As the conversation carries on Elizabeth is very controlled with what she says. For example, Proctor says to her, ‘Are you well today?’ and she replies, ‘I am.’ It seems quite unnatural and forced.
In the stage directions it says. ‘He gets up, goes to her, kisses her. She receives it.’ To me it sounds that Elizabeth is just putting up with Proctor showing her any physical affection. She makes no attempt to kiss him back and she does not smile in reaction to it.
Proctor says to Elizabeth, ‘You ought to bring some flowers in the house’ … ‘It’s winter in here yet.’ This suggests that the atmosphere is cold, but it does show that Proctor wants the house to be warmer, symbolising the fact that he wants to mend his relationship with Elizabeth.
The conversation becomes uneasy when Elizabeth tells Proctor that he should tell the court that Abigail told him that the girls playing in the woods had nothing to do with witchcraft. But Proctor reveals that when Abigail told him this they were alone together. Elizabeth loses all faith in him, she feels that he does not want to prove Abigail is a fraud because of their previous relationship. Proctor is angry at her lack of trust and this is a chance for him to really vent all his frustration.
He warns her, ‘You will not judge me more, Elizabeth.’ He even refers to his house as a court and this really shows that he feels that Elizabeth is constantly judging him and he has no escape from it. His anger carries on building, ‘You forget nothing and forgive nothing’ … ‘Your justice would freeze beer.’ It’s important that he says ‘beer’ because, unlike water, beer is not pure and in scientific terms has a lower freezing point. It indicates how cold and unforgiving Elizabeth has been to him. This is probably the most prominent of all his lines in this part of the scene and concludes the conversation. It marks his anger and gives an audience a chance to really absorb his feelings.
We can see that their relationship has changed a great deal through the play towards the end of Act IV. Elizabeth is given the chance to encourage Proctor to confess to witchcraft so that he won’t be hanged. Their attitudes towards each other are a lot different in this scene. When they are left alone the stage directions read, ‘He reaches out his hand as though toward an embodiment not quite real, and as he touches her, a strange soft sound, half laughter, half amazement, comes from his throat. He pats her hand. She covers his hand with hers.’ His hand gesture is very loving and intimate, and the way he reacts to being able to touch her shows his compassion. This is very different to Act II where their meeting is tense and uneasy. With all that they have had to go through I think they appreciate one another more and realise how much they need each other.
They sit down closely together and they are completely focused on each other. Their body language is very different to earlier, before Elizabeth just accepted that part of being in a marriage is physical closeness and she put up with it but now she seems keen and as if she could not do without Proctor’s body beside hers. Their first few words are short and simple, ‘The child?’ ‘It grows.’ It’s as if there’s so much to say, that they can’t say anything, and as their conversation continues there are a lot of pauses that show this.
They are both very emotional and Elizabeth is close to tears, Arthur Miller uses the very beautiful and powerful metaphor, ‘She will not let herself be drowned in the sea that threatens her.’ They are both very aware of the fact that Proctor could die and it is a lot to deal with, especially when he is being accused of a crime he didn’t commit.
After some time Proctor says, ‘I would have your forgiveness, Elizabeth.’ She sees the good in him and replies, ‘It come to naught that I forgive you, if you’ll not forgive yourself’ … ‘Whatever you will do, it is a good man does it.’ When Proctor asks Elizabeth to help him decide whether he should confess she says, ‘I cannot judge you.’ But back in Act II, Proctor is angry because he feels Elizabeth is constantly judging him and he tells her, ‘You will not judge me.’ Whereas now in Act IV he feels quite the opposite, he is desperate for Elizabeth to judge him and tell him the right thing to because he does not feel he is fit to make the right decision for himself.
Elizabeth admits to Proctor how she really feels, ‘It takes a cold wife to prompt lechery.’ She has very low self-esteem and she blames herself for Proctor’s sin. But Proctor is reluctant to accept it, ‘Enough, enough,’ he says, ‘In great pain.’ He wants to be able to envision Elizabeth as an angel and he can’t when she admits that she has sinned. I think it also hurts him that he has caused her to feel guilty over a sin that he committed. But she carries on, ‘Suspicion kissed you when I did; I never knew how I should say my love. It were a cold house I kept.’ The thing about this is that she is now talking in the past tense. This indicates that she has forgiven Proctor and no longer feels this way.
This conversation makes Proctor realise how much he loves her and I think he wants to be able to make their relationship even stronger which is why he comes to the decision, ‘I want my life.’
But we know that in the end Proctor can’t bring himself to confess to lies and when he heads off to be executed he exchanges a passionate kiss with Elizabeth. It shows the build up of emotion and an audience can see the strong love between the two of them. If you were to only see an extract from Act II you would think that Elizabeth and Proctor were an unloving and broken couple. But now their interactions are completely different, they show love, need and compassion for each other.
The final line, said by Elizabeth, is, ‘He have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him.’ She knows he is a good man and that he is doing the right thing for himself. Although they have to part, at least their relationship has been healed and Proctor can die knowing that Elizabeth loves him and has forgiven him; and Elizabeth knows that Proctor still loves her.
