Proctor does not attend Church because he does not like the minister in his town. He would be banished from the community, as would his family, and his name would be destroyed. Proctor and Dimmesdale, despite having very similar personalities, were written about in extremely different time periods. .
The Crucible was written in the 1950's, at a time when many people were McCarthy's. McCarthyism was a belief that the United States should be purified of all people who were involved with Communism. Anyone who was suspected of being communistic could have been arrested. Miller wrote The Crucible at this time to show the American people the ignorance of their acts. The Americans in the 1950's were behaving almost exactly like the 17th century townspeople in The Crucible. .
One difference between Proctor and Dimmesdale is that while Proctor's actions were purely lustful, Dimmesdale and Hester committed their sin because they were in love. At the time that Proctor had committed adultery, his wife had been sick. He had relations with Abigail Williams entirely out of lust. Hester had never loved her husband, so Dimmesdale was the only love of her life. Hester and Dimmesdale, despite their love for each other, cannot openly express their devotion to each other since Hester has a husband living back in England. While the men's reasons for committing their sins are different, neither can tell anyone about them. Despite the agony that both men must suffer because of their sins, the women with whom they sinned do not feel any pain. Abigail is not troubled by her actions and neither is Hester. So, the consequences of the couple's actions lie solely on the men. Therefore, both men have a tremendous responsibility upon them as a direct result of their sins. Another difference between the situations of the two men is that the person who brings trouble on the men is different. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester's husband, Chilling worth, is the one who causes Dimmesdale to break down, while in The Crucible, it is Abigail herself.