John Proctor in Act II

In Act II, readers get to see more of Elizabeth and John Proctor. They are sitting at their dinner table, while they discuss the people accused of being witches. John tells Elizabeth that Abigail is behind all these accusations. Elizabeth wants John to tell the court that his is all a scam. However Proctor cannot tell them because Abigail told him this, while they were alone. This cause Elizabeth to lose all faith in Proctor. But Proctor does not want Elizabeth to judge him because he feels as though his house is a courtroom. This scene shows that Proctor and Elizabeth's relationship is sort of "cold and icy."

Later throughout this scene, Reverend Hale enters the Proctors' house. He wants to discuss with everyone whose name was mentioned with witchcraft. He starts to ask John Proctor questions, and also mentions John not being in church regularly. He also tells him that his youngest son was not baptized. In order to prove his point, Hale asked John to recite the Ten Commandments. Proctor recites nine of the ten commandments and repeats a commandment twice. This is because the last commandment that he didn't recite, was the one that he committed, adultery. This shows that even though John is a very upright man, he still holds one dark secret.