o obvious to us.And so Hale, the intellectual with the soft heart, misses his chance to save the lives of innocent people. But maybe some of them are not so innocent. Before he leaves, Hale tells an enraged John Proctor:...I cannot think God be provoked so grandly by such a petty cause.... Man, we must look to cause proportionate. Were there murder done, perhaps, and never brought to light? Abomination? Some secret blasphemy that stinks to Heaven? Think on cause, man, and let you help me to discover it. For there's your way, believe it, there is your only way, when such confusion strikes upon the world... think on your village and what may have drawn from heaven such thundering wrath upon you all.It's the only thing he can think of to explain what's going on: someone is hiding a sin so disgusting it has called down God's punishment on the whole community. These words strike straight into John Proctor's heart.^^^^^^^^^^THE CRUCIBLE: ACT II, SCENE 7Mary Warren is now Proctor's only home to save Elizabeth. He will do anything; he will sacrifice Mary and himself, but "that goodness will not die for me!"There is something almost demonic in the violence of Proctor's rage. Earlier he had demanded of Hale:Is the accuser always holy now? Were they born this morning as clean as God's fingers? I'll tell you what's walking Salem--vengeance is walking Salem.... I'll not give my wife to vengeance!Now he goes to Salem to accuse, to "charge a cold and cruel murder on Abigail." Are his motivations "holy"? Is there no vengeance in his heart? He seems almost to look forward to his own destruction, as long as he can bring Abigail down with him: "...her saintliness is done with. We will slide together into our pit."But maybe he sees this as a chance finally to get the punishment he feels he deserves for his sin of adultery; a punishment Elizabeth denied him by keeping his secret. If this is the case, it could be relief he's expressing when he says,Peace. It...
