In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the relationship between Abigail Williams, Elizabeth Proctor, and John Proctor in act one seems to be a rising conflict throughout the book. Ever since Abigail’s affair with John Proctor, she has been out to get Elizabeth for it. In act one Abigail tells John that “I never knew what pretense salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men...you loved me John Proctor” (Miller 24). Abigail is clearly confessing her love to John and she has no sense of closure between the two but John on the other hand, wants nothing but to put their relationship in the past. As she begs for his love back, her anger continues to grow and we began to realize …show more content…
He is an older man and Abigail on the other hand, is a much younger girl. Abigail was also in court before John, giving her an advantage to already start making statements to cover herself up and make her lies far more believable. The court is already not believing John and he begins to become furious and loses his temper by shouting “How do you mean call heaven! Whore! Whore!” (Miller 109). He is irritated that the court isn't taking his word. During act four, John just goes entirely off and come clean. He admits to his affair with Abigail and talks about how truly sorry he is and how it was a mistake. He is quite guilty and addresses his fault, “I have confessed myself” (Miller 142). Now that John Proctor has confessed, it's like weight has been lifted off his shoulders. He makes it very clear that he would rather be dead than having to deal with the continuous judging that he is about to receive from the people of Salem. At the end of the play, John is sentenced to be hanged and he agrees to the decision, believing it will somehow please Elizabeth and bring her peace. He would rather die as an honorable man rather than lying to save
However, this is inaccurate because he avoids Abigail and risks everything for his wife. Elizabeth was taken by the court because she was accused for being a witch, but John knows she is a good women and fights for her. Elizabeth is worth the trouble of going to the court and defying the government. It is honorable for a husband to protect his wife after all they are family. John is talking to the court and tell the court a secret that no one knows about, John’s reputation is on the line.
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams and John Proctor are known to have had an adulterous affair with one another. Even though both John Proctor and Abigail are worthy of blame for their actions, Abigail is the most culpable of the two. In The Crucible, Abigail is the most to blame because of her “tempting” Proctor to carrying out the act more. During Act 1, Abigail is shown to keep egging on Proctor although he does not want to have the affair with her anymore.
John did tell the truth, about him and Abigail having an affair, to his wife Elizabeth. When Elizabeth suggests “I think you much tell him (Hale), John.” John did not want to tell the truth to Hale of the affair. When John admits to committing adultery to the court, nobody believes him because he waited so long the court thought it was just an attempt to save himself and Elizabeth from the charges they face.
Abigail says to Proctor in Act I, “Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be-,” then John cuts her off and says “You will speak nothin’ of Elizabeth!” (1270). In this Abigail is showing her anger to John about how he is now staying committed to his wife and trying his best to keep Abigail out of his life. When asked why Arthur Miller asked why he decided to make Abigail and John have an affair, he said he “…Could find no good reason why Abigail distinguished so vehemently between the guilt of a husband and a wife. So I took creative license with her character to make the connection between sexuality and politics more dramatic,” (Shmoop).
The scene is needed to confirm that Abigail’s actions are motivated by her love for John Proctor. When John Proctor comes over to see what is wrong with Betty in Act One, Abigail believes that John has come to see her. She informs him that she knows that he truly lovers her. Proctor denies her ludicrous statement, but she doesn’t believe him claiming, “You love me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!” (Miller 22).
One quote from the play that supports this is “ Gah! I’d almost forgot how strong you are John Proctor!” This proves that Abigail still had feelings for John Proctor, and that she still lusts for him. Another example is “John- I am waiting for you every night.” This shows her obsession
This shows that John is a merciful being and desires forgiveness from his wife and God, therefore demonstrating traits of a good man. Furthermore, John has a heated argument with his wife, due to his encounter with Abigail, alone. Although, he thinks his wife will doubt him, she states on the contrary, “I do not judge you. The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you. I never thought you but a good man, John - only somewhat bewildered” (55).
In the Crucible, many of the characters go through changes because of the intensity of the situation. But there is only one character that I think changed the most, and that is John Proctor who is the protagonist of the novel The Crucible by Arthur Miller. I think that John Procotor changes the most in the Crucible because he is in every act and mostly in every scene, and throughtout the play I see more drama (Dynamic Character) in him than any other character in the Crucible and I will go through and tell you how John Proctor changes in the Crucible. In the beginning of the play (Acts 1 and 2), we focus on John Proctor and we know that he is a good puritan citizen, a hard-working farmer and who is a husband and father.
He was given the choice to either confess to being apart of witchcraft and be spared or not confess and get hanged. He is allowed to talk this over with his wife and at first they decide it would be better to confess even though they know he didn’t do anything! At this point in the play John realizes that it is not the right thing to do. He says “ How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul now give me your name.”
John could have used this opportunity to get revenge on Abigail. Instead he makes the honorable decision to personally redeem himself from his previous mistakes. Earlier in the play he claimed that Mary and the girls were “God damn all liars” (Miller 117). This quote demonstrates John judging people for their sins, which is exactly what he claimed he does not do. It shows a dramatic change in his character, a change in personal
When John and Elizabeth are arguing over how John was in Salem and how he should tell the court what Abigail told him, John snaps at Elizabeth. He says “I say I will think on it!”. He is a little aggressive and very cold towards her when he says this. This shows the reader that he does not respect her because if he did, he would not be so rude to her. Next, John is saying how he was alone in a room with Abigail when she told him that there was really no witchcraft in the town.
In the play along with the movie The Crucible, John Proctor and Abigail Williams have interesting relationship bound by adultery and lies. Abigail becomes obsessed with John and will do anything to be with him. John quickly shuts down her fantasy ideas and tells her that what happened between them was a one-time thing that will never take place again and a mistake on his part. With this knowledge, she soon spends all her time plotting to get John all to herself and to make him fall in love with her, even if that means taking out John’s wife, Elizabeth. We see many examples of this forbidden relationship through their secret encounters and arguments in both examples of the story, still, there were more scenes of John and Abby alone in the movie than in the play.
If he did confess, he would ruin his and his family’s reputation. John Proctor was very conflicted. He came to his wife looking insight. Elizabeth was untrusting of John because of his affair with Abigail. She said, “John, you are not open with me.
A lot of what John Proctor does in The Crucible is to save his wife Elizabeth. When John Proctor says, "I will bring you home. I will bring you soon."(Miller 77) he promises to save his wife from being hanged for witchcraft. This also shows John’s love for his wife, Elizabeth, and his choosing of this love over his lust for Abigail.
John Proctor’s words towards Elizabeth signal irritation and annoyance. John Proctor, the main character of The Crucible, has an affair with a much younger girl, Abigail Williams, breaking his wife, Elizabeth’s trust in him. Her suspicion of him rises when he tells her he was in a room alone with Abigail. Elizabeth’s growing mistrust begins to aggravate John, which is revealed when he says, “I’ll not have your suspicion any more” (489). Elizabeth is doubtful after learning about John’s affair with Abigail and her lack of trust in her husband begins to anger him.