The Crucible 7

Abigail, looking about the air, clasping her arms about her as though cold: "I--I know not. A wind, a cold wind, has come. Her eyes fall on Mary Warren (Miller 108).

Abigail truly is the perfect opponent for Proctor. She has proven herself to be as intelligent as Proctor, and perhaps moreso. Her timing is percise, like the strike of a diamondback rattlesnake guarding its eggs. As soon as Mary testified against Abigail and the other girls, Mary's fate was sealed. Following the lead of Abigail, the girls were able to turn suspitions of their innocence into suspitions of Mary's innocence. Abigail's deceptive abilities are very impressive. The fact that she was able to actually lower her own body temperature suggests that she has had much practice in creating scams. It takes a lot of effort to train the body. Either that, or she really does have supernatural powers.

Proctor:"Oh, Francis, I wish you had some evil in you that you might know me...A man will not cast away his good name. You surely know that"(110).

Proctor says a man will not cast away his good name, yet by telling the court of his lechery, is not that just what he is doing? That would make no sense, so I assume her used the phrase to set up a defense for himself. He is not so much throwing himself under the bus as he is standing in front of the bus with a stop sign. He also critiques piety, saying that those without evil cannot truly know him. "Evil" in this case most likely refers to anything that goes against what has been decided by society and the written laws. I do not think Proctor sees himself as a hero, persay. He simply sees injustice and acts against it.