A wife, a husband and a young servant with a dirty little secret with someone you wouldn’t expect; a secret love affair with the husband- John Procter- all behind the wife’s- Elizabeth Procter- back. John Procter and Abigail Williams have been hiding their complex, secretive and dangerous relationship from the whole town since Abigail worked as a servant in the Procter household.
John Procter and Abigail Williams relationship is extremely complex first and foremost. The relationship between these two dynamic characters goes much farther than just two people having a simple affair, partially because affairs are never simple. Another reason being that john Procter has a wife- Elizabeth Procter- and Abigail Williams is only an adolescent. Their affair all started when Abigail was working at the Procter household as a servant. John proctors lust for Abigail became too much and so they began their sordid affair. Somehow, Procter’s wife found out about their affair and she fired Abigail Williams. Now, Abigail Williams and john Procter meet again in the bedroom of Betty Parris where she lay in a coma like state since she was found dancing with other girls her age and Tituba, a black servant. Now, Procter is trying to let go of the relationship to save himself, but Abigail refuses to let it go, demanding that he still has feelings for her and he still sill com. Later, Abigail says, “I have a sense for heat, john, and yours has drawn me to my window, and I have seen you looking up, burning in your loneliness. Do you tell me you’ve never looked up at my window?” (Miller 21)!” And thus, he has looked up, which makes him quite unable to defend himself making the situation only more difficult. Procter says at one point, “Abby by 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 mind. We never touched Abby” (Miller 22) causing Abigail to later exclaim, “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men! And now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet” (Miller 22)
The Essay on John Proctor Abigail Elizabeth Affair
Abigail Williams portrays Miller's affair with the inner voice and guilt. Arthur Miller saw guilt as a habit of mind capable of being over come. It is seen in Abigail who exhausts her conscience to get herself out of trouble by accusing Tit uba, and then to seek revenge on the adults who make her life miserable. Abigail Williams seeks the devotion of John Proctor who was a very proud man, who was ...
The Williams-miller relationship is also quite secretive because of its nature as an affair and in that time, 1692, that sort of relationship was looked down upon unreservedly. Because their relationship is an affair, they cannot see each other in the way they want to very often and especially not while other people are around. They are not married to each other which make their relationship very wrong in that community and time- more so wrong than it would be now. John Procter understands that their secret must be kept, but finished, but Abigail doesn’t care that they were caught once and could be caught again. She just wants their relationship back and says, “Oh, I marvel, how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be-” (miller 22) Abigail then comes to claim that Elizabeth, john’s wife, is “Blackening me (her) name in the village!” She is telling lies about me (her)!” (Miller 22) but he just gets angry at himself because it’s true, and threatens to whip her for talking about his wife that way.
The relationship between john Procter and Abigail Williams is dangerous mainly for a few reasons. The first reason is that because Abigail Williams is extremely manipulative and vindictive. Abigail tries to get Procter to pity her saying, “You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet! John, pity me, pity me!” (Miller 22).
Abigail wants Procter to pity and give her what she wants, regardless that his wife caught them once and can catch them again. Another reason their relationship is dangerous is that if John Procter were to prosecute against Abigail Williams saying that she is in fact a witch, Abigail Williams could very easily tell the entire town that she and Procter have been having an affair to get revenge on him. It wouldn’t really affect her too much, but on the contrary, it would ruin his reputation in the town and his relationship with his wife. Later in Act I, Abigail is being “interrogated” by Reverend Hale and she claims “I never sold myself! I’m a good girl! I’m a proper girl!” (Miller 40) in this statement, Abigail is defending herself that she never sold herself to the devil. If Hale were to find out about her affair with Procter, he might be more apt to assume she did sell herself. So that is dangerous to her life because if they assume that she did in fact sell herself to the devil, she will be hung for sure.
The Essay on John William Gardner Rasberry 1992
John William Gardner John William Gardner was born in 1912. He is a noted author; a former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare; a former U. S. Marine Corps intelligence officer; and among many additional accomplishments is currently a professor of public service at Stanford University. Gardner started his career as a psychology professor at Mt. Holyoke colleges. He then served his stint ...
And so, now you can see why the relationship between John Procter and Abigail Williams is so very complex, secretive and dangerous.
