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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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
Abigail is in love with John since they lusted one time. Abigail will never forget that; she wants to be with him. “I have a sense for heart, John, and yours has drawn on to my wind…” page 23 Act One. This quote proves that she has very strong feelings for John. Elizabeth loves John since they are married. Their religion is another reason they are different. Abigail goes against her religion by constantly lying, causing trouble, and lusting. “She comes to me every night to go and drink blood.” Page 44 Act One. This quote proves that Abigail is a lair because she lies on Tituba to save herself. According to the text “… Is your husband a lecher?” Danforth accuses. “No, Sir” Elizabeth responded. Act three page 113. This was the first time Elizabeth Proctor lies; she only lies to save her husband. This proves that Abigail is a wicked Puritan and Elizabeth is
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:
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 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.
John Proctor is a man with many secrets and fatal flaws. His lust for Abigail Williams led to him having affair, and created Abby’s bitter envy toward his wife Elizabeth Proctor. “Abby I may think of you softly from time to time but I will cut off my hand before I ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind. We never touched Abby” (Miller 177) John Proctor denied that he had an affair with Abby. Then Abigail utter these words “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge
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.
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..."
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,
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
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.
"My honesty is broke, Elizabeth; I am no good man. Nothing's spoiled by giving them this lie that were not rotten long before.