John Proctor speaks to Abigail Williams like a child, which causes the audience to think that he no longer thinks of her in the same way but there is a hint of lust in his voice, which shows that John Proctor is still attracted to the attention Abigail Williams shows him. Although John Proctor admits to thinking of Abigail Williams “softly from time to time”, he also declares that he “will cut off my hand before I reach for you again” which means that he does have feelings for Abigail Williams but he does not want to hurt his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, again and his quick movements away from Abigail Williams, when she touches him, continues to show the audience that John Proctor’s feelings for Abigail Williams have changed. This is confirmed when John Proctor states that he has “hardly stepped off my farm this 7 months”, he has done this because he is trying to please his wife by avoiding Abigail Williams, partly due to his guilt, but John Proctor also feels a fraud because he has gone against his beliefs. The audience is once again shown John Proctor’s guilt and passion as his tone becomes harsh and he gets angry with Abigail Williams when she mentions his wife, Elizabeth Proctor. Proctor does this because he blames himself for what has happened, he does not want Elizabeth Proctor mentioned as she did not deserve this and John Proctor has hurt the woman he loves. Due to this attraction and change in body language towards Abigail Williams the audience is lead to believe that Proctor can not make his individual sacrifice because he it seems knows what he wants yet is still unsure.
In Act 2, Proctor does not believe that witchcraft is present and he believes that the girls are just playing. The audience are shown John and Elizabeth Proctor alone on stage so they are able to understand their relationship and compare it to Proctors and Abigail Williams’ relationship. It is instantly obvious that the two relationships are very different as John Proctor seasons the soup before his wife enters so he does not upset her. However the atmosphere is still cold, which is shown by the lack of physical contact between them, the lack of flowers in the house and John Proctor’s statement that “it’s winter in here yet.” Although John Proctor speaks softly to Elizabeth Proctor and says that he “means to please you”, he gets angry with his wife because he feels that she is judging him when she finds out that he was alone with Abigail Williams when she told him that it was all pretend and because Elizabeth Proctor thinks that he would not falter now if it was not Abigail Williams that he must go to hurt as Elizabeth Proctor believes that Abigail Williams “has an arrow in you yet John Proctor.” This causes Proctor to become angry at himself because he is aware that Elizabeth Proctor knows he has feelings for Abigail Williams which are preventing their lives from returning to normal but also because he does not want these feelings. John Proctor is slightly angry with Elizabeth Proctor as he is tired of tiptoeing around and he tries to speak softly to not upset her but he finds it hard to restrain his anger.
When Hale, Reverend of Beverly who was asked to Salem by Paris to uncover any witchcraft, comes to the Proctor house to speak to the Proctors and asks John Proctor to recite the 10 commandments, he is unable to recite the commandment about adultery because of his guilt and due to his guilt his relationship with Elizabeth is difficult. It is his guilt that causes him to try to cover everything up. However it is also his guilt that pushes John Proctor to become so passionate when Elizabeth Proctor is charged and arrested because he knows why Abigail Williams has named Elizabeth Proctor as a witch and that his wife is innocent. John Proctor is angry at himself for letting the situation get out of hand and his feelings for Abigail Williams have now completely changed, which is shown to the audience by John Proctor’s idea of him and Abigail Williams sliding in to their pit which leads the audience to think of snakes whom are evil thus linking to John Proctor’s strong religious beliefs. John Proctor also declares, “that goodness will not die for me” which shows the audience the passion and love he has for his wife as he will not let her be sacrificed for his sins. Due to this mix of John Proctor’s guilt, anger and passion he is able to understand people’s true characters and he can make his sacrifice because he is fighting for his friends and family against injustice, which also shows his loyalty and because he is now able to see the good and evil in people, “we are only what we always were, but naked now.”
In Act 3, John Proctor enters the court in Salem with evidence to prove his wife and his friend’s wives innocence. He is met by Danforth, Parris, Cheever a clerk of the court and Hathorne. As Proctor tries to put his case forward he is undermined and doubted even though in the production I saw John Proctor was on an equal level to the judges, which represented an equal amount of power. During the course of this Act Abigail Williams is brought in to the room and for the first time in front of John Proctor, she manipulates the court. At seeing this Proctor reaches breaking point and in a moment of rage, “How do you call Heaven! Whore! Whore!” he admits his sin even though he is aware of the punishment because he is trying to save his wife and friends. Proctor also wishes that Francis Nurse, Rebecca Nurse’s husband, “had some evil in him that he might know him.” By this point in the Act John Proctor is now on a lower level to the judges and Abigail Williams, which shows the audience the shift in power to Abigail Williams even though the court is beginning to doubt the girls. Throughout Act 3 the audience is lead to believe that John Proctor can not make his sacrifice because the audience is made and allowed to doubt him due to his attitude and the words he uses, especially when he says, “I say - I say - God is dead!” He does this because he feels that God is not saving the innocent, He is letting evil win and people like Rebecca Nurse die. Salem society now believes that John Proctor is evil and that he lured Abigail Williams in, but Proctor cares about his wife and Rebecca Nurse not himself.
In Act 4, Parris, Hathorne and Danforth are beginning to believe certain members of the condemned are innocent but they are not willing to lose face and admit their mistake so the condemned will hang anyway. Reverend Hale is trying to convince the condemned to confess to witchcraft because he knows that if they turn back to God they might not hang. Due to Parris’ own guilt he feels that Proctor will confess if he sees Elizabeth, his wife. Hale agrees with Parris, as he wants Proctor to lie and confess to witchcraft because he knows that he is innocent.
When Elizabeth Proctor and John Proctor meet again after three months they are shown to the audience alone on stage to allow the audience to see the changes which have taken place within both characters and to compare their relationship to past Acts. In Act 4 everything that has happened within their relationship has been forgiven and Elizabeth Proctor now realises that it was not Proctor’s entire fault and that she considers herself to be too plain for any honest love to come to her. Elizabeth Proctor has shown John Proctor that no one judges him harder than himself, which caused him to have so much guilt and so many demons. Because of the demons inside of him, Proctor thinks he is evil and believes he can slide in to his pit with Abigail Williams as she is evil. John Proctor is willing to lie and confess because he wants his life. He also feels that lying is evil and he believes himself to be evil, he is willing to confess because he considers himself ‘not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang!’ As Proctor confesses he is prepared to give up everything including his soul, as giving up his soul only affects him but he is not willing to sign his name to his confession because he knows that if he signs his name, he is signing away his past, present and his family’s future. John Proctor also realises that by signing his name he will be blackening his friends names and he can not do that, “I have three children, how may I teach them to walk like men in the world and I sold my friends.” So at the end of the play John Proctor can make his individual sacrifice because he can finally see some goodness in himself and Elizabeth Proctor knows this so she allows him to go.
Although there are many doubts and the majority of the evidence at the end of Act 4 makes and allows the audience to believe that John Proctor is unable to make his individual sacrifice, Proctor is able and goes to his death because he is finally able to see some goodness in himself. He realises this because he can not blacken his friend’s names by signing his confession and he can not sign away his name because he knows that in his life he can only have one name and he can never have another one. Another reason why he goes to make his individual sacrifice is because he will not save himself at the cost of his friends and he feels that if he dies now he will die an honest man as he has confessed his sins, which is better than dying later as a liar. By supporting the truth and dying for it John Proctor breaks Danforth’s power and the power of theocracy over Salem and it’s society.
