The language between John and his wife, Elizabeth, is very different in act two. They use very formal language, referring to each other as, ‘Elizabeth,’ and, ‘John,’ whereas John and Abigail referrer to each other as, ‘you ’and, ‘you’re.’ John and Elizabeth are not comfortable with each other and don’t seem to connect or have any heat and passion in any way. The conversation here seems very forced and often John is asking her questions, ‘are you well today?’ and she is answering very short, ‘I am.’ This is evidence for the friction in the relationship and shows lack of common ground between the two. The lack of conversation leads into lots of silences with is filled with meaningless conversation like only talking about the food and the crops, ‘I think we’ll see green fields soon.’ The cold house is recognised by John, ‘it’s winter in here yet.’ The coldness of the house is symbolic of their cold relationship, which has no intimacy or warmth to it. Another example of the coldness in the relationship is when John says, ‘your justice would freeze beer.’ As well as there being no warmth in the relationship, there is no forgiveness and the phrase that John says illustrates this.
Another way in which Miller portrays the different relationships is through the stage directions. In act one with John and Elizabeth their actions symbolise, again, heat and passion, ‘feverishly looking into his eyes.’ Abigail shows most of the passion in the relationship and provokes him when she talks, ‘tauntingly.’ But John moves her, ‘firmly,’ out of the way. He knows that there is still a connection and there is a lot of contact between them both. Abigail is, ‘grasping his hand,’ because she does not want him to go, she demonstrates more contact. It is a meaningful conversation complete with meaningful actions, unlike with John and Elizabeth. Here in act one, Abigail, ‘clutches him desperately,’ and gets, ‘anger,’ in her voice a lot. This shows us that they are both not afraid to shows their emotions in front of one another and that they have an extremely interesting relationship.
Stage directions between John and Elizabeth are much more reserved and secretive. The food that he tastes he is not pleased with so he, ‘takes a pinch of salt, and drops it into the pot.’ This indicates that their relationship needs some attention and that there are many secrets. They can’t even be honest with each other about the food and they can’t talk openly as when John hears Elizabeth come down the stairs he, ‘swings the pot back onto the fire place,’ then goes and does something else which is fully secretive. When John, ‘kisses her,’ she just simply, ‘receives,’ it. He is trying hard to make the relationship work and she does not return it, John is being very careful about the relationship. The only contact that they have is when John gets up and goes and, ‘kisses,’ her, but apart from that there is much more contact between John and Abigail in act one.
The setting in act one is in the bedroom where, ‘a psalm is being heard sung below.’ As there is only John and Abigail in the bedroom, it indicates the passion and it highlights the fact that John has committed adultery. The fact that a psalm is being sung below is a coincidence because, ‘do not commit adultery,’ is one of the Ten Commandments. The setting in act two is one that is totally different to act one. John describes the house as cold, ‘its winter in here,’ which could be a symbol of a cold marriage and relationship. Although there is a fire in the house which tells us that there might be hope for the relationship as there is warmth somewhere in the house. It is, ‘night,’ in this particular act which, in addition, is symbolic of a failing marriage, it is a metaphorical darkness. The description at the beginning of act two has many points that make the house seem cold and empty, like their relationship. The house is described as, ‘low, dark,’ and the living room is, ‘empty.’ This represents the fact there is no effort being put into the relationship, especially by Elizabeth, as John has been away for, ‘eight days,’ he comes back to a cold empty house that Elizabeth has kept. In the 1600’s it was the woman’s role to look after the house and keep it welcoming.
On the whole the relationships that John Procter has with the two women are shown in very different ways in acts one and two. Act one between John and Abigail, there is a lot of heat and passion shown through their language and actions. But in act two, between John and Elizabeth, the atmosphere between them is demonstrated as cold and plenty of tension is shown. Their actions shows that there is no, or very little connection, like when John goes to kiss her she does not return it and there is a small amount of contact. The scenes are placed close to each other so that the differences are clear and that there is a clear contrast in the scenes and relationships. At this point in, ‘The crucible,’ we are convinced that John and Abigail’s relationship would be the best one, even though the social rules are against them.