A Guilty Conscience
...and finally begins to push Abigail away when they speak. He wants to get his life back and not have to worry about having anything else to do with the young, Abigail Williams, which he once had a lust for. Throughout the story, the struggle with John Proctor and his guilt, grows larger and larger. It also gets harder because he is standing back watching Abigail manipulating everyone and he feels that he can not do anything about it, even though he knows what the truth really is. With the confession that John has in his heart, that Abigail spoke of, he knows that something has to be done for all of the madness to come to an end. Finally, realizing he has lost the trust of his wife and her respect, he decides to relieve himself by going into court and telling them what happened between himself and Abigail and what she told him in their last meeting (Adams). This takes a very large weight off of John and he is relieved that he finally told what was going on. John's plan of helping the towns people, falls through however, and the court thinks that he is a crazy man. They believe nothing he says, except for Reverend Hale. He is one of the only ones that puts his trust in John Proctor. John tells the court that his wife, Elizabeth, never lies and that they can bring her in to tell them what really happened with himself and Abigail. The court brings her in and asks her why she let Abigail go from her home. Elizabeth does not mention the real reason why she decided to let Abigail go and the court takes this as Elizabeth is lying. In fact, Elizabeth did not want to get John into trouble and make him have a bad name, so she did not tell the court the whole truth. Thus, begins the end of John Proctor. After Elizabeth's confession that her husband had not committed adultery, when in fact he had, it puts guilt upon her. She now knows that her husband will be sent to hang. This is a guilt that stays with Elizabeth, even when John comes and talks to her. He decides that he must be punished for what he done and they finally agree that if that is what he feels he must do, then that is what he needs, to clear his conscience. Another role that guilt plays in "The Crucible" is with Abigail Williams. However, Abigail feels no remorse, what so ever for what she is doing to the people of Salem. If she isn't happy, no one will be. After the affair with John Proctor, Abigail, will not give up, and will go to any measure to get John to love her, and to get rid of Elizabeth, so that her, herself, c...