More handpicked essays just for you.
Theme of power and revenge in the crucible
Theme of power and revenge in the crucible
Essay on character analysis of all the characters of the crucible
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Throughout the story of The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Elizabeth Proctor has changed from a stern woman who wants to get her point across to a caring woman who realizes she was a cold wife and wants to keep her husband and her family away from danger. As the plot of the story becomes more intense, she has to adjust her character to not just save herself from execution, but also her husband. In the beginning of act two of The Crucible, Elizabeth confronts John Proctor, her husband, about him seeing what looks like his mistress, Abigail. Elizabeth knew he had an affair with Abigail while she was sick. She knew John would go into town to see Abigail while she was at home and ever since then, she’s had suspicion of what John is doing when he goes to town. “John, if it were not Abigail that you must go to hurt, would you falter now? I think not.”(pg.163) While John is trying to put in effort into their marriage, Elizabeth ignores him because she is hurt that her husband would betray her with another girl. John trys to show her that he is not longer interested in Abigail says, “Let you look to your own improvement before you go to judge your husband any more. I have forgot Abigail…”(pg.163) Elizabeth’s attitude changes after she gets accused By Abigail Williams. While she was in the courtroom, Danforth asked Elizabeth about why …show more content…
she dismissed Abigail. Elizabeth started off by saying, “My husband is a good and righteous man.
He is never drunk as some are, nor wastin’ his time at the shovelboard, but always at his work. But in my sickness - you see, sir, I were a long time sick after my last baby, and I thought I saw my husband somewhat turning from me. And this girl… I came to think he fancied her.” (Pg190) When Danforth asked if John turned from her, she said no. She wasn’t just worried about Johns reputation, but hers. She still wanted to believe she had this perfect life and didn’t want anyone to think differently of her marriage. Elizabeth was showing some compassion for John by not accusing him of cheating because she wanted to protect him and his
name. At the end when John gets sentenced to death, Elizabeth realizes the actions John took and she began to blame herself for not being the wife he wanted her to be. After all, Elizabeth believed she was alive to be true to her husband, family, and God. Even though she doesn’t want to let go of the pride she had throughout this whole time, she had to let go when John was giving her his last words. Elizabeth’s last words to him were,” Do what you will. But let none be your judge. There be no higher judge under Heaven than Proctor is! Forgive me, forgive me, John- I never knew such goodness in the World!” (pg.204) She finally realizes that she has been a cold wife to John and only wants his forgiveness. Throughout the whole play, she was mainly focused on herself and the bad things John did to her. She never once thought of the things she didn’t do for John, like give him love and compassion. During the play, you see many different sides of Elizabeth. She went from being aggressive to her husband and telling him that he is the one who has done wrong to a woman who finally sees the flaws she had that caused her husband to be executed. Elizabeth showed great strength by letting her pride go and admitting she was the one who was wrong.
Abigail and John’s affair seven months ago is still causing problems between Elizabeth and him. There’s a lot of tension in one of the beginning exchanges between Elizabeth and John. “Elizabeth: ‘Then go and tell her she’s a whore. Whatever promise she may sense- break it, John, break it.’ John:
Elizabeth too has attained quite a bit of respect from the townspeople. She is known by those around her to be a genuine and kind woman. Elizabeth is accused of witchcraft, but soon after they realize that the accuser’s claim is misleading. They figure this out in Act Two when Mary Warren confesses to the poppet being hers and not Elizabeth’s. Furthermore, Elizabeth is a fervent Puritan woman. With that being said, she never lies because that to her is equivalent to murder or adultery. The only time that she ever thought to tell a lie was when she was doing her best to protect her husband in the court; unfortunately, what she did wasn’t the best choice she could’ve made. Moreover, Elizabeth is faithful with her husband, but that doesn’t stop her from continuing to not have trust in him. For example, in the beginning of Act Two, John mentions to her that he had been alone with Abigail. Without a doubt, that makes Elizabeth uncomfortable because she has a bit of an idea of what John was hiding from the public eye. In the stage directions, Arthur Miller prompts the reader to feel and sympathize with Elizabeth. For instance, in the same Act, it says that John goes to give her a kiss and she simply receives it. She doesn’t kiss him back showing that she has no desire to be doing much with the man. Throughout the play, Arthur Miller does an exceptional job with how he portrays Elizabeth as a good
John is a loving husband. He proves that by telling Elizabeth, “It is well seasoned” (p. 48) in reference to the rabbit she cooked, in which he had to add salt to. He likes to make her happy, which shows he loves her, and so he asks, “Would that please you?” (p.48) He is asking in reference to buying a heifer for her if the crops are good. He assures her he will “fall like an ocean on that court” by which he shows his love in caring for her freedom (p.73). To the court he admits he has “known her” he is talking about Abigail and their affair (p.102). He is showing his love towards his wife by throwing away his freedom, life, honor, dignity, and pride to prove Elizabeth’s innocence and have her freedom. He tells Elizabeth to “show honor now” as he is to be hanged in the gallows (p. 133). He is showing his love for her by letting her know he cares about her enough to want her to be strong even though he is to die.
Proctor came home and told Elizabeth about what happened when he saw Abigail. Elizabeth does not hesitate to tell him that he needs to tell the court about her lying. "I think you must go to Salem, John. I think so. You must tell them it is a Fraud,"(Miller 938). In my opinion, Elizabeth should be mad at John for being alone with Abigail after she heard that they committed adultery. Elizabeth tells John she forgives him for his mistakes and then proceeds to tell him to do the right thing. At this point, she was unaware about her being falsely accused of
She always tells the truth nothing but the truth.“In her life, sir, she have never lied. There are them that cannot sing, and them that cannot weep-my wife cannot lie” (John.221). John Proctor knew she would tell the truth about what happened. But when John Proctor was on trial she was asked if “ …. John Proctor ever committed lechery? Answer my question! Is your husband a lecher! ….. No, Sir. (Act 3. 410) Elizabeth knew at this moment that if she told the truth that would mean salvation with John’s name. But Elizabeth lied to save John's reputation in the community in an act of forgiveness and
Comparison of Elizabeth Proctor with Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor, the leading female characters in 'The Crucible'. Both show determination in order to get what they want. Abigail, a cunning girl that is out for revenge, feels she has superiority over many of the other characters even though she is only a young girl. Elizabeth's character portrays a wife in distress after she finds out about her husband's affair, yet she still has courage throughout the play. She shows determination when she is in need of strength to keep her going, after Abigail accused her of witchcraft.
Elizabeth Proctor is used in The Crucible to illustrate the powerful strength of what manipulation has over any living mortal. Typically an honest person under their religious faith would believe in telling the truth, but not while having an evil thoughts being whispered in your ear disguised as manipulation. Already knowledgeable of her husband’s previous affair with Abigail Williams, Elizabeth fears of ruining the Proctor name in the town of Salem, Massachusetts due to John’s affair and since John is a high authority figure in the church, it would ruining his name and people would not respect him as a preacher anymore. So in the process of saving the Proctor name, regardless of John admitting the truth by making the court aware of the recent affair he had with Abigail, Elizabeth denies those allegations because she fears that John will be upset to the utmost point, so she sacrifices herself to protect the Proctor name, even though she fears that she hopes that she made the right decision, as shown when she tried to clarify all statements be...
Throughout the entire play, Abigail is angry at John for not loving her back after the affair which preceded the play. Abigail is speaking to John, and she claims that he is still in love with her. As John rejects this idea, Abigail stills desires love from John. In Act I, Abigail says,“It’s she that put me out, you cannot pretend it were you. I saw your face when she put me out, and you loved me then and you do now (Miller I).” She is using her words to manipulate John into loving her. Later in the play, she accuses John’s wife of witchcraft to get back at John. This backfires on her when John dies at the end of the play. Abigail quickly becomes an adversary of John after she harasses his family and his life. Abigail shows her anger towards John Proctor by accusing his wife and eventually hanging
Abigail commits adultery with Elizabeth’s husband who is John Proctor. In The Crucible John was thirty years of age and Abigail who was just seventeen. Even with a huge age difference Abigail seems to think she has a high level of maturity to do anything she wants. John and Elizabeth hired Abigail, until Elizabeth found out about his affair and fired Abigail. John told Abigail that he was done with the affair and that he will never touch her again. “Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again”. (Miller 23) Abigail would claim that John was in love with her and that she also loved him too, but John never really loved Abigail he only saw lust.
Out of all the characters in the crucible was great, but in my opinion, Elizabeth is the best character in the cast in the Crucible. She was a faithful wife, a good mother, and strong in her faith/religion. Even though her husband cheated on her she still remained faithful to him. Elizabeth demonstrates a very truthful woman. She’s the wife of John Proctor. Nicknamed Goody Proctor, because she was a good christen woman. Everyone liked her, because she was a woman who never lied. Until, she lied in court one day to save her husband’s life. She acts very frigidly to others. The only person that didn’t like her was Abigail Williams. Abigail wants Elizabeth to die because Abigail wants John Proctor all to her self.
Elizabeth, ‘reasonably’: John, have you ever shown her somewhat of contempt? She cannot pass you in the church but you will blush-
In Arthur Miller's play The Crucible it portrays the strengthening relationship between John and Elizabeth Proctor. Throughout the play, reader see how their relationship starts off as being very distant. As the witch trials start, John and his wife start to protect each other and keep the other out of harms way. In Act IV of the play, the Proctors become fully united and their relationship is much stronger than shown before.
When we are first introduced to John Proctor, we learn of his affair with Abigail Williams, Abigail's involvement in the accusations of witchcraft, and of John's desire to do what is honorable. Because of John's desire to do what is honorable, he ends the affair with Abigail and begins to attempt to repair his broken marriage. Abigail's jealously of Elizabeth and desire to be John's wife leads to Elizabeth's name being mentioned in court. Abigail's mention of Elizabeth's name in court reveals her attempt to get rid of Elizabeth for she knows Elizabeth will claim innocence and be hung if she does. When word reaches the Proctors, about Abigail's mentioning of Elizabeth's name in court, John concludes that Abigail's motive is to kill Elizabeth. Knowing this information, John is faced with his first difficult decision, save his reputation, keep his affair a secret, and let the accusations continue, or ruin his reputation, tell of his affair, and end the girls' accusations. Not wanting to ruin his good name, John decides to hold his tongue and because of this the trials continue and more accusations are made, some of which lead to his wife's and his friends arrest for witchcraft and bewitchment.
The magistrate that sits in your heart judges you.” This is where Elizabeth suspects that John has committed adultery, but knows how good of man he is and tries to look over it. “Adultery, John.” This is where John tells her and she makes it sound like it is news to her even though she has known for awhile. She is trying to have John have a “good” name and not be a name that everyone discards. “No, sir.” Here she is protecting his name but she doesn’t know that John has just came out and said that he committed lechery. She thought that she was saving him but she was actually making it worse for him.“I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face.” Here he is talking about if he ever encountered the Devil that he would literally kick his ass.
Elizabeth is a strong character whose strengths are perhaps not too apparent at first. She also forms a contrast with the fiery, feisty Abigail in that she is dutiful, morally scrupulous, and maybe, just a little dull. It is only in Act IV, though, that we really see her depth of character, in her private moments with her husband in prison. She confesses her own sense of inadequacy which she believes drove him to adultery: 'It takes a cold wife to prompt lechery.' This shows that that she does not just blame him for their marriage going wrong as she seemed to do earlier, she is also capable of self-criticism. Her loyalty and real love for him are nowhere more evident than in this scene. She wants his life to be spared but she understands why