is and states simply “Adultery, John.”(Act II, pg 67). In two words alone John was reminded of the entire situation between him, his wife, and Abigail Williams. John wishes only to be free of Abigail and all the trouble that she has caused, and, finally, he is towards the end. In all the chaos of the court John Proctor yells out at Abigail during one of her pretend attacks, “How do you call Heaven! Whore! Whore!”(Act III, pg 109). A man yelling “whore” in court very obviously brought up some questions and without hesitation, but with shame, Proctor unfolds the story of what had happened between him and Abigail those many months ago. Mr. Danforth, a high official in the court system, sees this as an opportunity to test Elizabeth, to see if she is really as honest as John Proctor claims she is. She is brought into the courtroom and asked “Why did [she] dismiss Abigail Williams?”(Act III, pg 112). Elizabeth starts out with very vague answers, saying simply “She dissatisfied me.”(Act III, pg 112). Her simple answer prompted Mr. Danforth to ask another question: “What disturbance did she cause?”(Act III, pg 112). Elizabeth works her way around answering it by setting the time and scene of the situation. She mentions how she was sick and how John is never drunk and such things that do not pertain to the question that Danforth had asked of her. Finally Danforth asks her a simple, yet loaded, yes or no question: “Is your husband a lecher[?]”(Act III, pg 13). To which said question Elizabeth answers “No, sir”, and with those words, she is no longer seen as the women who cannot tell a lie and has condemned both herself and her husband.
