Essay Sample on John Proctor's Death in The Crucible

The question of who killed John Proctor is a tricky one to answer. The reason is that John was killed by a couple of different things that lead up to his death. His death was unnecessary and could’ve been avoided if it weren't for these few people. The people that caused these things to happen are Abby, Judge Danforth, Marry Warren. 

I chose Abby because she is the main cause of this whole witchcraft thing in Salem. She faked doing witchcraft in the woods and when she was asked about it, she threw the whole town under the bus saying that she saw them performing witchcraft. Abby even threw Elizabeth's name in there because Abby doesn't like her. Abby and John had an affair when she worked for him. John doesn’t know anything about this until Reverend Hale comes to their house to see if there is any witchcraft. He couldn't find any signs but two officers came looking for a doll. Abby saw Marry Warren make the doll and put a needle in the chest. So Abby stabbed herself in the stomach with a needle and said it was Goody Proctor who did it. So officers find the doll and arrest Elizabeth and take her to jail while she waits to go to court. This causes John to go into court and get into a big thing with how Abby is faking all of this. He even tells them about the affair but this wasn't enough. Abby runs away and leaves the town to kill all these people including John who gets hung. 

I chose judge Danforth because he is the one who convicted everyone of witchcraft. Danforth believes everything Abby says and does not question it once which is not something you should be doing as a judge. Danforth was so easily convinced that there were witches in Salem. Danforth didn’t just kill one person. Judge Danforth had no intention of letting them go free without them confessing. Danforth was so convinced because Abby had been acting like she was being attacked by spirits. Abby would trick Danforth into thinking she had been hexed by whoever was in the courtroom. He had so many people killed that he couldn't go back and set them free. So he did try to get John to confess and this would’ve saved his life but John chose to not confess. John Proctor wanted to protect his name for his kids. He didn't want his name ruined from a rumor that wasn't even true. 

Mary Warren might’ve been the person who could’ve saved him but she decided not to. As a last stand in court John told the court about  him and Abby’s affair but Elizabeth was brought in as a witness and she said John didn't do it. After Mary saw that the plan had failed she had to choose in the courtroom whose side to be on Abby or John and she chose Abby. She told the court that John had a book of the devil and had been making her write her name in it. This caused John to realize that he will die because of this. Mary and the girls acted as if John was controlling them with witchcraft. Mary could’ve chosen to take the blame for being a witch but she chose to save her own life. She also made the doll that had gotten Elizabeth arrested and she never admitted that it was hers. Mary was supposed to do this in court but in the end she never did. Mary was the very last person to put evidence that John was involved in witchcraft. Mary watched John's hanging and didn't try to stop it. 

In conclusion the reason I chose Abigail was that she is the reason everyone in Salem was hung for witchcraft. She lied about the witchcraft in the woods and lied about who she saw doing witchcraft. Abby ran away from Salem out of guilt for killing John because her motive for doing it was so she could be with john. I chose Judge Danforth for being the one to give the executive order to kill john. Danforth was deceived very easily by Abby and he couldn't see through her lies. So he sentenced John Proctor to hang after he refused to have his confession hung on the church for everyone to see. The last person was Mary Warren. Mary had brought the doll to John's house and this gave the judges evidence to convict Elizabeth. This made John mad and then he called out Abby for the affair and this didn't work. So Mary Warren chose to be on Abby's side and she pretended that John had deceived her into doing witchcraft. All of these events lead up to John Proctor's death.