octor is being coerced by his wife to become involved, it is not his free and open decision. Indirect characterization can be surmised in the aforesaid situation that Elizabeth is very influential upon Proctors character. This demonstrates that “Proctor’s sense of guilt is central to any understanding of him as a dramatic character” (Bloom; 26).Before Proctor is forced to take the next step, Reverend Hale arrives and then, Herrick with a warrant for Elizabeth’s arrest. In anger over his wife’s conviction and arrest, Proctor accuses Hale of being a “Pontius Pilate”(1127) and later tells him that he is a coward by saying: “though you be ordained in God’s own tears, you are a coward now!”(1128). What Proctor fails to see is that he too has been acting as a Pontius Pilate and as a coward because he has been attempting to escape any type of involvement. These events force an involvement upon John Proctor, since the trials he has tried to ignore what have now invaded his private haven. His first step is still to avoid commitment. Proctor still refuses to go into the court and accuse Abigail openly, but instead tries to coerce Mary to go to the court. When reminded that Abigail will accuse him of lechery, however, he realizes how wicked Abigail is, and finally resolves to go with Mary Warren to the court where he takes his final step and denounces Abigail as a whore. As a result of his involvement, John finds himself accused of being a witch. After being tried and condemned to death, John refuses to confess because of his pride and stubbornness. However, he does not want to die for such an absurd reason. He is therefore faced with the predicament of being completely against the other condemned witches, and by his confession, becoming partly responsible for the deaths of his fellow prisoners. The other route open to him is to align himself completely with the condemned witches....
