John Proctor

John Proctor is a local farmer who lives just outside of town. He is stern and harsh- tongued and hates hypocrisy. He initially was a sinful man who had an affair with Abigail. He was dishonest to Elizabeth and he had been felt guilty. Elizabeth hadn’t forgiven him easily. He hesitated to expose Abigail as a fraud because he worried that his secret which was to having an affair would be revealed. Because of the affair he admitted he was a witch. He decided against the admission because it would dishonor him and stain not just his public reputation, but also his soul.
In Act1, John Proctor displayed his guilt about having an affair with Abigail Williams, a young girl of seventeen. Proctor convinced himself he was a sinful man that had done wrong and to have respect for himself once again, he must break off the relationship with Abigail. When Abigail mentioned to Proctor the relationship she and he once had. He said to her, "No, no, Abby. That's done with," and, "Abby, you'll put it out of mind. I'll not be comin' for you more." Even when Abigail tried to persuade Proctor to admit his love for her, he still denied it and claimed he had no love for her any longer. She said to Page 2 him, "I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I came near! Or did I dream that?” In all of Abigail's persuasion to try to get him to admit his love for her, Proctor replied, "Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time; but I will cut off my hand before I'll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of your mind. We never touched, Abby." Proctor said to Abigail that they never touched was his way of trying to get through to her that the relationship between the both of them had to end here. In Proctor's mind, saying to Abigail that was the end of their affair gave him the closure that he needed to truly forget what he and Abigail had.
The affair between Proctor and Abigail also had made his love for Elizabeth grow stronger.