Abigail's lies caused hysteria to fly through the town, the head of the court believed, a 17-year-old over the rest of the people. She knew they were so afraid of the devil and witchcraft that they believed whatever she'd say. But, why condemn Elizabeth Proctor's life? Abigail was the Proctor family's maid for some time, over that time she became very fond of John Proctor. When Elizabeth found out about this affair, she fired Abigail. John swore to never touch Abigail again, as John says in Act One “Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut my hand before I ever reach for you again.”. This angered her; she felt if Elizabeth was out of the way he’d want to be with her. John saw the woman, Abigail, was not the child everyone pitied. He says in Act Three “How do you call Heaven? Whore! I am a snob! Whore!”. John said this in front of the court outing himself of his adultery, he knew this would look bad on his reputation but he did it to save his wife. The courtroom was still fouled by Abigail's charm and made up "what if” scenarios for all evidence. Luckily, by a miracle Elizabeth was pregnant, this would save her some time before being condemned to …show more content…
She knew this would catch up to her, so she decided to flee, cowardly. One morning Reverend Hale was returning to bring Rebecca Nurse to God, during this time Reverend Parris discovers his niece had left town. In Act Four he tells Governor Danforth, “Excellent, I think they are aboard a ship. My daughter tells me how she heard them speaking of ships last week, and tonight I discover– my strongbox is broken into.”. The Governor, shocked by this information, believes Reverend Parris is brainless. After Abigail's disappearance, they continue to hang those accused of witchcraft, including John Proctor. Abigail not being able to handle the mess she created felt and let the others pay her debt. There is word given later in the play that Abigail started a new life in a different town. In the play, John expresses great honor to his wife and the people of the town. He was willing to hang, then let his name be placed in the church and the people lose all hope. So some may claim he had the greatest character development, but I disagree. This is because John was already a man of high nobility, as said in Act**** Reverend Parris says***. He was already a man of high