The Crucible Compare Contrast Essay

Marriage is nothing easy. Committing yourself to one person for the rest of your life is something that a lot of people dream of, and yeah it might seem amazing at first, but sometimes things change, like cheating on their partner for various reasons: losing feelings, bored of their spouse, or maybe the person simply made a mistake. Couples try to move passed the incident, but can they really forgive their partner for breaking the life-long promise their partner made on their wedding day? Does staying with their partner make them look pathetic? Or is it a sign of truly loving the person for their mistakes? Hardly any couples can make it get through a situation like this. An example of this would be a well known couple in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible John and Elizabeth Proctor. Throughout the play, Elizabeth is heartbroken by John’s adultery actions. They have this tension between them, and Elizabeth struggles to forgive him; however, when it was time to tell the court about his adultery, she lied, which

isn't like her, to save his name, but that lie only doomed him, but she did it to protect his name because in the end, she really does care about him.
Although Elizabeth says she forgives him, she doesn’t truly trust him like she did before.

In Act 2, where Elizabeth is first introduced, John comes home late and they sit and eat dinner. Within the first couple of lines, Miller successfully demonstrates the tension between John and Elizabeth. While John and Elizabeth are eating, John tells her that he just wants to make her happy; he then stands up and kisses her (Act 2. Lines 31-34). After the unsuccessful attempt to get rid of the tension in the room, he sits down unsatisfied. The awkwardness is the room arises and John realizes that she's more upset than usually and says, “I think you're sad again. Are you?”(54-56). She then refers to earlier when he arrived later than usual and said, “You come so late I thought you'd gone to Salem this afternoon” (57-62). She knows Abigail lives in Salem, so she assumed that he must have seen her. After being torn by his actions, she is entitled to feel some kind of

doubt.
Elizabeth has a way of telling John she’s upset without telling him, which uniquely shapes her character because she does so passive aggressively. John apologizes numerous times and feels guilty for what he did, but Elizabeth keeps telling him that it is not her job to judge him for his actions, yet she does so passive aggressively. In Act 2 when they started talking about John telling the town about Abigail confessing to him that it was all an act, he mentions that he could not do so because they were alone and the court possibly wouldn't take his word, but Elizabeth is just distracted by the fact that he said he was alone with Abigail Williams. Elizabeth asked, “You were alone with her?” because evidently John failed to tell her that he was alone with Abigail., instead he told her something else. Him not telling her about that small detail ruined the little trust she had for him because she said “(quietly-she has suddenly lost all faith in him). Do as you wish, then” (137-138). After saying this, she walks away and John says, “Woman. I will not have your suspicion anymore” (139- 140). Even John started noticing her attitude towards him, and he was getting tired of it. After all, he has been trying to do everything to get her forgiveness.
Elizabeth’s feelings towards John mostly remain the same throughout the play. It isn't until towards the end where her perspective of him changes. Towards the end, John goes to the court to prove that his wife is innocent to witchery, and by doing so, he goes to the court and tells Danforth that the only reason that Abigail accused Elizabeth of witchery was because she wanted her dead so that she could replace her, but like any other judge, he needed proof; so then he called for Elizabeth. Danford then asked Elizabeth if her husband “ever committed the crime of lechery” (Act 3. Line 995). Elizabeth can admit to her husband’s sins, but instead she lies to protect his name, which in the ended doomed him. After that, they were both taken to prison.
When the court wants John to admit to adultery, they ask Elizabeth to make him confess. Elizabeth and John are left alone for the first time in three months. They begin rethinking everything in their life because John would later hang. John considers admitting to the lie, and while he contemplates it, they have a brief moment, and Elizabeth begins to blame herself for John cheating on her, “I have read my heart this three month, John... It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery” Act 4. Lines 606-508).. For the first time in the play, her attitude towards the entire problem changes and she tells John she is at fault. John then confesses, but then repents it and chose death over confessing to a lie, but before he did, they had a passionate kiss (750).
In the beginning of the play, Elizabeth and John’s marriage was hanging on a hook. Elizabeth’s character struggled a great amount to be able to truly forgive her husband. It wasn’t until the end when she believed that it wasn’t only John’s fault that their marriage began to fail; she realized that he was trying to help fix what he partially broke and began to blame herself as well. But in the end, did she really believe what she said, or was it just the thought of losing him that lead her to think that way?