Proctor is a man in his own world; two women of very different personalities at his peril but potentially this could be the recipe for disaster. He has his hard working and honest wife Elizabeth at home, but she does not offer him the sexual needs and energy of life that young Abigail does. Abigail is a girl who has fallen for Proctor and will do anything to get her man. This is what Proctor wants as Abigail’s character is one of a young women who will cater for him and provide everything he wants but morally, she is broken.
Members of the audience, most likely of the male sex will empathise with Proctor as they will understand the temptation that Proctor is going through. Proctor means no harm but the pull of Abigail is just too hard to resist. In this part of history in Salem this would be totally unacceptable as it was an extremely religious community. As you can see Proctor is skating on thin ice and sooner or later these two relationships could bring significant consequences.
Act one is a great way to show us Proctor’s real character. It shows us a great deal about him in such a short space of time. Miller writes to make our own judgement of Proctor. ‘What’s this mischief here?’ shows us an audience that Proctor does not like to admit to his own mistakes and will do anything to forget about his and Abigail’s long term affair. It could also be looked at in a different way. Proctor could be asking what has been happening in Salem lately as he had not been off his farm for 7 months. This indicates to us that Proctor is trying his utmost to forget about Abigail as he is trying to regain loyalty for his wife, Elizabeth. Abigail replies to this ‘nervously’ this shows that Abigail has a certain degree of respect for Proctor as she most likely thinks that he will be able to catch her out. This shows us as an audience that Proctor is a man who Is well respected and is a natural leader who is held in high regard by his community. Many people in the audience will...