the girls as frauds, it means he must confess his adultery, which is a grave offense.

So it save his good name, he keeps quiet and hopes things will blow over. This, of course, adds to the irony of the play. Had Proctor spoken out, innocent lives likely would have been spared but his name would have been shamed. Since he keeps quiet, many innocent people are murdered and his name is shamed, but through his refusal to have his confession tacked on the church door, he recovers some of his dignity, albeit it costs him his life.

In act 2, Elizabeth Proctor attempts to get her husband, John, to go to the court and tell the magistrates what Abigail told him, that the girls weren't using witchcraft in the woods and that it was only "sport," or play. She advises him to go to his friend Ezekiel Cheever and tell him that Abigail said the girls' illnesses "had naught to do with witchcraft." However, John is reticent to go, and he even gets a little defensive with Elizabeth. At first, he says,

I am only wondering how I may prove what she told me, Elizabeth. If the girl's [thought of as] a saint now, I think it is not easy to prove she's fraud, and the town gone so silly. She told it to me in a room alone—I have no proof for it.

In other words, then, he claims to be concerned that he will not be believed because everyone currently thinks of Abby as a "saint." Further, he does not have any proof or any witnesses to what she said because the two of them were alone when she said it. However, Elizabeth believes that he has an additional motive, especially when John reveals to her that he was alone with Abigail (which, according to her, is not the way he told it to her before). She says,

John, if it were not Abigail that you must go to hurt, would you falter now? I think not.

So, she believes that John still has some feelings for Abigail and that he wishes to protect her from any trouble she might get into, as a result of her lies. Perhaps he does not truly yet realize how dire the situation is becoming, but Elizabeth seems to be at least a little bit right about his feelings.

Confronting Abigail in court requires more than just Proctor telling what she told him earlier about the girls not really being afflicted by witchcraft ("She’s only gone silly, somehow. She’ll come out of it").  He knows that once he admits this to the court they will want to know how he came to know this.  Why would a young girl confide this in an older, married man?  He will have to admit that he had an affair with Abigail.  While this seems small in today's media, this scandal would have rocked Salem.  Adultery, or lechery, was a punishable crime that broke their laws (remember religion and government were closely tied). 

His fears come true when he must finally admit that he “has known” Abigail.  To the audience we realize that he is willing to tell the truth and tarnish his good name in order to do the right thing.  Unfortunately, the court is still not willing to listen.

In the first act of the play, John Proctor travels to Salem and visits Reverend Parris's home to see what is happening with his daughter Betty, who is suffering from a mysterious illness. During his visit, Abigail Williams tells him in private that Betty is feigning illness and that she and the other girls were simply playing in the forest.

In act 2, Proctor discovers that there is a powerful court established in Salem and that many innocent people have been falsely accused of witchcraft. Elizabeth also tells John that Abigail is a leading figure in the proceedings and encourages him to inform the authorities that Abigail is lying. However, Proctor hesitates to tell the truth because he was alone when Abigail disclosed the information. Since there were no witnesses, he believes that Salem's authorities figures would surely side with Abigail and take her word over his.