First Essay

“Who is responsible, who is guilty?” That is the key question in any trial, including the Salem witch trials. When analyzing this play, one must come to the conclusion that the person most responsible for the Salem witch trials is, John Proctor. John Proctor gave Abigail Williams, the key witness to the case, the incentive to make accusations leading to the Salem witch trials. Proctor is at fault because he committed lechery with Abigail Williams and failed to notify the community of his adulterous actions at the appropriate time.
John Proctor’s affair with Abigail Williams is the seed of these problems. From this small crime of lechery a larger problem grows becoming the incentive for Abigail Williams to convict multiple people of witchcraft, a few of whom were hanged due to her accusations. John Proctor’s affair with Abigail planted a seed of infatuation, a deep infatuation for John Proctor that can be seen through her dialogue with him, “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! […] John, pity me, pity me!” (Miller 24). This infatuation for John Proctor is the root of Abigail’s jealousy of Elizabeth after Elizabeth kicked her out for having an affair with her husband. This jealousy manifests itself into her passion to lead the inquisition for the witches in Salem. This passion is not a true passion to find witches but a visage for her underlying motives of trying to wreak havoc against those she hates, which includes Elizabeth Proctor. Thus by committing adultery with Abigail, John Proctor is the source of Salem’s problems.
After committing adultery John Proctor fails to tell anybody of his wrong doing. His failure to tell anyone about committing adultery from the beginning gave time for Abigail’s jealousy of Elizabeth Proctor to slowly grow. This jealousy was nurtured by her resentment for Elizabeth: “Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be […] blackening my name in the village!” (23). This resentment is what drives her to become a leader of the witch hunts during the Salem witch trials because it gave her the power to accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft and try to take her place as John Proctor’s wife.
John Proctor withheld information that he had an affair with Abigail for most of the book because he was afraid to discredit himself, a theme in the story. John Proctor admitted to withholding information later in the story when he tries to show that Abigail was not a witness to witchcraft but a jealous girl: “For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed […] God damns our kind especially” (120). But by delaying his admission to his affair, everyone lacked the knowledge of Abigail’s bad intentions prior to the trials, which could have prevented all of the hangings. When Abigail begins accusing people of witchcraft with faulty evidence, the community does not discard her accusations because they do not know about her underlying jealousy that drives her. Thus by withholding information that could have prevented the hangings, John Proctor is again at fault as the cause of the Salem witch trials. When analyzing the play, a question arises: if Abigail is the person making all of the accusations is she not the person most at fault?
Abigail is the person making the accusations but her motive for her accusations comes from John Proctor. He is the underlying cause for Abigail to begin accusing people of witchcraft. She only makes these accusations out of her infatuation for John Proctor due to the affair he had with her: “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart!” (24). He is the reason why Abigail has taken such a prominent role in the Salem witch trial and that is why he is more to blame for the trials.
Out of all the characters in the play, John Proctor is at fault the most for the Salem witch trials. He was the one who had the affair with Abigail which planted the seeds of infatuation. He was also the one that refrained from telling the community that he had an affair with her, information that could have ended the trials and prevented hangings. He is the character to blame the most: “I am not that man. My honesty is broke. I am no good man” (136).