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

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