Throughout the story, John expresses qualities of an honest man by defending his wife Elizabeth when she is accused of hurting Abigail. John defends Elizabeth” Herrick! Herrick don’t chain her” (page 177: Proctor) in many ways despite the hardship they have been going through with their marriage. With tension between the two because of John’s affair with Abigail, Elizabeth and John have been falling apart. However, in some divine way, John forfeits his good name when he tells the court of his affair. In doing so, John has lost what makes him honorable, but Elizabeth seeing this has brought new perspective upon her relationship with her husband. She forgave him. John doing the unimaginable to seek his wife’s forgiveness is a true example of a dynamic change throughout the story.
Although John changed with his honesty, he also was an upright, blunt-spoken man. With this quote, “How do you call Heaven! Whore! Whore! ” (Page 192: Proctor) John exhibits his personality and thought very bluntly towards Abigail because he knows what is right in this court case. In doing so, John brings the attention of this case to new and questioning points for Judge Danforth. However, these points soon became turned around with the compendious lies Abigail and the girls conspired about. Although John spoke his mind when it came to honesty about Elizabeth, he came to a point where he needed something big to make Danforth see the truth. John revealed his sin to the courts of Salem. By him releasing his secret, Judge Danforth opened light to