John Proctor's Adultery: Catalyst of the Witch Hunt

One of the major conflicts in The Crucible is the fact that John Proctor committed adultery. By dissecting his affair with Abigail Williams it is evident that the witch hunt would have never happened. Did Abigail seductively entice John and lure him to stray or did he do the seducing? Abigail wanted John as her husband and she wanted him so bad she took down a town in the process.
In puritan society men were revered and respected where woman were second class citizens. When the town congregated for church the men sat on one side and the women sat on the other and were not allowed to talk while in church. With this information in mind it is easy to see how Abigail must have felt while working in the Proctor household and can be assumed since she was a young unmarried woman she was envious of the life she didn’t have and lusted for John. After Elizabeth learns of the affair she fires Abigail. When Abigail’s uncle confronts her on the rumor of the affair she states, “She hates me, uncle, she must, for I would not be her slave. It’s a bitter woman, a lying, cold, sniveling woman, and I will not work for such

a woman!” Elizabeth was sick and that was when Abigail saw a chance to seduce John Proctor. Even when Abigail knew the affair was over she used her tale of witches to persecute Elizabeth.
Elizabeth was a good woman and a good wife to John.

Her only fault was that she was insecure and found it hard to forgive John for the affair with Abigail. Towards the end of the play she confesses to John, “I counted myself so plain, so poorly made, no honest love could come to me!” It could be believed that she felt this way because John didn’t show her passion as he did Abigail. If John would have taught Elizabeth in the ways of passion and the excitement of wanting maybe he would not have had the affair with Abigail. Elizabeth could have filled his every desire if he would have taken the time to explore the nuances of love, lust and passion with his wife. John could not get his needs fulfilled while Elizabeth was sick, thus with Abigail taking over the responsibilities in the household she was able to snare John with her beauty and

sexuality.
We cannot excuse John for the lack of his self-control and for breaking his marriage vows. He was a weak man in many ways. He had no honor and no sense of duty to his sick wife, the puritan community nor his children. He does have guilt for what he has done and it is evident in his actions. At one point he says, “I mean to please you, Elizabeth.” By saying this he is telling Elizabeth that he is sorry and regrets his infidelity. John tries to make it up to Elizabeth in his actions.
He glances about the room as he comes toward the fireplace, then halts for an instant as he hears her singing. He continues on to the fireplace, leans the gun against the wall as he swings a pot out of the fire and smells it. Then he lifts out the ladle and tastes. He is not quite pleased. He reaches to a cupboard, takes a pinch of salt, and drops it into the pot. As he is tasting again, her footsteps are heard on the stair. He swings the pot into the fireplace and goes to a basin and washes his hands and face, Elizabeth enters.
Elizabeth asks him if he likes the stew and he replies, “It’s well seasoned.” He proceeds to make conversation with her. He tells her if the crops are good he will buy George Jacob’s heifer and asks her if that would please her. He suggests that she bring wild-flowers into the house to brighten it up and states, “It’s winter in here.” John could be suggesting to Elizabeth that she is frigid like the house and with the color of flowers in the house it would bring in the spring. We could interpret this passage as an example of John trying to show Elizabeth how she can brighten up the house and also her demeanor. John continues with suggesting, “On Sunday let you come with me, and we’ll walk the farm together; I never see such a load of flowers on the earth. With good feeling he goes and looks up at the sky through the open doorway. Lilacs have a purple smell. Lilac is the smell of nightfall, I think. Massachusetts is a beauty in the spring!” Here he is trying to romance her and bring life back into their marriage.
As Act II proceeds Elizabeth still has not come to terms with John’s infidelity. When Elizabeth is asking John to go to town and tell Ezekiel Cheever that Abigail is a fraud, she finds out that John did not tell her he had been alone with Abigail in her Uncle’s house when she told him no witchcraft had been involved. Elizabeth is upset and hurt that John kept this information from her and what little trust she was beginning to have for him vanishes. Finally John is tired of her doubts and states, “Spare me! You forget nothin’ and forgive nothin’. Learn charity, woman. I have gone tiptoe in this house all seven month since she is gone. I have not moved from there to there without I think to please you, and still an everlasting funeral marches round your heart. I cannot speak but I am doubted, every moment judged for lies, as though I come into a court when I come into this house!” As Elizabeth continues to verbally doubt John he grows tired of the accusations and says, “No more! I should have roared you down when first you told me your suspicion. But I wilted, and, like a Christian, I confessed. Confessed! Some dream I had must have mistaken you for God that day. But you’re not, you’re not, and let you remember it! Let you look sometimes for the goodness in me, and judge me not.”