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“The Crucible,” an Arthur Miller play, is a story during the Salem Witchcraft trials, where accusations of witchcraft were made. Elizabeth, the wife of John Proctor, found out that John had an affair with a young seventeen year old, Abigail Williams. Goody Proctor displays a disturbed tone as suspicion rose between John and Abigail’s relationship. John proctor is angered and displays an indignant tone towards Elizabeth for not trusting him. When Elizabeth tells Mr. Proctor, “then go and tell her she’s a whore,” Goody Proctor wants John to defame Abigail because she knows what happened between them.
This secret was his affair with Abigail Williams. Abigail Williams was trying to get rid of Elizabeth, because she wanted to take over her spot as John Proctors wife. Due to Abigail's jealousy and revenge for Elizabeth she mentions Elizabeth's name during the Salem witch trials which causes nothing but chaos. During this chaos, John Proctor displayed traits of being short tempered and aggressive. The characteristics of anger, aggression, innocence and compassion where portrayed by John and Elizabeth Proctor in the story The Crucible by Arthur Miller.
The Crucible centers mostly on the adulteration between Abigail and John. John deceives his wife on the subject of the affair to protect his good name and his marriage. Such as, in ACT 1, John says, “If the girl’s a saint now, I think it is not easy to prove she’s fraud, and the town’s gone so silly. She told it to me in a room alone. I have no proof for it.”
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams and John Proctor are known to have had an adulterous affair with one another. Even though both John Proctor and Abigail are worthy of blame for their actions, Abigail is the most culpable of the two. In The Crucible, Abigail is the most to blame because of her “tempting” Proctor to carrying out the act more. During Act 1, Abigail is shown to keep egging on Proctor although he does not want to have the affair with her anymore.
The main character of The Crucible, John Proctor is someone who possesses all the necessity traits that classify a tragic hero. Not only is his downfall in the book initiated by his human flaw, but he also captures the sympathy from the readers. Even though John Proctor’s intentions are good and truthful through out the book, in the beginning we discover that he has a significant secret. He is guilty of committing the sin of adultery with his young servant, Abigail Williams. His sick wife Elizabeth learned of his infidelity and forgave him, but Abigail was in love with John and tries to kill Elizabeth by engaging in witchcraft with a few other girls in Salem.
The Crucible reflects the compelling power that fear holds on people and the erratic behaviours that it drives people to perform, and forces them to believe that they must forfeit their humanity by turning against their fellow people to ensure themselves of a false sense of security. After John Proctor, who is a man that holds a high status in society and is well-respected begins having an affair with the familys teenage servant Abigail Williams, they both begin to illustrate rampant hysteria. Despite the misogynistic system of the village, Abigail is a dominant accuser of witchcraft in Salem who begins to go around accusing many people of witchcraft which results in many innocent deaths. Abigail holds a manipulative and power-hungry nature which causes her to perform reckless actions to destory the lives of others, which begins with her affair with John Proctor that enables her to hold power over him. However, there is a main inconsistency throughout the play which is the fact that John names himself, and acts as a honest man but he begins an ongoing affair with Abigail.
The Crucible - Conflict Analysis John Proctor Internal: John Proctor’s most eminent internal conflict is over the sin he has committed, adultery. Proctor cheated on his wife with Abigail Williams, and this makes Proctor feel incredibly guilty because in the town, he is “respected and even feared” (19). He tried very hard, and succeeded, with keeping this moral crime to himself. He still walked about Salem as if he was “an untroubled soul,” (21) however, avoiding the sin again would be a difficult task. Abigail flirts with him, in attempt to have him for one last night, and it’s obvious Proctor has an arduous time pushing her away.
Nunn 1 Kaitlyn Nunn Dessert American Lit and Comp Per 2A 7 December 2015 The Crucible Character Analysis: Abigail Even though Abigail was a lot younger than John Proctor he still cheated on his wife Elizabeth with her which is lechery and considered a huge sin especially in a city full of Christians. That is where it all started, from that point Abigail became obsessed with John and wanted him to herself, and when he didn 't want her back that 's when Abigail got mad, and started trying to get back at them. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail is a deceptive, selfish, and manipulative because if she wasn’t in this play none of the convictions or deaths would have happened. Arthur MIller uses two methods of characterization to illustrate Abigail 's deceptive ways.
In the novel John seems a very honest citizen that cares about his land and work. On line 419 in “The Crucible” the author says “Abby, you’ll put it out of mind I’ll not be comin’ for you more”(Miller 419). This shows John stopping his affair w showing his honesty towards his wife. Abigail starts the play with a satanic ritual to kill Elizabeth Proctor and immediately lies about the plot of it. In the play “The Crucible” the author says “It were sport, uncle”(Miller 93)!
John Proctor’s words towards Elizabeth signal irritation and annoyance. John Proctor, the main character of The Crucible, has an affair with a much younger girl, Abigail Williams, breaking his wife, Elizabeth’s trust in him. Her suspicion of him rises when he tells her he was in a room alone with Abigail. Elizabeth’s growing mistrust begins to aggravate John, which is revealed when he says, “I’ll not have your suspicion any more” (489). Elizabeth is doubtful after learning about John’s affair with Abigail and her lack of trust in her husband begins to anger him.
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.
John Proctor never settles for keeping his opinion or what he thinks is right to himself. He knows telling Danforth that he is guilty for adultery won’t help his cause but it shows his desperation to win the case in order protect his wife, Elizabeth. John Proctor was sick and tired of watching Abigail win with a lie, in this case he spoke the truth knowing his consequences. John states, “Excellency, forgive me, forgive me. She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave!
People in the Crucible thought he was an honorable man and that no honorable man will ever sin. So when John and Abigail meet each other, Abigail flirts with John, and John say, “No, no, Abby. That’s done with.” So we know he has committed adultery against his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, with Abigail Williams and that gives us a bad image of John sinning and commiting adultery with Abigail and doesn’t really respect his wife.
In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor was accused of witchcraft. John Proctor was a man of great integrity and knew he did nothing wrong. He was given the choice to confess and lie or be hung. Being the honest and stubborn man that he was, he decided his name was more important than his life. John struggled both internally and with others while trying to fight for what he thought was right.
A lot of what John Proctor does in The Crucible is to save his wife Elizabeth. When John Proctor says, "I will bring you home. I will bring you soon."(Miller 77) he promises to save his wife from being hanged for witchcraft. This also shows John’s love for his wife, Elizabeth, and his choosing of this love over his lust for Abigail.
