It’s All Proctor’s Fault
Adultery is one of the greatest sins that can be committed by a man. In the play “The Crucible” which takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692, one man commits the terrible sin of adultery, which leads the rest of the play to a tragic descent into chaos. This man is John Proctor. He has an affair with Abigail Williams behind his wife’s back. This original sin in the play causes many others. Proctor then has a chance to fix the situation by confessing to this sin at the right time, but fails to do this. John Proctor is most to blame for all of the events in Salem because he commits the initial sin that starts a chain of evil, he is the one that unleashes the sinister being that is Abigail Williams on the rest on Salem, and he fails to confess this sin at the right moment.
If it were not for Proctor’s affair with Abigail the plot of the entire play would not have taken place. If this affair did not happen then John’s wife, Elizabeth would not have kicked Abigail out of the house and she would not have spread rumors about her. Thus, Abigail would not be the enraged, infatuated, psychotic, and purely evil character she is throughout the play. If Abigail were not kicked out of the house then she would not seek revenge on Elizabeth through witchcraft. There would be no dancing or drinking of potions in the woods. Parris would not have discovered them, and Hale would not even need to enter the play. Without the original sin of adultery, witchcraft hysteria does not break out in Salem.
It could be argued that it takes two people to commit adultery, and that Abigail is just as much to blame as Proctor, however this is not the case. Abigail’s evil was created, sustained, and unleashed by Proctor through his sin of adultery. Abigail was a mere servant in Proctor’s house, while Proctor was the man of the house, and clearly a more respected and revered individual in the town. Proctor and Abigail both committed the sin together, but Proctor is more to blame because he is expected by other citizens in Salem to be a better person. This can be seen when Proctor finally confesses his sin of adultery, the court questions him and is shocked, but they do not blame Abigail nearly as much as they blame him. Proctor is the one that inspires Abigail to become the evil character that she is. This is seen when she discusses their relationship: “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men!” (Miller 24). After their affair Abigail claims she realizes that Salem is fake. She was raised all her life in an environment ruled by her religion. Now that she sees a man that sins, she makes a self-realization that it is all pretend, and that everyone in the town is a hypocrite. This is not true; it is only Proctor who is the sinning hypocrite. John Proctor is the one that puts this idea in her head, and she then releases her vengeful wrath upon the town. Not only did Proctor instill this feeling in Abigail, but also he sustained it in her mind by not confessing his sin.
Proctor had the opportunity to confess to his sin much earlier then he actually did confess. Proctor did not want to confess because he did not want to ruin his name or hurt his own pride. This character flaw leads to the death of many innocent people. Had the court known this information much earlier they would have scrutinized Abigail’s accusations more. All because Proctor does not want to hurt his own pride, innocent people had to die. Not only did Proctor make the initial mistake of committing adultery, but when he has another chance to set the situation right by confessing, he passes up that opportunity until it is too late, all for the sake of his own pride.
If the blame was to be pinned on one person in “The Crucible” it should be Proctor. This is because he commits the initial sin of adultery that begins the series of evil events, he is the one that unleashes the pure evil in Abigail Williams on the rest on Salem, and he fails to confess this sin at the right moment. When Proctor has his affair with Abigail he instills in her the hatred she had for Salem. After the affair, she believes the rest of the town is full of hypocrites, Lastly, Proctor could have confessed at any time to the whole town what happened, but he could not because of his self-pride. He made two crucial decisions that led to the events in Salem. In either of which he could have made the right decision, and the events would have turned out better. Proctor tries to live off his own motto from the Bible: “Do that which is good, and no harm shall come to thee” (95). This motto fails him, though, because he has a flawed character. He himself even realizes at the end that he is to blame: “My honesty is broke, Elizabeth; I am no good man. Nothing’s spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten wrong before” (136). Proctor says this just as he is about the sign the confession. He says that he has sinned long a go, alluding to the adultery, and so he might as well sin now. This just shows how flawed of a character he is, and if it was not for his poor decisions and failure to comply with those bad decisions, the events of the play could have turned out better.
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