e eyes of the townsmen if his sin is revealed to them. Proctor does not attend Church because he does not like the minister in his town. It has nothing to do with his involvement in the religion. He would be banished from the community, as would his family, and his name would be destroyed. Proctor and Dimmesdale, despite having very similar personalities, were written about in extremely different time periods.The Crucible was written in the 1950s, at a time when many people were McCarthyists. McCarthyism was a belief that the United States should be purified of all people who were involved with Communism. Anyone who was suspected of being communistic could have been arrested. Miller wrote The Crucible at this time to show the American people the ignorance of their acts. The Americans in the 1950s were behaving almost exactly like the 17th century townspeople in The Crucible. Miller made his point by demonstrating to the Americans the absurdity of their actions using the ridiculous witch-hunts.One difference between Proctor and Dimmesdale is that while Proctors actions were purely lustful, Dimmesdale and Hester committed their sin because they were in love. At the time that Proctor had committed adultery, his wife had been sick. He had sex with Abigail Williams entirely out of lust. Hester had never loved her husband, so Dimmesdale was the only love of her life. Hester and Dimmesdale, despite their love for each other, cannot openly express their devotion to each other since Hester has a husband living back in England. While the mens reasons for committing their sins are different, neither can tell anyone about them. Despite the agony that both men must suffer because of their sins, the women with whom they sinned, do not feel any pain. Abigail is not troubled by her actions and neither is Hester. So, the consequences of the couples actions lie solely on the men. Therefore, both men have a tremendous responsibility upon...
