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The crucible from a moral and ethical view
Character and characterisation of the crucible
The theme of religion in the crucible
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Recommended: The crucible from a moral and ethical view
“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone (Romans 12:17).” This is the verse from the bible that I believe Elizabeth Proctor lives by. After being married and having children with her love and husband, John Proctor, she grew ill and they both hired a girl to help around the house. This girl was the infamous Abigail Williams, who ended up falling for John Proctor. John grew distant from Elizabeth and soon had an affair with Abigail. Elizabeth, after having regrown her strength and health, found out about John and Abigail’s lustfulness and threw Abigail out. Being the Christian women she is, she never told anyone what had happened. She still loved her husband and wanted to keep his image pure and not tainted with the words, Adulterer. She stayed with him and although he was distant, she stayed true. It had been some time but Abigail saw herself in a tough spot. She used other people to get out of it but saw an opportunity to use Elizabeth Proctor as bait. She accused Elizabeth of being a witch in hope she would be hanged and her and John could be together. Elizabeth knew of Abigail's plans but submitted …show more content…
Abigail was using the knowledge that Mary Warren has put a needle into a doll she was about to give to Goody Proctor and make it seem as though Elizabeth was using that doll for voodoo-ish purposes and stabbed Abigail. Elizabeth kept her faith in God and stood her ground. John Proctor, knowing full well the court was going to kill her at some point (since she was pregnant it delayed her hanging time) he must release the information that Abigail is just accusing Elizabeth because she wants to be with him. Saying this would mean he would confess to adultery. “I have known her, sir. I have known her” (Miller 110), are the words John Proctor had used when he fully committed himself to telling the court all that is happening. The court didn’t believe him so they called in poor
In The Crucible many people were judged unfairly. It happens to everyone, but in the time of The Crucible people were falsely accused of being a witch, and of doing other crazy things. In Act 2 Elizabeth Proctor was accused by Cheever of stabbing Abigail. Cheever found a poppet with a needle in the stomach at the Proctor house, and it just so happened that Abigail got hurt by a stabbing feeling she felt in her stomach that night. Cheever accused Elizabeth of this even though he has no proof. Elizabeth was judged unfairly which was wrong. No one has a right to judge someone, or jump to conclusion without having proof, or knowing the full story. Elizabeth Proctor was judged Unfairly in Act 2 of The Crucible.
Before the play takes place, Abigail Williams and John Proctor had an affair while Abigail was working as a servant in their home. Eventually, John confessed and apologized to Elizabeth, pledging his faithfulness to her. Nonetheless, at the time the play takes place, Elizabeth still hasn’t fully forgiven him, and gives him a hard time about it. Abigail confessed the pretense of her accusations to him when they were alone, and now he has no way to prove that she’s lying to the court. But because he was alone with her again, Elizabeth becomes angry with him. She still doubts her husband because she feels that if it were any other girl he had to go testify against, he would not hesitate. But, because it’s Abigail, John feels he has to think harder on making a decision. He doesn’t want his name spoiled by a counter-testimony. John feels he is now justified in becoming angry because for the seven months since his confession, he has done nothing but try to please his wife, and she still approaches him with suspicion and accusatio...
Elizabeth and John start to feel the tension when Elizabeth tries to convince John about going to court and persecuting Abigail but he refuses. When he disputes with his wife he argues, “you will judge me no more Elizabeth I have good reason to charge fraud on Abigail and I will think on it” (193). Proctor is not completely satisfied about throwing Abigail under the bus because he doesn’t want to initially hurt her and he would lose his respect in the town if he did. So he isn’t convinced about the fact that his wife is trying to get him to charge fraud at this point of the play. Soon afterward Mary the proctor’s servant comes home with news that Elizabeth has been convicted of witchcraft as well and was arrested by the sheriff in town to be brought to the trials.
She was put in the middle of the situation because she lied to the court about the affair with Abigail not knowing that John already admitted to it. That situation made both Elizabeth and John look bad. Some say that the truths will you set you free but in this case all it did was digging a deeper hole for the Proctor’s. Abigail tried to say that Elizabeth was dancing with the devil and the people believed it and started prosecuting every potential
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
Early on in the play, the reader comes to understand that John Proctor has had an affair with Abigail Williams while she was working in his home. Abigail believed that if she got rid of Elizabeth Proctor, then John Proctor would become her own. John Proctor had an affair with Abigail, but for him it was just lust, while Abigail believed it to be true love. She told John Proctor that she loved him, and once she destroys Elizabeth, they would be free to love one another. John is horrified at this, but can do nothing to convince Abigail that he is not in love with her. Because of Abigail's twisted plot to secure John for herself, Elizabeth is arrested. John Proctor has to wrestle with the decision of what to do. He knows that he has sinned; yet he does not want to hurt his beloved wife. This is partly why he is willing to die. He knows he has already sinned.
Her motive for accusing others of witchcraft is because she wants to get rid of Elizabeth so that she can be John’s “perfect wife,” and because she does not want to get in trouble. Abigail is the perfect foil for anyone who is even slightly honest. Elizabeth, on the other hand, “have never lied.” John Proctor said to Danforth, “There are them that cannot sing, and them that cannot weep--my wife cannot lie.” She fires Abigail as her servant when she finds out about an affair between Abigail and her husband.
Abigail was able to easily deceive and manipulate the court to try and get what she had set her eyes on, being John Proctor; a much older, married man who had had an affair with Abigail once when she was a sort of servant in his household. After finding of this, his wife Elizabeth had banished Abigail from their house. Abigail sought revenge...
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
Elizabeth Proctor has many moments which show how she is changing throughout the play. When she is trying to persuade Proctor to tell the court that Abigail said the girls were not practicing witchcraft, Elizabeth blurts out, "John, if it were not Abigail that you must go to hurt, would you falter now? I think not." Elizabeth is confessing that she believes Proctor had an affair with Abigail. She is giving him no mercy by showing that she will never forget what happened. When Elizabeth is being accused of stabbing Abigail, she instructs Proctor to go to court, and tells him "Oh, John, bring me soon!" Elizabeth is gaining trust in John. She is forgetting his act of adultery and now has faith that he will defend her. At the end of the play, when Proctor is sentenced to death, Elizabeth says that "he [has] his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!" Elizabeth is admitting that John was righteous to confess his sin of lechery, and she should have pardoned him. She considers herself impure for not showing mercy, and does not want to take away from his glory. Elizabeth has transformed from an ignorant victim of adultery, to a forgiving, loving wife.
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.
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..."
Without a doubt, Abigail convinces the group of girls to not speak about the night, or she will make them regret it. Clearly, Abigail makes them lie to save herself. As Betty whimpers in bed, she says “You drank blood Abby! You didn’t tell him that… You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!”(Miller 18). Abigail uses the threat of violence to manipulate Betty when she says “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…”(Miller 19). This shows Abby’s personality is manipulative and evil. As the reader can tell, Abigail says this because she knows there will be consequences for her. Additionally, Abigail lies another time when she plants revenge on Elizabeth Proctor. With this in mind, Abigail claims Elizabeth stabbed her
...of desperation he confesses to having an affair with Abigail and then explains this is why Abigail wishes to kill Elizabeth. When the court still does not believe him he cries out, “I have rung rung the doom of my good name - you will believe me” (Miller 111). Even though John Procter ruins his honor to stop Abigail, Elizabeth is still sentenced to hang. Even though it is obvious Abigail is manipulating the court so she can murder her enemies, the court choses not to even investigate Abigail. This is because witch trials are driven by fear. Fear and hysteria causes people to believe things that are clearly false. Using this, Abigail was able to convince the court Elizabeth was a witch. Abigail uses the court system get rid of Elizabeth and sentence her to death. These developments are only possible because persecutions driven by hysteria are easily manipulated.
The first reason Abigail is to blame for the deaths of the innocent Puritans is her lustful personal ambition to be John Proctor’s wife. John and Abigail previously had an affair, which basically began the hysteria. An exasperated John attempted to tell Abigail the affair is a thing of the past, by saying, “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.” Abigail, however, relentlessly strives to keep their “romance” alive. Because of this intense jealousy of John’s wife, there is an enormous amount of tension between Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail even goes as far as to consume a potion with the intent to murder Elizabeth, which Betty confronts her about by saying, “You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!” Abigail is so envious of Elizabeth, she does the unthinkable by accusing her of witchcraft. She claims that Goody Proctor’s spirit came to her and stabbed her with a needle. She felt that if she could dispose of Elizabeth Proctor, she could take her rightful position as John’s wife.