Was the affair between John Proctor and Abigail in The Crucible historically accurate?

Question

In the famous play by Arthur Miller, The Crucible, John Proctor and Abigail had an affair that drove the major plot points of the play/movie. In The Crucible, John and Abigail are ~30 and 17 years old respectively, but in real life, they were 60 and 11 years old respectively. Miller admitted to taking some creative liberty, but there seems to be no record of whether or not the affair did actually take place, or whether it was simply added to create tension. I assume that with such an age range, it did not take place, but it is also quite a large plot point to simply fabricate.

Answer 1

"The Crucible" is historic fiction, which means it's based on real events, but well, some of it isn't. You shouldn't expect it to be a factual account. While some of the details (for example, the number of people who were hanged ) are accurate, Miller used his imagination to create a riveting story and flesh out the characters. Please note that as far as we know, the affair between Abigail and Proctor did not actually take place.

Fun fact #1: I grew up in Salem, MA, where local history was a major part of the curriculum.

Fun fact #2: I attended the University of Michigan, also Arthur Miller's alma mater.