Betraying your Conscious
...air with a younger women named Abigail Williams. His wife, Elizabeth, knew about the affair but chose to put it behind her. Proctor makes clear to Abigail that what happened between them meant nothing and to simply move on. However, Abigail would not forget about it and would stop at nothing to keep John away from Elizabeth. In order to come between Proctor and Elizabeth, Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft. Proctor knows that it is just a set up and so does Elizabeth, yet he refuses to confess his sins in front of everyone. With his wife in jail, Proctor feels tremendous guilt. Though by not confessing he is being selfish he is more importantly denying his conscience because he knows what he is doing is morally wrong. A theme I found that runs endlessly in this play is reputation. Anything considered public or private in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 were considered the same. Everybody knew everything about everyone. Proctor’s fear of confessing to his affair with Abigail has to do with how his reputation would become in Salem afterwards. Regardless of that, we find later in the play that he was no longer acting selfish and confesses. But in the end in order to save his family’s name he chooses to die rather than exploit his family na...