Character revelation is how a character is portrayed to the audience. The relationship between John and Elizabeth Proctor in Arthur Miller's, The Crucible is presented in two different stages throughout the play. The first stage is a troubled relationship lacking in chemistry. The second stage is that of acceptance, presenting a clear picture to the audience of the love between John and Elizabeth.
The First Stage
The relationship is cold, lacking in chemistry, it is very awkward.
There is a gap between John and Elizabeth that creates the coldness. Both are aware of this.
John says,
"You ought to bring some flowers in the house...It's winter in here yet." (51)
The relationship is awkward because neither John nor Elizabeth know how to talk to each other. Elizabeth is still suspicious of John. She says,
"– She doesn't want friction, and yet she must: You come so late I though you'd gone to Salem this afternoon." (51)
Elizabeth is constantly worried that John has gone to see Abigail.
John feels guilt for what he has done.
He feels that he will never live it down, and feels that Elizabeth will never forgive him.
John says,
"Spare me! You forget nothin' and forgive nothin'...I have gone tiptoe in this house all seven month since she is gone. I have not moved...without I think to please you,...I cannot speak but I am doubted..."(54-55)
This is also shown when he says,
"I see now your spirit twists around the single error of my life, and I will never tear it free!"(62)
He suffers from self-hate. John's guilt is shown when he cannot remember the commandment about adultery.
Elizabeth says,
"Adultery, John." (67)
He wants to make Elizabeth happy.
John says,
"If the crop is good I'll buy George Jacob's heifer...I mean to please you, Elizabeth."(50)
Lack of chemistry and trust, John's self-hate and guilt, and the uncertainty of how to speak to each other creates the gap between the two in the first stage presented to the audience.
The Second Stage
This stage starts around the end of Act Two.
Throughout the rest of the play, John and Elizabeth have time to think about what happened between them.
Both come to an acceptance.
John accepts himself, and his actions.
Elizabeth accepts what has happened and part of the blame.
This stage shows the true love and chemistry between the two.
John's passionate love for his wife is shown at the beginning of this stage.
John says when Elizabeth is being arrested,
"I will fall like an ocean on the court! Fear nothing, Elizabeth!"(78)
Elizabeth loved John and he loved her back, but Zeena and Ethan didn’t love each other. John didn’t leave Elizabeth for Abigail, while Ethan was going to leave Zeena for Mattie. Also, Elizabeth actually talked to John, while Zeena wasn’t around Ethan that much to talk to him. Elizabeth was seen doing housework and taking care of their kids. Zeena wasn’t seen often because she didn’t do housework; she was mostly alone upstairs. Another difference was that, Elizabeth ad John had kids and Zeena and Ethan did not. It proves that Elizabeth and John loved each other, and Ethan just needed Zeena, so he wouldn’t be lonely. Elizabeth stopped the affair by firing Abigail. While, Zeena tried to but Ethan and Mattie tried to commit suicide so they wouldn’t have to live without each other; they just got injured making Zeena take care of Mattie. In the end of The Crucible, John dies because he wouldn’t admit to witchcraft. Earlier in the book, John confessed to his relationship with Abigail, but Abigail refused his acknowledgement of the affair. The judges called in Elizabeth to see if it was true because John said that she never lies. She lies to protect John when he needed her to tell the truth. If she would have told the truth, she could have saved his and many others lives. In the end of Ethan Frome, Zeena ends up taking care of Ethan and Mattie. Zeena pushed Ethan away causing Ethan to think about running away with Mattie. Ethan and Mattie didn’t want to live without each other. Mattie, in result, was paralyzed. Zeena now lives with Mattie, the woman who tried to steal her husband, and Ethan, who still loves Mattie. If Zeena would have learned to love Ethan, nothing would have happened. Elizabeth’s and Zeena’s actions allowed their relationship with their husbands to be ruin by their
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.
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.
When people are put in tense and difficult situations, they lose control. John and Elizabeth Proctor, and Mary warren, all exhibit this throughput the play. John exhibits courage, in the sense that he found the strength to keep his name and lose his life rather than keep sinning and lie. Mary Warren displays weakness when she falls to Abby once again, in the end, instead of sticking to her story and assisting John, in freeing Elizabeth. Elizabeth illustrated how difficult it was to tell the truth in life or death situations. All three of these characters, and their traits, represent what “The Crucible,” is about, courage, weakness, and
The affair also caused Elizabeth to distrust John, who for seven months was trying to get into her good graces and is tired of her suspicion. He bluntly tells her "...I have not moved from there to there without I think to please you.
Elizabeth, ‘reasonably’: John, have you ever shown her somewhat of contempt? She cannot pass you in the church but you will blush-
One definition of "crucible" is "a severe test of patience and belief, or a trial". This definition pertains to Arthur Miller's four-act play, "The Crucible." The definition is suiting, because it is during this play that the wills of innocent women and men are put to the test when they are accused of things they did not do. It was the ultimate trial of determination and willpower to withstand such a wretched ordeal. Abigail Williams, Elizabeth and John Proctor, Mary Warren, Reverend Parris and even Reverend Hale had changed drastically because of what they had to go through during the course of the play. However, other characters such as Ezekiel Cheever and Marshall Herrick did not really change noticeably. Reverend Parris and Reverend Hale are two characters in "The Crucible" that did change, and Ezekiel Cheever is one that did not.
Shannon L. Alder once said, “Sometimes painfully lost people can teach us lessons that we didn 't think we needed to know, or be reminded of---the more history changes, the more it stays the same.” Salem has been teeming with rumors of witchcraft since the 1600s, which is evident in the different sources and stories about witchcraft that supposedly took place there along with the intense and lethal trials.Throughout the different articles and the novel centered on Salem and the witchcraft trials that occurred there, a recurring pattern is apparent, those within Salem have quickly turned on each other and resorted to mayhem and chaos when there are not reasons for strange events.
Elizabeth try’s the easiest way out of things. She cannot control what she does. She’ll have the loud cry for help without saying the words. Her actions speak so much louder than her words. Elizabeth had never once told someone to help her, she would just be screaming crying throwing a fit on the bathroom floor, almost killing herself.
Trust: John doesn’t have lots of vocabularies and even the words he says are not clear or he
In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, justice and injustice is portrayed through the characters of John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams. It is also shown through the minor characters of Mary Warren and Mercy Lewis, followers of Abigail Williams, and through Danforth and various townspeople.
The primary dramatic focus in the play The Crucible is the moral struggle of its protagonist, John Proctor. Certain characteristics of John Proctor's character and also the environment of the Puritanical Salem alleviated this problem for him. The main issues running through out the play are a series of dilemmas that John Proctor faces. The first and foremost of these is his guilt over his adulterous affair with Abigail Williams, the second his hesitation to testify against Abigail to bring out the truth and the third, his final decision to make the ultimate sacrifice.
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.
A crucible refers to a harsh test, and in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, each person is challenged in a severe test of his or her character or morals. Many more people fail than pass, but three notable characters stand out. Reverend John Hale, Elizabeth Proctor, and John Proctor all significantly change over the course of the play.
In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller goes into detail about the historical event, the Salem witchcraft trials which took place in Massachusetts in 1692. The drama centers on John and Elizabeth Proctor and a young girl Abigail Williams, whom John Proctor has committed adultery with. In order to get rid of Elizabeth so that Abigail can have John to herself Abigail accuses John’s wife of witchcraft, a crime that was highly frowned upon. John proctor goes through a series of changes from being a horrible person who cheated on his wife to a tragic hero who will give up his life to say his wife. John proctor is viewed as many things in this play but at the end he come out an honest and noble man.