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

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.

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

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