The Crucible Adultery Analysis

Adultery in the year 1692 is one of the worst crimes one could commit and would lead to death. In the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller one of the main themes is of adultery and lust. One of the characters, John Proctor, commits the crime of adultery with Abigail Williams who is a young girl in the town of Salem. This crime acts heavily against John throughout the play and controls his actions. In the beginning of the play he denies Abigail’s affection however this action sets Abigail to conspire against John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth. Next, Elizabeth starts to lose her faith in John due to the affair and is accused of witchcraft by Abigail. Finally when asked of the adultery, Elizabeth lies and this convicts John of witchcraft. Ultimately

John however had decided to call it off and refuses any affection towards Abigail. Abigail is still in love with John and wishes to continue the relationship. In act one, John and Abigail talk privately for the first time since the affair ended. Abigail attempts to reach out to him and states her pure affection towards him. However, John out right denies her affection and states to her; “Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again.” (23 Miller). This rejection is very harsh towards Abigail and is what sets Abigail in motion to conspire against John’s wife Elizabeth. She believes that without Elizabeth, John will open up to her and they can be together. Once she is rejected, she turns her attention towards slandering Elizabeth to John. When she mentions Elizabeth’s name to John he becomes angry at her. At this outburst Abigail cries “She is blacking my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling women, and you bend to her!” (24 Miller). When is she rejected, Abigail immediately begins to criticize Elizabeth in hopes that John will leave Elizabeth for her. Abigail lies to John in saying that Elizabeth is a horrible women who does not love her. She does this in expectations that John will trust her in this. Nevertheless this method does not work which is when Abigail decides to increase her

Elizabeth had suspected John of the affair which is the reason she fired Abigail from working in their house. However her suspicions resurface once women in the town begin being accused of witchcraft. This is because John confesses to Elizabeth of the conversation between him and Abigail and states that all the accusations from Abigail are a fraud. Elizabeth, although angry that John was alone with Abigail, she tells John that he must go to court with this knowledge. John tells her that he will think on it but he shows that he has no intentions of doing so. With this, Elizabeth sees that he is holding on the information and believes that he is doing so because of his fondness of Abigail; “John, if it were not Abigail that you must go to hurt, would you falter now? I think not.” (54 Miller). Elizabeth sees that his hesitation is due to the fact that it is against Abigail he must act on. This reluctance is what causes Elizabeth to lose faith in her husband. Although she does not stop loving him, she no longer sees him as a holy man. Ultimately, the loss of faith is what breaks the trust in their marriage apart. Before Elizabeth and John can finish their conversation, news reaches them that Elizabeth had been accused of witchcraft in the courts of Salem. Although the accusations have been dismissed, Elizabeth sees the intentions behind them. Elizabeth understands that Abigail wishes to let