I suggest that the main
conflict in this play is the inner conflict of John Proctor. As a result of his extramarital
affair with Abigail Williams, he "has come to regard himself as a kind of fraud." To
the world, he presents the upstanding Christian, farmer, and citizen, but he knows that he has
broken some of the most fundamental rules of Christian doctrineinjunctions against lying and
adultery. His continued guilt and frustration at his wife for her perceived judgment of him
clearly continues to plague him. He tells her, "Let you look sometimes for the goodness in
me, and judge me not." She replies, "The magistrate sits in your heart that judges
you."
It is clear that she is right, as, in the final act, when John has
decided not to confess to a crime he did not commit in order to save his
life, he says, "You have made your magic now, for now I do think I see some shred of
goodness in John Proctor." He had lost sight of his own goodness, his own value, and he
struggled all along to regain it; in the end, he finally does.
Ultimately,
I'm not sure that John and Elizabeth Proctor really are in conflict. She is somewhat distrustful
of him since his affair, and he is a bit embittered by her continued distrust, but they do love
one another and seem to be trying to work through the challenges to their marriage. I think the
conflict between Elizabeth and Abigail is of more significance in the play because Abigail wants
John to herself so badly that she is willing to see Elizabeth hanged to accomplish
it.
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