Adultery: a possible cause of Salem Trials? Could Proctor & Abigail's adultery be responsible for some acts that happened during the prosecutions in the Salem witchtrials? One might say not, while another could say it plays a great part in the story. John Proctor’s past adultery with Abigail Williams could be considered partially responsible for John Proctor and Elizabeth Proctor being accused of being witches in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”. “The Crucible” is a …showed first 75 words of 855 total…

…showed last 75 words of 855 total…reason to accuse Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft. Then, if Elizabeth was hanged, she hoped she could take her place in Proctor’s life. Not everything went the way Abigail had planned it and she feared that in Salem the same thing would happen as occurred in Andover, where the people overthrew the court, and did not believe in witchcraft. If this would happen, she would be punished and she certainly would not go to Heaven.