At the start of Act 2 the air between John and Elizabeth is very cold ‘With a certain disappointment, he returns to the table.’ Which we see with stale conversation and an air of mistrust from Elizabeth to John ‘What keeps you so late?’ as she questions where he has been for so long. But John also cannot speak himself to Elizabeth even though he knows her so well, which is represented as he seasons his own dinner unknown to Elizabeth and yet he praises her for it, but that also shows how he wishes to please her. As does Elizabeth who wants to please John ‘reprimanding herself for having forgot.’ However it is when Mary arrives home and tells John and Elizabeth that Abigail has cried witch on Elizabeth that we see them become instantly closer, which Miller shows making John and Elizabeth start to use ‘we’ instead of just ‘I’, and John’s concern and need for feeling obligated to protect Elizabeth present. And Elizabeth also gains her trust in John at this moment ‘...favour me with this? Go to Abigail.’ as she knows she must gain trust in John to help sort out these accusations or she and others may die. Elizabeth finally accepts that John had an affair with Abigail when Hale asks john ‘Do you know your commandments’ and when John cannot remember adultery she says it for him, as recognition to John that she feels no pain from it anymore. I feel Miller shows the Proctor’s almost rebirth of a relationship when Elizabeth is taken away as this the part when John truly sticks up for his wife in front of her ‘You will not go!’ as this is the part where his hidden feelings from Act 1 have come out for Elizabeth to see.
In Act 3 whilst Proctor is in the court with Mary to defend those accused even his wife Elizabeth, we hear that she is pregnant, unknown to John he claims that ‘that woman will never lie’ as Proctor believes that he knows Elizabeth as a pure woman as they have had a long relationship. However when John admits to having an affair with Abigail and Elizabeth is asked about the matter whether the affair was true or not she replies ‘No sir’ as she now wishes to Protect John and so lies for him. This shows a strengthening in love between them both as Elizabeth is willing to lie for John ’is your husband a lecher!’ Elizabeth replies ‘No, sir’, but lying is against biblical teachings and was believed that it could be used against people at judgement day so it shows the lengths she will now go to from John. However there is still a weakness in the relationship between John and Elizabeth as John thought that Elizabeth could not lie for him and that she would be pure and Elizabeth did not think that John would declare his affair and so the fact that they do not know one another is the thing that condemns then both.
In the end of Act 3 John has been accused of witchcraft himself after Mary Warren is placed in an impossible situation and so claims that she has seen John Proctor with the devil and he is trying to over throw the court. Elizabeth has also been kept imprisoned.
At the start of Act 4 we learn that John will not confess to speaking to the devil and so Danforth suggests that Elizabeth should speak to John to get him to confess. We see John and Elizabeth alone and the conversation again seems cold and does not show much warmth between them again and Elizabeth seems slightly distant when she does seem to ignore a compliment from John ‘You are a-marvel, Elizabeth.’ To which she replies ‘You –have been tortured.’ This idle conversation is a step back in the development of their relationship, either due to having not seen each other for a long while or due to each of them knowing that their relationship is coming to an end. But the coldness between them leaves so quickly as Elizabeth begs John to confess himself so that he may live with his family including Elizabeth as they both have enduring love for each other as they have come through all of the hardship of the affair and of the court case. And it is Elizabeth that brings them together ‘I cannot judge you, John, I cannot!’ and ends any regret that they have had towards one another.
However in echoes down the corridor we learn that Elizabeth re-marries again four years after John’s death and this seems like a very short period of time after the loss of a husband to re-marry and this to me seems as if Elizabeth was losing her love for John which allowed he to move on so easily, which shows that she near the end had little failing love for john. For example John fights to save Elizabeth when she is taken away however at the end of Act 4 Elizabeth does not fight Johns decision. And this may be because she respects him so or it may be that she recognises the end.
To conclude, I feel that at the start of the play John realises that what he did to Elizabeth was wrong and he does not wish to go back to that, so already he wishes to protect her. However their relationship was still stale and cold between them both until Elizabeth found out that she was accused of witchcraft. And then she needed to trust John to speak to Abigail and John had a new found love for Elizabeth as he felt he needed to protect her. As the court scene developed they both learnt something new about each other and the ways in which they react to different situation, and I feel that it is the start of the coming together of their relationship. But it is only during Act 4 when Elizabeth is trying to persuade John to admit to seeing the devil that I feel their relationship is re-built. But I still feel that Elizabeth was not the same with John after the affair as at the end of the play and in echoes down the corridor she moves on too easily.
