The Marriage of John and Elizabeth Proctor Essay Example For Students

The Marriage of John and Elizabeth Proctor Essay The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is a study in the mass hysteria which led to the 1692 Salem witchcraft trials. Themes of the play include deceit, love, secrecy and paranoia. These attributes can be given to the play itself, but can also be given to certain characters and their relationships; these have been used by Miller to create tension throughout the play and have allowed him to totally capture the audience personally. Two of the key characters in the play are John and Elizabeth Proctor, a married couple with what seems to the majority of people in the play a flawless relationship, but is really one of suspicion, secrecy and fear. To begin with, John is an extremely complex character placed at the heart of the play. He has a strong sense of his morals and he will not suffer fools gladly he is the first to truthfully give his point of view. Unfortunately, John also has several personality traits which lead to his downfall and even his death. However, his honour and honesty at the end of the play transform him into something of a tragic hero. Johns most obvious weakness is his temptation his lust for Abigail and his committing of adultery, and his disregard and plain disrespect for his wife, Elizabeth. For most people in Salem, Johns actions would have been a great shock as he is a well respected pillar of the community; however, this does not permit his sins. In John Proctor, Miller has been able to convey an imperfect man who understands his flaws and sins whose name and pride are more important than his life. This could be seen as a strength, as John would rather have no life than a life with his name and children associated with the accusations of witchcraft and deceit; he dies for his name, which in my opinion, is an extremely courageous thing to do. However, some people might say that John ought to take humiliation for his sins, rather than accept the punishment of death, which comes for the issue of witchcraft rather than adultery. For me, John is a very likeable character despite him having a short temper, perhaps being a little impatient and quite cruel when pushed to do so i. e. to Mary Warren. He seems to momentarily treat people with little respect because of his pride. John is a good man, although I think he needs to treat people in a better fashion sometimes especially in light of what has happened or rather, what he has done. However, John does redeem much of his credibility towards the end of the play, after being accused of witchcraft. The catch is that the majority of people in Salem know that John didnt commit witchcraft, but to not condemn him would greatly question the court there is no justifiable reason for the hangings of several less respected members of the community and not John Proctor as they all stem from the same evidence produced by Abigail Williams, who cast a spell to kill Goody Proctor. Abigail is a jealous liar with terrible concept of morals she is willing to openly accuse and murder (indirectly) many innocent people in Salem, just for her supposed love of John. However, it is this love that torments Proctor and leads eventually to his death. Elizabeth Proctor Johns wife has more personality weaknesses, and although she does not sin she is a strict Puritan she does have many flaws. She can be unassertive, especially towards members of the community, for example, Mary Warren, whom she never stands up to or gives her opinion to. Perhaps this is to do with her insecurities as a person which I feel are partly caused by John Proctor since his affair with Abigail. Black Robe, by Brian Moore EssayHonestly, Elizabeth has had to cope with the fact that John lied, deceived and cheated on her, confessed himself as a liar, was unwilling to confess for his namesake, and lastly, was murdered: all indirectly for his affair with Abigail. Elizabeth did make great efforts to forgive John despite her beliefs, and went so far as to lie for him to save his life. She did not judge John, and remained loyal to him in spite of his events. Elizabeth refused to make up his mind for him: even though she would have rathered he lived than died. From all of the reasons listed, I cant help but sympathise with Elizabeth the most, although I understand the ideas of John being a tragic hero who died to save his familys name. The main reason as to why Arthur Miller placed this relationship at the centre of the play is because without it, none of the actions which followed would have taken place. As aforementioned, it is Abigail and Johns affair which eventually leads to his death. Imagine, if you will, a line of dominoes. The first domino is the affair, which when pushed, causes the next domino to fall, which causes the next, etc. If John and Elizabeth hadnt been married the affair would not have been an affair and Abigail would have had no reason to want Goody Proctor dead. Therefore, none of the people who hung would have hung, and no member of the court would have been engrossed in this witch hunt. The basis of the story is dependent on Elizabeth and John (as well as Abigail). Furthermore, I think such a relationship demonstrates and represents on a smaller scale just how the town was acting. Elizabeth is suspicious everybody was suspicious of eachother; John was tempted (by Abigail) just as the girls become tempted (by Abigail) to accuse the innocent people of Salem of being witches. Through John and Elizabeths marriage, bigotry becomes evident in the whole society of Salem. John rises above it on matters of principle and his doing this yields the strongest irony: the sinner is less criminal than his religious judgers. There are several bigots in the play including the likes of Danforth who, despite the knowledge that Abigail and her fellow accusers are in fact lying, continues to condemn innocent people of witchery and submits them to death. He condemns witches for lying however, he is a liar, and they are in fact not. He somehow believes that in order to create a powerful court, his actions are justified. Abigail is also a bigot obviously she tells the court that innocent people are witches and are simply denying it she calls them sinful and yet she goes against the 10 commandments. Proctor does this too he is against those who go against the 10 commandments and is willing to judge them, however, he has done so himself with Abigail. This links in with the idea that John and Elizabeths marriage has something to do with the other themes and issues of the play. The plays themes include paranoia, lying, fear, and deceit. All of these can also be considered as themes of John and Elizabeths marriage she is paranoid and fears that she will lose John, the people of Salem are paranoid over whether the people that they are in contact with are witches, and deeply fear being accused of being a witch as they will hang.