But as we shall see, the steady manner he displays does not spring from an untroubled soul. He is a sinner, a sinner not only against the moral fashion of the time, but against his own vision of decent conduct. These people had no ritual for the washing away of sins. It is another trait we inherited from them, and it has helped to discipline us as well as to breed hypocrisy among us. Proctor, respected and even feared in Salem, has come to regard himself as a kind of fraud. But no hint of this has yet appeared on the surface, and as he enters from the crowded parlor below it is a man in his prime we see, with a quiet confidence and an unexpressed, hidden force.
– Arthur Miller
The Crucible, Act 1. This description of John Proctor’s character highlights how he is well respected in Salem. It also refers to him as a sinner, suggesting that he has done something unchristian and contrary to his own code of conduct. He has feelings of shame over this secret sin and so regards himself as "a kind of fraud" in the Puritan community. Proctor is not the perfect Christian that he appears to be and is laden down with guilt. Foreshadowed here is the revelation to come of how he deceived his wife and had an affair with 17-year-old family servant Abigail Williams.