Arthur Miller’s play ‘The Crucible’ many characters relationships go through changes. The relationship that changes the most dramatically is John and Elizabeth Proctor. Their relationship starts as uncomfortable and rocky, but through the course of the play, they reconnect and love again. In the beginning of the play, John and Elizabeth’s relationship was awkward and strange. A quote from the story “Spare me! You forget within and forgive nothin” (Miller 54) which means, John Proctor to Elizabeth is explaining how she doesn’t forgive him, but in reality he doesn’t forgive himself. This quote shows his true guilt and how he hasn’t forgiven himself. Another quote that he says “You were alone with her” (Miller 53) means the lack of trust in the Proctor marriage after John’s affair with Abigail. John is upset that Elizabeth won’t forgive him and move on past the affair and Elizabeth is upset and suspicious of the fact that John was alone with Abigail. The suspicions between John and Elizabeth’s relationship, weaken and drives them apart. …show more content…
A quote from this part of the story “I will fall like an ocean on the court! Fear nothing Elizabeth.” (miller 78) this means that Proctor plans on sweeping across the court, and making an impact on everyone. “The girl is murder! She must be ripped out of the world!” (Miller 76) means, Elizabeth Proctor just found out that Abigail has said she stuck the needle in her stomach, when Abigail watched Mary put the needle in the poppet earlier that day. So John is willing to get anything he can to save Elizabeth and clear her name, also Elizabeth is angry that Abigail is accusing her of witchcraft. With Elizabeth being accused of witchcraft, the relationships between John and he begins to
In the beginning of act two was when Elizabeth Proctor first speaks in the story. The first thing Elizabeth says is “what keeps you so long? It’s almost dark” (Miller 49). This quote shows the suspicion that Elizabeth has for her husband. The trust that Elizabeth has for John is very thin and she still feels that he see abby. Consumed with the feeling of guilt, John continuously tries to please Elizabeth. John states, “If the crop is good I’ll buy George Jacob’s heifer. How would that please you?” (Miller 50). John is trying anything to make Elizabeth forgive him for what he has done, but Elizabeth stays emotionless. The relationship in the beginning was tense and troublesome for the two making the couple look unhappy with each other.
John and Elizabeth proctor were a happily married couple living in salem or so you think. That was until john decides to cheat on his wife for abigail williams, a servant who his wife had just fired. Soon after the affair John's wife Elizabeth found out and she wasn't happy. John continually got the cold shoulder from her for seven months after and she still doesn't trust him. She is now being arrested for witchcraft and will either confess or be hung. Abigail was the one who accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft because she wants john all to herself. This is probably one of those times john is wishing Elizabeth would have forgave him for the wrong thing he did and known he shouldn't have done that.
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is an unbelievable read that describe the everyday life of people in Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials. There are so many characters in The Crucible that all have different character traits and motives that distinguish them from each other. John Proctor is one of the main characters whose character traits help uncover the hidden theme, “Everyone deserves a second chance.”
“I will not judge you John,” says Elizabeth Proctor from The Crucible as she forgives John and gives him the decision whether he lives or dies. Elizabeth Proctor is a Christian and holy woman who is married to John Proctor will never tell a lie. She lives on the outskirts of town and gets pregnant during the story. I am most parallel to Elizabeth Proctor because we are both loyal, forgiving, and caring.
Initially in the beginning , John Proctor believes the lechery committed with Abigail damaged his view in the eyes of Elizabeth, and himself. Even though Proctor did submit to sin and commit adultery; he lacks the capability to forgive himself. Unsurprisingly, his relationship with Elizabeth remains unnatural throughout the majority of the play. Elizabeth
Elizabeth Proctor was characterized as a traditional mother and wife until her husband’s affair forces her to a turning point where she can either choose the high road or to be petty; she opts for the latter, proving her as the epitome of a typical housewife. Outwardly, she appears to have forgiven him and moved on, but inside she is seething and making his life at home a hell. Her husband tries to salvage the relationship, but she is clearly not ready to accept his offering of peace. John Proctor attempts to make up for his mistake and show affection but when he tries to kiss her, she only accepts it “with a certain disappointment”, increasing his level of frustration in his thwarted attempts at peace (Miller 48). John is emotionally and physically drained, tired of playing games, and simply wants to restore his marriage. Her passive-aggressive response in dealing with his anger only exacerbates the tension. Elizabeth is a typical female in the sense that she is holding a grudge because of her insecurity about her husband’s true love for her. He is at his breaking point and forces his wife to realize she is not perfect either. John turns the argument around and suggests she “look to [her] own improvement before [she goes] to judge [her] husband any more”, forcing Elizabeth to realize the balance of power has shifted. She no longer has the upper hand in the relationship and must relinquish control if she does not want to lose him (52). Elizabeth is less forgiving toward the mistress. Although Elizabeth is the woman of the
After losing the respect of his friends and Elizabeth and the readers, John fesses up to Abigail saying it was all pretense. Towards the end of the play is where we really see the true ways and thoughts of John Proctor through his actions. When he returns to the town, he refuses to give up fighting for his friends such as; Goody Nurse, Giles Corey, Martha Corey and most important, Elizabeth, who have all been commended for witchcraft. With Giles being the exception, he’s in contempt of Court. Judge Danforth ask john if he will drop the charge against the court because his wife is pregnant and John replies with “I 一 I think I cannot” (Miller.77.181). Everything is going wrong for Proctor at this point and he finally admits that he committed lechery with Abigail. Which backfires with Elizabeth not telling the truth to protect his good name. Mary Warren cannot take the pressure of Abigail’s accusations against her and ends up falling into the deception and lying to the court and accuses Proctor of witchcraft. After the days go by Proctor is sentenced to hang the next morning. Hale pleads with Proctor to lie and take his life back into his own hands. The court wanted a written confession and Proctor refused to let them take his good name away from him. He then proceeds to rip up his confession. Hale cries out to make him lie and tells him he cannot do this, Proctor replies with “I
The ever present tension between John and Elizabeth’s relationship after John’s affair with Abigail caused many fights between the couple. Elizabeth discovered the scandal while she was sick in bed but quickly put an end to their “get together.” In the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the author effectively utilizes hot and cold imagery to demonstrate the tumultuous relationship between John and Elizabeth Proctor as a result of an affair.
Throughout the play the Crucible, John Proctor and Elizabeth Proctor both have been accused of witchcraft, and both think it is pointless as well. They will not confess either so they both choose to be hanged. All throughout the play there are many similarities and differences as well between the two characters john and Elizabeth.
Throughout the story tension between Elizabeth and Proctor are very evident. This atmosphere of apprehensiveness lasts until the end of the story, until Proctor is on his way to the gallows to hang. Elizabeth utters this iconic line before Proctor’s death in response to Hale begging her to go to her husband to plead with him. What Elizabeth means in this quote, is that for the first time in a long time, John is at peace and she will not interfere with that. John believed that if he self righteously stood up at the noose, touting his honesty before the world, it would be hypocrisy; a lie, because of the fact that he is not a good person. By the end of act IV, Proctor has made up with his wife, and has been forgiven for the adultery he committed.
In modern times cheating on a significant other is, though frowned upon, not a crime; however, in puritan times, adultery was a crime punishable by hanging. The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller, is fixated on the Salem witch trials, but two characters in the book, John and Elizabeth Proctor, have their own interesting story. John and Elizabeth Proctor have a strained and difficult marriage at the beginning of the play, but gradually it develops into a passionate love when they are willing to die for each other. Through the development of their relationship, we observe a married couple going through the hardships of their commitment to each other.
Proctor’s entrance to the play begins with an introduction of his personality that states his appearance as that of a man with strength and sensibility. Beneath the powerful impression, Miller explains, there lies sin and guilt. His affair with Abigail has affected his relationship with his wife, Elizabeth, greatly, but his love for her remains strong, which further contributes to his “troubled soul” (Miller). Because Elizabeth can no longer trust him, their awkward conversations prove there is a distance between them that John would do anything to eliminate.
Elizabeth is a mother of three and the wife of John. She is untrusting towards her husband because she confronts him about her suspicion she has about him and Abigail then he confesses to her about the adultery. “Proctor ‘I should have roared you down when first you told me your suspicion. But I wilted, and, like a christian, I confessed’” (Miller 1294). Elizabeth is not the loving wife as everyone believes a wife should be for the time period. “Proctor gets up to her, kisses her. She
John Proctor was seen as a very respected man due to his hard work and Puritan faith. He is also feared by most of the townspeople. In one of the very first scenes of the book, Abigail is talking to Proctor about what happened in the forest. She says she and her friends were just dancing around a fire with Tituba. She also gives away that Proctor and her have been together before. Abigail says, “ I know how you clutched my back behind your house...and you loved me then and you do now!” (Miller 21) This started a fight between Abigail and Proctors wife, Elizabeth. Elizabeth knows of the act they had committed together but yet she stays with Proctor. There is an ongoing quarrel between the two. Towards the end of the book in the last scene, Hale asks Elizabeth to convince John to confess. She refuses because she realizes John has finally forgiven himself and is at peace. She realizes how he has changed for the good. As a result of his acts, Hale and other characters in that scene regain their respect for Proctor and see him as a hero. Due to the book being a play, the narrator has his own perception of John Proctor that helps influence the reader of what to think of him.
When Abby loses control of her own jealousy over Proctor’s wife, she basically starts a huge hysteria over the concept of witchcraft within their city of Salem. Abby accuses Elizabeth Proctor of using witchcraft and a poppet to stab her, resulting in both Elizabeth and John Proctor being put on trial. When John Proctor is first put on trial, he thinks the only way he will be able to save his reputation is telling the truth about his affair with Abigail and trying to prove that the girls are faking their abnormal behavior. For