finally succumbs to Abigail’s hypnosis and accuses John Proctor of forcing her to lie. Clearly, the battle that Mary Warren faces from the very beginning is enormous. She must deal with the decision of life and death. She has the choice to tell the truth and die, or to lie and live. This decision is similar to the torturous internal conflict that John Proctor suffers throughout the play. John Proctor, like Mary Warren, also faces inner turmoil. A farmer and village commoner in Salem, John commits adultery with Abigail and has absolutely no intentions of joining the witch trial unless his pregnant wife should also become involved. This unwillingness in John to join the court proceedings shows when his wife tries to convince him to go to the court and let them know Abigail is a fraud. He loftily tells her, “I’ll think on it” (53). After his wife becomes involved, John cannot accept the fact that she may die for his sin of adultery so that Abigail may be pacified. John is an upright and dignified man and because of these characteristics, he believes at first he cannot hang and die a martyr for his God when he has this sin of adultery looming over him every waking moment. John later says to Elizabeth when they discuss what he is going to do about the accusations made against him that, “My honesty is broke, Elizabeth; I am no good man. Nothing’s spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten long before” (136). John finally reaches the critical decision to confess to witch craft and live, rather than die for something he has not done. Even though, John confesses, he does not allow Danforth to officially document it. When Danforth asks him why, John cries, “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life… How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (143). John feels strongly about having a good name and not dying with a soiled...
