Prequel to The Crucible
[John Proctor and Abigail Williams are talking in front of the house of Proctor. It is evening and the stars glitter above brightly. John Proctor is returning from his work when Abigail stops him and gives him a firm kiss on his left cheek. Abigail and John are both unaware that Elizabeth Proctor is watching from the window.]
John: Abigail, you know not to kiss me anymore. I have told you I will never reach out to you again. You must not tempt me. [John backs away from her as if she were the devil himself.]
Abigail: Pray, do not push me away, John. Goody Proctor will never find out. Nay, she does not eve suspect in the least. She is blind to our flirtations.
John: She is not! Since that day I failed to hold to my
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commandments she has not looked at me the same. I feel a cold chill when I see her for I feel she knows but wants to deny it to herself. Abigail: She does not know, if she did she would have relinquished my employment at your house. If she knew, she would charge us both and bring the wrath of God down upon my head. She does not know! John: Even if she doesn’t know, my heart aches because I have betrayed her. I will be a good husband and father again. Pray leave me Abigail and tempt me no more. [John storms into the house leaving Abigail alone in the cold world outside of their house.] Elizabeth: John? John? Is that you? [Elizabeth walks out of the kitchen to find her husband, John, standing at the table looking like he was in a trance.] John? John: Wha… What is it Elizabeth? Elizabeth: The sun has gone down. You are usually settled with your pipe by now. John: We have just started working on the fields and I did not want to lose a minute of sunlight. Elizabeth: John, I feel as though you are hiding something from me. [Elizabeth searches his eyes with her own.] John: There is naught I might have to hide. I am just lost in thing over the planting this season. The sun is burning hotter this year. Elizabeth: Well then, let us have a dinner, and we will discuss my heavy heart later. [Elizabeth calls through the door.] Abigail, it’s time for supper. Finish your chores and come in. [Abigail walks through the door. She looks at Goody Proctor, and then she makes eye contact with John just in time for Elizabeth to notice.] John: So Elizabeth, what will we be having for supper? Elizabeth: Stew, we are having rabbit stew. We have an endless stock recently. [They sit down and eat. No one really talks and there is an awkward silence that is making everyone uncomfortable. Elizabeth and John exchange glances but not a word is spoken until Abigail says that the food is delicious. Elizabeth thanks her and they eat. After they finish their food, Abigail retires to her quarters, and while Goody Proctor picks up the dishes, she and John talk.] Elizabeth: What are you holding close to your heart? What burden do you need to bare John? I see heaviness behind your eyes. John: Nay, woman. Get it out of your head, there is naught that I am hiding! That is just worry and fear. Our boys need hearty meals on their plates, and I mean to provide them. Elizabeth: If you do not wish to tell me then that’s fine, but remember I gave you a chance to open with me. John: Open? You want confession? You are not a preacher, Elizabeth. I have naught to reveal. Elizabeth: Preacher, nay.
Wife, aye. And a faithful wife too. [She wrings her hands and leans in to look deeper into his eyes for a sign.] But you, I saw you kiss Abigail today. I know that you and Abigail have been together. John, I know this and there is no doubt in my mind. I have been trying to forget it, but every time I see Abigail the pictures appear inside of my head. John, you have broken not only one of God’s commandments, but you have also broken the vows that you made to me on our wedding day. Pray John, do not make this difficult for me. Don’t deny it. I know the truth! Please tell me why you would do this! Mark all the years we have held each other’s heart and what about our three boys? John? Why?
John: [With terror in his eyes. He sees his past and future slipping away]
Elizabeth, it meant nothing. Abigail tempted me, and my body’s desires over powered my will to say no. I did not want this to happen! Elizabeth, I am sorry. I love you. And I love our family. I could not fight against the desires of my flesh. Elizabeth, can you please forgive me?
Elizabeth: [Holding back tears.] John, I will never forgive you! I loved you, but now cold is the only thing I feel in my heart. You betrayed me and I will never forgive you! [Elizabeth runs into her room and slams the door behind her. Muffled crying can be heard through the
door.] John: Elizabeth, Elizabeth!
John Proctor a well-respected man in the city of Salem has a deep secret that plays a major role later on in the story. He had an intimate affair with a younger single girl named Abigail which he regrets greatly. Proctor shows his disgust when he argues with Abigail by insisting, “Abby I never give you hope to wait for me” (page168). Proctor exclaims that he surely regrets his sin and doesn’t want Abigail to think that he loves her and not his own wife. Although Proctor may still have feelings about Abigail he reassures her that he will never have emotional relationships with her ever again.
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.
Elizabeth is angry that John was having an affair with Abigail. John feels that he has endured enough. He knows what he did was not right, but he demands to Elizabeth that he needed a passion that she was not giving him. John uses emotional appeal to enforce his claim. She is offended at his suggestion that it was her fault that he was cheating on her. John says that he is only
The most important scene in the play was act two, scene three, where John Proctor is able to talk with his wife, Elizabeth, one last time. He decides that he will "confess" to the crime of witchcraft, thereby avoiding being hung. He says to Elizabeth:
A soft word” (Miller 22). Abigail evidently still wishes for involvement with John, pleading with him to ‘give [her] a soft word’. This hints that her devotion to John takes place on an emotional level, rather than just a physical one, as she wants him to comfort her. She is telling lies about me!
She said to the girls “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you”. (Miller 20) Abigail only wanted one thing she could not have which was a married man. When in court John begins to reveal his affair with Abigail. However Abigail is asked about the affair with John Proctor and she completely denies it.
Although Aristotle's tragic hero would be a character in a high social or political standing, Arthur Miller portrays John Proctor as a common farmer that is honest and living a respectable life in a Puritan town with a wife and three children. However, as the play opens, the audience discovers that Proctor has a significant secret, which was his affair with a young girl named Abigail Williams. Abigail doesn't want to believe that it is over between her and John and tries to kill Elizabeth Proctor by engaging in witchcraft with a few other girls in the town. As the town uncovers the antics of the girls and are outraged, the girls start to cry out names of others they have supposedly seen with the Devil in order to save themselves. Therefore, the audience perceives that the affair between John and Abigail is the instigator of all the hysteria surrounding the witch trials, signifying the consequences of a small human error.
Elizabeth, ‘reasonably’: John, have you ever shown her somewhat of contempt? She cannot pass you in the church but you will blush-
Her relationship with John Proctor and her animosity to Goody Proctor also interest is as they are reasons why Elizabeth Proctor was accused as a witch and later the death of John. Abigail loved John but John only lusted because of strains in his marriage. When Elizabeth expelled Abigail, John gave up. This is shown when Abigail asked John."Give me a word,John. A soft word." John replies,"I will cut of my hand before I'll ever reach for you again." Abigail cannot have John, this caused bitterness and hatred towards Elizabeth. She says," She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me, She is a cold, snivelling woman..."
While Goody Proctor was sick and bedridden, John had an intimate relationship with the housemaid Abigail. In Act III, Mr. Proctor states, "I have known her, sir. I have known her." Mr. Danforth asks John what place the intimate relationship takes place and in response, he replies with "In the proper place, where my beasts are bedded...A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything." During Act II, in the beginning, John and Elizabeth are arguing about the witch trials that have started because of Abigail Williams and her friends. There is a lot of tension in the Proctor house. John makes a statement, "It's winter in here yet." He says this referring to the unfriendly relationship between them. This shows the Proctors obviously have a lot they need to work on to build up their relationship.
However, every hero has his or her flaws. For Proctor it is that he is unfaithful. The story shows that John Proctor had an affair with Abigail Williams the Seven Teen Year old Girl. This action took place behind Johns’ wife Elizabeth, until she found out and kicked Abigail out of the house. After this Proctor tried his very best to forget all that had happened, and became a better husband. This crucial mistake is what sparked, Abigail and despised her, and in which she ended up accusing her. In order to prove his wife’s innocence, John realized he would have to confess to his crime. Though he does not come out and say he had an affair, he gives indications of it. “I have known her sir, I have known her” (49), he says as he shows everyone the unfaithful man beneath his great image. Adding on to that, he later states, “And will she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted and there is a promise in such sweat” (49). Usually, if one were unfaithful, it would result in the lack of trust from others. However, in John’s case it was the opposite. When Elizabeth were asked if his confession was true, she had lied to save his name, resulting in no one believing him, making him seem like a liar, which only worsened his
“Well, all the plays that I was trying to write were plays that would grab an audience by the throat and not release them, rather than presenting an emotion which you could observe and walk away from.” by Arthur Miller. All great works provide a way to reach in and grab the audience through the reoccurring themes like, greed, jealousy, reputation and hypocrisy. Arthur Miller had one of those great works and it was called “The Crucible”. The play was based off of the witch trials that happened in Salem in the year of 1962. Some of the characters were actual characters involved in the witch trials. Arthur Miller wrote this play during the time of the “Red Scare”. Miller wrote The Crucible because he wanted to turn the The Salem Witch Trials into
Abigail was willing to do anything in order to avenge her lustful feelings for John, and his denial of her. When he was fighting for his wife to be released from prison, Abigail fought as well, to keep her in. After hearing her account, John Proctor said that “A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you-see her what she is. My wife, my dear good wife, took this girl soon after,
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.
To further complicate matters, John decides not to reveal to the court that Abigail has admitted to him in private that they were just sporting in the woods. Abigail spreads additional accusations and false rumors about her neighbors. These accusations have no basis in truth and their only purpose is for Abigail’s own benefit. Furthermore, Abigail is jealous of John’s wife, Elizabeth, and she schemes to get rid of her in order to take her place. Abigail’s plot is to accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft.