"He have goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!" What leads Elizabeth Proctor to make this powerful and disturbing comment on her husband's decision and why do you think Miller lets these words bring the play to an end?

The first 200 words of this essay...

"He have goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!" What leads Elizabeth Proctor to make this powerful and disturbing comment on her husband's decision and why do you think Miller lets these words bring the play to an end?

I think Miller ends the play with these words to show that Elizabeth has forgiven John of his adultery and that John has finally after a lot of mistakes made the right moral decision- which has given him back his ''goodness''.

The word goodness has many different meanings. Its first meaning is the state or quality of being good. The second is generosity or kindness; the third meaning is moral excellence, piety, or virtue. The fourth meaning is a euphemism for God: used as an exclamation of surprise (not relevant to this) and the final meaning is 'what is good in something; essence.

Different definitions of goodness can be applied to different characters within the Saleum community: For Reverend Hale it may mean moral excellence as he takes on the role of a judge in court. For Elizabeth Proctor it would be appropriate in several ways because she has unshakable religious faith (piety), is honest,