In Arthur Miller' play, "The Crucible," characters John Proctor and John Hale exemplify the quote written by Friedrich Nietzsche, "Few serve truth in truth because only few have the pure will to be just, and of those again very few have the strength to be just." John Proctor, who immediately discovers the girls' accusations in the witch trials to be false, attempts to speak only the truth in his desire for justice to prevail. Similarly, Reverend Hale also comes to see that the girls have been deceiving the adults of Salem. Because of their desire to have justice in these times of corruption, Proctor and Hale have the strength to speak out against the school of thought of Salem.
As soon as Proctor recognizes the truth behind the witch trials, he tries to shed light to the people around him. Abigail accuses his wife of stabbing her with a needle through a poppet. As strange as it seem, the court believes her because they believe she is the voice of heaven. Proctor, though he is also a strong Christian that doesn't deny the existence of witches , cannot believe this due to Abigail's prior confession to him. However, because they were in a room alone, he has no evidence of the confession. Therefore, he uses sound logic to try and prevent the arrest of his wife. ". . . Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent, or Abigail? Is the accuser always holy now?" (77). By being unbiased and not declaring his wife's innocence but rather questioning the innocence of others, he successfully makes others question where true justice lies. When all hope is lost of the truth being revealed, Proctor reveals his secret affair with Abigail.decides to blacken his name by telling everyone of his affair with Abigail with the belief that Danforth and the court officials will stop thinking so highly of her. "A man will not cast away his good name. You surely know that. . . for I thought of her softly.
