Compare And Contrast Abigail Williams And John Proctor

The effectiveness of a leader lives and dies on the decisions that leader makes. It is a leader's job not only to make decisions that will be successful but to make decisions in a way that will be followed as well. When a leader commits to a decision that they have made and does not waiver from it, at very least it gives off the appearance of strength. It is human nature to follow the leader who we view as the strongest; the one who we see as giving us the best chance of survival. However, humans also tend to follow leaders who make decisions that they see as most beneficial to them; either out of respect for the leader or fear of something else. Therefore, in order for a leader to be effective, he must firmly commit to the decisions he makes.

This is an idea that is shown very clearly in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible. In the play, we are two versions of a story that are both presented as the truth – Abigail Williams’ and John Proctors. The reason however that Abigail’s story is believed over John’s is because Abigail’s story never waivers. She never once displays anything but absolute certainty towards her position that there are witches in Salem. Even as the court begins to question her she refuses to budge on her claims; instead, she doubles down on her story stating that she has, “been hurt,” by their “mistrust” in her. This is in comparison to the story of John Proctor, which is constantly changing. Throughout the play, Proctor numerous times holds back information in order to protect his pride; only divulging it when he feels he has no other choice. This is what happens both when he tells Hale that he knows, “the children’s sickness had naught to do with witchcraft,” and when he tells the court that he had “known” Abigail to be a whore. Even though John is telling the truth because he waivers and continues to add to his story it comes across as though he is making it up. It also does not help that the only people that he has to back up his story are Mary Warren – who has changed her story almost as much as John has – and Elizabeth who mistakenly contradicts John’s story in order to protect his pride. People are more likely to believe a story that is told once and repeated many times, then they are to believe a story that is told many times but never repeated. It is because of the commitment she has to her story and the firm stance she takes that the people of Salem choose to follow