Diction And Subtext Of An Exchange In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

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On page 47 of The Crucible, John Proctor just came home after we were in --- described as ---. The first thing Elizabeth says, “Elizabeth: What keeps you up so late? It’s almost dark?” On the surface, it seems as though Elizabeth is just asking about John and maybe is a bit concerned, but if we look at the diction and subtext of this exchange we can tell that this is not exactly the message conveyed. This is our first time meeting Elizabeth and we know only what Abigail, the young girl John cheated on Elizabeth with, has told us about her. As you can imagine, Abigail does describe her as the greatest person. So, given the subtext Elizabeth sounds very accusatory and, even though John is the one that has done something wrong, under the surface