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Elizabeth Proctor's Expectations Of Women In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

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In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the expectation was that wives were to be “homemaker[s]” (Martine 55). Homemakers were not educated and did not participate in the benefit of the town, but were only there for the benefit of the husbands. Elizabeth Proctor, the wife of the antagonist John Proctor, did not accept those degrading expectations and redefined her role in society. Miller portrays Elizabeth’s evolving pride in relation to her duty as a wife to illustrate that in a world that values female meekness, a woman who holds herself and her morals above society’s expectations may find her beliefs misinterpreted. In the short term, that woman may suppress her pride and adapt to the expectation of meekness in order to be more understood. …show more content…

Elizabeth encourages Proctor to go to Salem to testify against the witchcraft accusations after Abigail tells him there was no witchcraft involved. Proctor dismisses her attempts by saying he’ll think about it, but Elizabeth replies “with her courage now: You cannot keep it in, John” (53). Courage is the ability to face danger when fear is involved. It is perilous for Elizabeth to go against someone with a higher social status than herself since her devotion to her husband could be doubted. With that suspicion, her loyalty to her religion could also get questioned and she could be sentenced to death. However, her self-pride overlooks these consequences and she experiences no fear, continuing to urge Proctor to tell the truth about his affair. Proctor, the protagonist who isolates himself from Salem and the church in order to not get caught up in hypocrisy, ironically is more aligned with society than his wife. That elevates his status over Elizabeth’s in the town, but not in Elizabeth’s perspective. She notices this aspect in Proctor and individually elevates herself higher than his status in their home. Hence she goes against Proctor and society’s belief that women should be submissiveness. Having faith in her own morality, Elizabeth becomes Proctor’s moral …show more content…

When asked if Proctor committed adultery, the adherer of truth looks “at Proctor for a cue” and “faintly” replies “no, sir” (112-113). To faintly say something is to say it quietly and indistinctly, without ardor. Elizabeth takes on this situation without the assertiveness she normally possess. The moment she came into the courtroom, she looked at Proctor to figure out what she should say. Elizabeth is faced with a dilemma to either be honest and have her husband imprisoned, or yield her moral code and prove her loyalty to Proctor. In an attempt to value Proctor as a member of society, she submits to his desire to keep quiet about the affair and “faintly” tells the court he is not an adulterer. However, he already confessed to it. After she lies and gets taken away, Proctor finally understands her actions and tells the court she was only lying to protect his

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233 Words | 1 Pages

“Let you look for the goodness in me, and judge me not.” John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth Proctor both endure a crucible or severe moral test. Elizabeth is put to the test various times during the play including when she was asked if her husband is a adulterer. John Proctor makes the descion to admit he had relations with Abigail williams.

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678 Words | 3 Pages

The novel’s most prominent point of the cruelty of Puritanism can be found in the fact that women are portrayed as weak creatures, who are expected to submit to men, and whose only access to power is through deceptive methods. None of the females in The Crucible possessed extreme power, but the truthful, transparent, and unadulterated women seem to be even less powerful than the rest of the female roles. Elizabeth Proctor and Rebecca Nurse are two of the less powerful women in The Crucible. “Both of their lives are driven by the desire to protect and serve their families and communities” (Alter 1).

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256 Words | 2 Pages

Elizabeth Proctor is good wife with all kindness, moral and upright assembling in her personality. The only weakness of her is cold and indifferent emotion, and it is kind of the indirect cause of John Proctor’s affair with their housekeeper, Abigail Williams. Then she’s got a good reason to be kind of distant and suspicious. “You were alone with her? Why, then, it is not as you told me.

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1414 Words | 6 Pages

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, most of the characters are those of weak values, afraid to stand up for what is truly right. They see the actions of others, willing to give their lives to show that the leaders have it all wrong, and continue to persecute innocent people. Elizabeth is not such a character; she is devoted, strong and sees what is wrong in Salem. She does not give in to the lies, despite it nearly costing her life. Elizabeth Proctor’s strength and bravery help her to endure a struggling marriage, an accusation of witchcraft, and her husband’s actions as a martyr.

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967 Words | 4 Pages

Likewise, when Elizabeth is brought before Danforth to verify Proctor’s confession, she lies to protect her husband, whom she refers to as a “goodly man,” from suspicion (Miller, 113). The affair may have caused Elizabeth to doubt Proctor but both parties still care deeply for each other and try to protect each other from harm. Even in his last moments, Proctor’s last words- “Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!”- were directed toward Elizabeth and were full of love and care (Miller, 144). Proctor may have sinned but his regret over his affair with Abigail and the trouble he had brought upon his wife justifies his

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1948 Words | 8 Pages

He hopes to save Elizabeth by confessing his lechery and to expose Abigail. He thinks Danforth and Hathorne will believe him because he has a high reputation in the community. They do not believe him because his wife did not validate his words. 6. How is Elizabeth’s testimony used against Proctor?

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He overcomes this struggle, trying to stay committed to his already upset wife, but he had already committed a treacherous sin. John Proctor had to live the rest of his days with the loathsome guilt towards himself. Throughout the novel, John Proctor debates whether or not he is an honest man. Even though he keeps his sin a secret from the rest of the town, his wife knows that he’s an adulterer.

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626 Words | 3 Pages

Tell the children I have gone to visit someone sick” (Miller 83) and left. Clearly, Proctor’s action and attitude considered as rebellion from society and authority, where he had ripped out a warrant from court to deliver the message of “my wife will not go to court for a crime that she didn’t committed”. Although Proctor had illustrated his manhood to protect his wife by challenge the authority, but his voice was powerless compare with court authority. Therefore, Elizabeth in compliance with the authority figures because she was responsible to obey rules and laws as citizens. Further, her fear disclosed the power of individual in Puritan society, since her family’s voice was unheard and ignore, and she cannot defend herself from crime.

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1088 Words | 5 Pages

flash! Reverend Parris responds with reasonable frenzy to the possibility of heavenly powers, releasing themselves, however later he is one of the best advocates of this view. What causes this turnabout? And they talk about all of the trials they are going thru

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971 Words | 4 Pages

When a woman is accused of being a witch and her life is in danger in 1600’s Salem, MA what recourse does she have to protect herself? Women of the time had no authority; they were seen as property of the men they married or were born to. Arthur Miller’s The Crucible takes place during the famous Salem witch trials. It all starts when young Abigail Williams has an affair with John Proctor and practices witchcraft in an attempt to kill John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth.

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959 Words | 4 Pages

The Feminist Part of The Crucible. Feminism In the novel The Crucible by Arthur Miller, I see a lot of feminism present throughout Salem, Massachusetts in the 1960s. One way it is present is with how men hold all the power, with jobs and they have more power than women in all. Also, Miller makes it seem like women are liars during the whole play.

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914 Words | 4 Pages

Proctor is widely respected in the Salem community. However, he has a secret that threatens his reputation. He cheated on his wife Elizebeth Proctor with Abigail Williams. As a result, he has a strong internal conflict regarding his integrity. Proctor is a benevolent man at heart, however he has sinned according to puritan law.

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872 Words | 4 Pages

Proctor’s guilt is present when he, attempts to pay for his sins by giving his wife materialistic objects, hesitates to obey his wife's suggestion to accuse Abigail of false bewitchment, and breaks out in anger for not wanting to be judged any longer. The romantic relationship between the Proctor’s is undoubtedly extinguished, but even casual engagement cannot exist without tension since everything John Proctor says to Elizabeth is a symbol of repentance. He offers Elizabeth the possession of a cow and expresses “with a grin” that all he

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526 Words | 3 Pages

Elizabeth counts herself as “plain”, which exemplifies her character’s stereotype as a housewife (Miller 137). Puritan beliefs held that women served their husbands, which Elizabeth strives to do (Miller 50). At one point in the play, she finds herself unable to prevent a servant from leaving the home, which leads to her husband having to “hold back a full condemnation of her” (Miller 52). Elizabeth would be punished for this failure if she were any other woman with any other husband, but John shows an example of a better man in Salem, which only proves to show how misogynist Salem society is. Although not treated as poorly as some of the other women in The Crucible, Elizabeth stays within a certain behavioral pattern of

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1410 Words | 6 Pages

The social pattern of patriarchy and woman subordination has pervaded much of history, and consequently, has found itself as a timeless theme in literature. The portrayal of women in literature has also been a constant debate throughout time, and many female characters in literature either promote negative stereotypes, encourage the transcendence of patriarchy, or a blend of both. Such is the case for Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, wherein Miller’s portrayal of female characters, such as Abigail Williams, can certainly be viewed as one-sided and offensive Yet, the depiction of women in the play is not exclusively oppressive, for example, Elizabeth Proctor, who is clearly transcendent of the madness of Salem society. The women of the play are also frequently looked down upon and objectified by male characters, namely by John Proctor, which could also be a statement on the seemingly timeless struggle for women to gain societal equity.

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