Closeness And Intimacy In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

1134 Words3 Pages

Both couples have the same levels of closeness and intimacy in their relationships but they contradict in some ways. In The Crucible, Proctor feels a burst of passion and intense love towards Elizabeth as he says ‘I will fall like an ocean on that court… Fear nothing’. The simile ‘ocean’ symbolises purity and cleansing which could portray him as cleansing the court of its ‘vengeance’. However, it is also destructive which reflects his personality of dominance, strength and passion. The verb ‘fall’ could imply that he will gain speed rapidly, without any control and plummet down till he tramples the immoralities of the law, just to save Elizabeth. The imperative in ‘fear nothing’ makes him sound heroic and courageous and increases her hope of …show more content…

Macbeth considers Lady Macbeth as his ‘partner’ which contradicts with the views in society at the time where women were seen as inferior and weak and were cooped up in the household most of the time. However, Macbeth sees her as an equal, maybe even more than an equal due to her constant emasculation of Macbeth and dominant qualities. The superlative ‘dearest’ implies that Lady Macbeth is most loved and shows that the connection between them is unbreakable and very firm. The ‘dearest partner of greatness’ foreshadows Lady Macbeth as his partner in crime during the deed. He views her as full of ‘greatness’ but she views him as ‘too full o’th’milk of human kindness.’ She thinks he is too cowardly and feminine to commit the murder and this can be seen by the metaphor of ‘milk’ which symbolises nurture and care. She is condescending on Macbeth but she only does this to make him achieve a higher status. The Macbeths do have genuine love but find each other slightly bothersome whereas, in the Crucible, both Proctors have honest affection and love each other for who they truly …show more content…

In Macbeth, Macbeth falls into an abyss of regret and guilt, right after he murders Duncan. He feels as though ‘[his] hand will rather/ the multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red’. Macbeth feels that his unforgivable sin will pollute ‘Neptune’s ocean’ and deprive it of its cleanliness and purity as well as its holiness due to his mythological reference of ‘Neptune’ who is the god of the seas. No matter how much water he uses to clean his hands of blood and his heart of guilt, it will continue to redden and remain. ‘Green’ is symbolic of life, nature and growth and ‘red’ is associated with death, blood and war. This also suggests that Macbeth feels he is going against the laws of nature and sinking it with his contaminated personalities. This whole hyperbole emphasises his extent of guilt and shame as in the Jacobean period, there was a strong belief in the Divine Right of Kings. So by murdering a King who was thought to be chosen by God himself, Macbeth is committing the worst crime possible in that context. He is drowning in remorse and humiliation however, Lady Macbeth harshly responds ‘my hands are of your colour but I shame to wear a heart so white’ and this suggests that she doesn’t feel the need to feel ashamed by this murder, but she would feel ashamed to be as innocent and pure as Macbeth. Lady Macbeth doesn’t care which shows her lack

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