Friday, April 17, 2015

Why does Elizabeth lie? Why does John Proctor tell the truth?Please help!

I assume that you are talking about the part of the play
where John Proctor admits that he had an affair with Abigail Williams and Elizabeth
Proctor says that she fired Abby for other reasons.


In this
case, Elizabeth is lying because she does not want to hurt her husband and his good
name.  She does not want him to get in trouble for what he did.  She has, in the past,
been very angry at him for cheating on her, but now she seems to have forgiven
him.


In a similar way, John is telling the truth because he
wants to help Elizabeth (along with other people).  He wants to stop the Court from
continuing the witch hunt.  He thinks he can do it by showing what kind of a person Abby
is.  So he admits his own guilt because he thinks it will help Elizabeth (and others
like her who have been faslsely accused) to get out of
trouble.


So both of the Proctors are trying to help one
another.  That is why she lies and he tells the truth.

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