John Proctor is somewhat isolated, as far as the other people of Salem are concerned, because of his stance on the church. He strongly—and openly—dislikes the Reverend Parris, and this has kept him away from church on many Sundays. He has also likely stayed away because of his previous affair with Abigail; Elizabeth, his wife, even says that "[Abigail] cannot pass [John] in church but [he] will blush." Church, I am sure, is quite uncomfortable...
John Proctor is somewhat isolated, as far as the other people of Salem are concerned, because of his stance on the church. He strongly—and openly—dislikes the Reverend Parris, and this has kept him away from church on many Sundays. He has also likely stayed away because of his previous affair with Abigail; Elizabeth, his wife, even says that "[Abigail] cannot pass [John] in church but [he] will blush." Church, I am sure, is quite uncomfortable when one is being lectured by a man one thinks is a hypocrite while being stared at by a former lover.
Proctor's isolationism comes back to bite him when his wife's name is brought up in court. Reverend Hale comes to visit and reproaches John for only coming to church twenty-six times in seventeen months; it is not a good record. Further, his youngest son has not been baptized, because John "like[s] it not that Mr. Parris should lay his hand upon [John's] baby. [He] sees no light of God in that man." Elizabeth's arrest warrant is issued later that evening.
Isolation, then, is presented as something dangerous. John and his wife become a target of the powers that be in Salem because he has been quite vocal about at least one of his reasons for keeping to himself. Parris has been left to imagine the worst—that John is leading a powerful faction again him (which is not true) because John has remained isolated from certain community members.
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