When asked to define love, people may answer with many different things. The formal definition of love as a noun is an intense feeling of deep affection. Love as a verb is to feel a deep romantic or sexual attachment to someone. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses character pairings and their actions to illustrate his own definition of love. The main pairing in this play is John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth. Their love is put to the test when John commits adultery on Elizabeth with their old maid Abigail Williams six months before the play takes place. Elizabeth is still hurt by this so John does everything in his power to make up for his mistake. John suggests “It’s winter in here yet. On Sunday let you come with me, and we’ll walk the farm together; I never see such a load of flowers on the earth,” Miller 1236). Although John is a man who would probably rather not talk about flowers, he is trying to make a romantic gesture to Elizabeth that is sentimental and heartfelt. He is realizing he messed up but is trying to fix it the best he can because he truly does love Elizabeth. On the other hand of things, John’s mistress Abigail is head over heels in love with John and would do literally anything for him; even sentence his wife to her death in order for her to be in the picture. Cheever, an …show more content…
He believes that love is something that a person should make their actions based on love and make sacrifices for the ones a person shares this connection with. This relationship two people share may waver at times but he believes that if it is true, love will always come back to the people who share it. Miller once said “Can anyone remember love? It’s like trying to summon up the smell of roses in a cellar. You might see a rose, but never the perfume,”. Miller used this quote and applied it to his famous tragedy because one cannot have love without having the