Elizabeth Proctor is a very kind, intelligent, but unhappy woman that has been deeply hurt by her husband. Whenever she is around her husband she tries to please him, as if she is inadequate for him, and replies to his questions quickly and pleasantly. She doesn’t have the courage to say what she thinks at first, but eventually gets up the courage to tell him to go to Salem and tell the court about Abigail. In many of the questions she asks John, you can sense that she is still suspicious of him.
Tensions between Elizabeth and John Proctor are prominent at first in the act. Miller describes in the stage directions that John “is not quite pleased. [With the food that his wife has prepared] He reaches to the cupboard, takes a pinch of salt and drops it into the pot”. We can see from this stage direction that he doesn’t want to make anything even more awkward between him and his wife, and if she sees what he is doing then she may feel insufficient. I would interpret this as a tension in their relationship, as it is not normal for married couples to not tell their true feelings to each other. However, this can also be interpreted as a strength in their relationship as John does not want to hurt his wife’s feelings, and wants to make her happy, whatever it takes. A lot of strain is being put on their relationship because Elizabeth is afraid to speak her mind -“(she doesn’t want friction and yet she must): you come so late I thought you’d gone to Salem this afternoon”. She is scared that any little thing that may upset John will lead to him getting angry, and all that Elizabeth wants is a happy home. I think that Elizabeth worries that John will choose Abigail over her, and that is why she is being so cautious around him. I think that there is a lot of tension shown by the topics that they talk about together. They both have many issues that would be more productive to talk about, but their nervousness leads them to talk about the weather, and farming “I think we’ll see green fields soon. Its as warm as blood between the clods.”, rather than Abigail, and the witch trials at Salem. Mostly, we can see the tension between the couple through the stage directions, and I can tell that if this play was acted on stage – you would get a very good feel of awkwardness. Miller describes the mood of the couple very well, and the reader, or spectator of the play would get a very good sense of the unease between the two of them in the relationship. A very good example of this is “there is a pause. She is watching him…….It is as though she would speak but cannot…….Her back is turned to him. He turns to her and watches her. A sense of their separation arises.”
Even though there are many weaknesses in the Proctors relationship, we can see that there are strengths as well. I think that the most strong point about John and Elizabeth’s relationship is that they are both trying to please each other, so the bond between them must mean something to the both of them. As both Elizabeth and John are trying hard to please one another, it probably is a very effective way of showing to each other how much they really care about one another. I think that as John was reluctant to go to Salem, but didn’t actually say that he wouldn’t go “I’ll think on it” is a sign of strength in their relationship because I fell that if John wasn’t feeling guilty he would not have been so cooperative. Also, of course the kiss between them showed some tension as all Elizabeth did was “receive it”, but it shows strength on Johns part as he is showing her physically how much he loves her. There are very many awkward moments during this scene, and I can see that the strength in their relationship is actually causing the tension. If John and Elizabeth did not care for each other deeply, then they would not be trying to please each other so much, as they are showing in this scene, which cause friction between them.
Although there are many strains in the relationship between John and Elizabeth Proctor, I believe that they both still really do love each other. They both seem to know each other well, and during the first few pages of act 2, there is a lot of tension between them. If this relationship were given time, I think that it would work out. I believe that the tension between the couple is because of the fact that they are both trying to cause strength.
Claire Fricker 10P