When Danforth asks Proctor if he knows that he is accusing Abigail of the murder of the innocent people that have already been hanged Proctor says he does. Here we see Danforth’s weak spot for Abigail being so young, as he says incredulously “This child would murder your wife?” To which Proctor replies “It is not a child” showing his deep contempt and loathing of Abigail at the moment. He proceeds to tell the court of how she has been twice thrown out of the meeting house for laughing during prayer.
Parris defends Abigail and says she was under the influence of Tituba and is now always solemn in prayers. Still the revelation that Abigail may not be as clean cut and believable as she first seemed has hit Danforth, he studies Abigail for a moment before allowing Proctor to continue with his accusations.
Proctor then tells of the girls dancing in the woods and Mary is asked to back his accusation but she sees Abigail glaring at her and she loses her nerve again.
Hathorne asks Mary again if she was pretending that spirits choked her and tried to kill her and she still says it was pretence. This is evidently what Hathorne wanted as the stage directions he gleams with victory. His victory becomes apparent when he asks Mary to make herself faint if she is not being afflicted by any spirits as she claims to have done before.
She tells Proctor that she can’t do it there and then which alarms him because it would be the best proof that it was all made up.
She says that she needs to have a sense of it. She doesn’t go into any more detail but by that I think that she means that the girls got themselves worked up into such frenzy whilst they were pretending to see spirits that they really did think there wee spirits around them and could make themselves faint and go cold with the sheer hysteria that they conjured amongst themselves.
Danforth once again asks Abigail flatly whether the spirits she saw could have been an illusion only. To this she puts her performance up a notch “I have been hurt, Mr Danforth; I have seen my blood runnin’ out! I have been near to murdered every day because I done my duty pointing out the Devil’s people – and this is my reward? To be mistrusted, denied, questioned like a -” At this point Danforth interrupts as he has once again been touched by her words and is weakening to her. She then turns an open threat on him that should he not believe her then she may call him a witch. Half way through this threat she cries out that she feels a cold wind. She looks at Mary and immediately Mary gets her idea and sobs. “Abby, don’t do that!” Danforth who has been affected again by Abigail’s strong words believes that Abigail and the other girls really can feel a cold wind as their skin is cold and they shiver most convincingly.
The audience will be able to feel the tension building at this point as Abigail is shouting at Mary to stop sending her spirit out, Danforth is shouting at Mary to stop it and asking Abigail what she sees, Mary is sobbing and screaming at Abigail to stop pretending and as a chorus the girls are following Abigail’s example shouting and shivering. This carries on for a while until the tension reaches a peak and then John Proctor launched himself at Abigail, pulling her up by her hair and roaring above the cries of Danforth and Herrick to release her “How do you call heaven! Whore! Whore!”
This is one of the most crucial points in the play and the audience will be stunned as Proctor has now confessed to the one thing he is most ashamed of, the fact that he slept with Abigail. In that one line he has now sacrificed his name and reputation in the community. He will be charged with lechery as it is against one of the Ten Commandments from God ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’ and therefore was considered a crime in those times.
He is making a last desperate effort, he can see that Danforth will never believe Mary now and it is likely that Mary will be accused of witchcraft so he confesses his sin in the hope that Abigail’s words will be mistrusted and rejected from the court as lies and therefore all accused witches would be freed including Mary and Proctor’s wife. By doing this though he is forfeiting his place in society and even if he doesn’t end up in jail he, like Abigail, may be shunned by the community and even driven out of Salem by the people.
The people in the courtroom are obviously also stunned; Danforth is actually dumbfounded Abigail says it is a lie, as she has everything else Mary and Proctor have accused her of. We now hear Francis speak and he clearly can’t believe that John is a lecher. Danforth still dumbfounded asks for a time and a place. Proctor now seems to realise the effect of what he has just said as his voice begins to break and he struggles to speak.
He however still manages to snub Abigail as he says that it was in the proper place, where his beasts are bedded. He tells Danforth everything, but with much difficulty because he is struggling to speak as emotion is taking over him. Danforth is at this point horrified and the audience will be feeling some pity for proctor and feel respect for him to have told the court this and given up his name and reputation to save his wife. Danforth asks Abigail if she denies the accusation.
She remains very mature and indignant, almost as an adult might and refuses to comment simply saying that if she had to confirm or deny such an allegation then she would leave the court and never come back. This shows some of Abigail’s true hardness. She does not seem as if she will break down, showing her immensely strong character but she obviously feels boxed in and quite unsure as she answers very tightly and defensively.
She proceeds to try and manipulate Danforth back into her power by accusing him of giving her dirty looks but when he doesn’t melt to her she makes for the door. This shows that she now thinks that she is losing and as she doesn’t seem used to losing she tries to bail out. She knows she has lost the trust of Danforth at least for the moment. However she is stopped from leaving and she is furious. She is made to go back to Danforth where he seems to have composed himself slightly and he tells Mr Parris to bring out goodwife Proctor to confirm or deny any truth in the allegation.
Remember! This is just a sample.
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