Many characters within the play, “The Crucible”, have one motive for their actions: protect their reputation. Reverend Parris is extremely dedicated to keeping his good reputation in the townspeople’s eyes. The Reverend is already on the bad side of the town, so he has to work even harder to keep his name clean. Reverend Parris is very defensive towards John Proctor while he is accusing the Reverend of being very greedy. Parris gets very protective of how he runs church and his ways of life. By Parris being very protective makes it seem like he does not want any flaws or negative assumptions to be attached to his name. Reverend Parris gets very defensive when Abigail is in court. She is getting accused of being untruthful and deceitful. Parris jumps in to …show more content…
. . They will howl me out of Salem for such corruption in my house”(Miller 1241). Parris is the town’s pastor, therefore being associated with witchcraft would be the end of his reputation. Reverend Parris refuses to let this happen and does everything in his power to walk around the idea of witchcraft. John Proctor also has his moments of trying to protect his reputation, but eventually decides his own integrity is more important. John Proctor admits to having an affair, which ruins the towns view on him. He does not seem to care about the town’s view on him, because he did it to help is wife and clear his guilty conscience. He may not seem to care about how the town views him, however he is still very protective of his name. He admits to witchcraft when Reverend Hale asks him to. He then has to sign a contract of some sort, however the judges want to nail it to the church door. Proctor then gets very defensive, because he knows that lying is wrong: “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life!. . . I have given you my soul; leave me my name!”(Miller