Analyse and discuss the way in which Arthur Miller presents the relationship between John and Elizabeth Proctor, focussing on the dramatic change from Act two to Act four'
Amy Hedderman The Crucible Drama Coursework
'Analyse and discuss the way in which Arthur Miller presents the relationship between John and Elizabeth Proctor, focussing on the dramatic change from Act two to Act four'
'The Crucible' known as some what an energetic and thrilling play was written around the act of the Salem witch trials which occurred in 1692 and later written in a play format by Arthur Miller in 1953. Using this play Miller himself intended to shock the audience not only with varieties of events that occur throughout the play but also the deep purposeful relationships between Elizabeth Proctor and her husband John. Over time in the play the reader is somewhat touched by their sanity and there discovery of a sensitive and sticky awkwardness between the couple, which is followed by the audience throughout the play till the very end where the relationship itself is forever changing. The main plot of this play is based entirely around the individual and extreme views on witchcraft and how it can take over people's minds, yet still the relationship of both John and Elizabeth proctor is still present during the incident of witchery, but in an ever changing way, especially between the Acts two and four. Miller felt it was important to write this play to show the public just how ridiculous it was when people feel the need to blame others for society's own problems rather than accepting the fall themselves. This is shown especially well throughout the play.
The town itself 'Salem' is filled with people, who are very judgemental and live in an extremely upright society, were religion and rules play a big part in there lives and to break any face having to suffer huge consequences. The chaos itself begins in the middle of a nearby wood were many maids and children are caught by Reverend Paris dancing around. This was seen as a major rule break as things like dancing, singing or even reading were never permitted in Salem. In stead of owning up to this mistake, and preventing themselves to even more trouble one of the girls, Betty one of the girls caught dancing, pretended to be possessed by the Devil and got out of any form of punishment due to the fact Reverend Paris 'tricked' her into doing it as it was not her performing witchcraft. The other children all wanted the same and claimed the same thing to get out of a dreaded punishment, but instead made the situation even worse and its starts to get dangerous having to cover up and lie.
Abigail Williams was one of the main girls in the play, whom was also caught dancing in the woods and has supposedly had an affair with John Proctor, who regrets this terribly and cant think of anything else but to get Abigail out of his life forever, but she isn't having any of it. Her plan to tear apart the existing couple doesn't go to well and actually brings Elizabeth and john proctor together emotionally and physically and this is shown tremendously throughout the course of the play.
In Act one the audience presume Abigail and John have had an affair, but have not yet met Elizabeth proctor, so there is nothing to be yet known about her. The first mention of her is said by Abigail as she describes her as a 'sickly wife'. Proctor as hearing this reply quickly in her defence in an angry and distort manner. This shows how John really does care for his wife right at the beginning of the play as he is there to answer for her and stick up for her in a loving and caring way, but it seems he answers like this because he knows he's the one who's done the bad deed in the first place so it should be him dealing with such a situation.
When the play itself was written it would have been the men in charge of the women, who were the once who saw to there every need and done everything for them. Although Abigail goes on to say 'he bends to her' as if to say she is now in charge of him, this is likely to anger proctor as he is the powerful one, but he knows deep down that he needs to make it up to his wife somehow after all what he has done to her, this shows how he will do anything to show ...
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When the play itself was written it would have been the men in charge of the women, who were the once who saw to there every need and done everything for them. Although Abigail goes on to say 'he bends to her' as if to say she is now in charge of him, this is likely to anger proctor as he is the powerful one, but he knows deep down that he needs to make it up to his wife somehow after all what he has done to her, this shows how he will do anything to show she is the one he wants to love forever.
From Act one we can clearly see the relationship is unstable due to the fact proctor has had an affair with Abigail, but he is certain that even though all that has happened, and the guilt and unhappiness Abigail has put him through Elizabeth is the one for him and he shows that by the commitment of love he is willing to give to her. Miller presents proctors way of thinking throughout act tow, yet Elizabeth still doesn't seem to accept it, this is were you can start to see that there relationship is nearly broken but is still they know they have to pull through putting a lot of pressure on them both. Not only are they doing this for the children but for there reputations, as rumours fly around, especially when such act of adultery is committed.
The stage directions given near the beginning of act two, is the first situation which the audience are introduced to Elizabeth herself as a real person. She is heard to be 'singing softly to the children' showing what a kind, caring and loving kind of person she is when first heard of in the play which is considered the complete opposite to what Abigail describes her as; 'cold snivelling women' this shows how jealously really sets in and lines have been twisted through Abigail's mouth.
Also in the act two stage directions, proctor is mention to have tested his wife's cooking which is set out in the kitchen whilst Elizabeth herself is still upstairs. After testing it with the ladle it comes across to the audience that he is 'not quite pleased' so he adds his touch by adding extra seasoning. He does this without consulting his wife, due to the fact he wouldn't want to confront her about it encase of upsetting her, but needs his dinner still to be up to his standards. Also he knows it's the wife role to do the cooking and intruding on that s not the right thing to do. When sat at the table, he compliments her cooking 'it's well seasoned' this makes her 'blush with pleasure'. She is glad she has pleased him; it really means something to her. This shows us the first piece of intimacy they have between them in this act and it means a lot to them both after all that's happened.
The conversation throughout the first few pages of the play can be seen to be about general things such as the weather and cooking. This may not seem intimate but any conversation between them is considered important. On the subject of weather proctor says 'pray now for a fair summer' this showing that they have a future and proctor is proving that they will be sharing the next summer together. Elizabeth replies bye saying 'aye' dismissing such an idea of them being together, as the idea of him having an affair still lingers in the back of her mind. Later on after the conversation has ended Proctor then 'gets up, goes to her kisses her. She receives it. With a certain disappointment, he returns to the table.' This shows how little effort Elizabeth has put in to it and how motionless she feels. At this stage in the play it just shows the audience how opposite they are, as john is the one who is trying to do every little thing to please her by making conversation at the table and complimenting her at every moment possible and on the other hand there's Elizabeth who doesn't give anything back to him. This just shows the real coldness she is feeling towards him, and Miller really puts that forward by showing such a paranoid and insecure women who wants to show proctor just how much this has actually affected her, so he is the one feeling guilty and sorry for all the past damage he has caused.
Proctor later tries to change the subject to make it less awkward after Elizabeth received the kiss in such disappointment. He speaks as gently as he can to Elizabeth 'Cider?' He says this in such way trying not to offend his wife as he knows it's her role to do such a thing as pour out the cider. This makes Elizabeth think about it must have been her fault he had an affair because her role as a wife just wasn't good enough for him so he wanted to move on to someone else. Its extremely sad that she thinks like this as it wasn't her fault and blaming herself for what her husband did is not the right way to go about it.
From the start of act two the conversation between the couple can be seen by the audience as uncomfortable, however this you can see change as the act progresses through. First by discussing the witch trials which obviously brings up the subject of Abigail which relates to hers and proctors affair. This starts an argument as John had been to see Abigail herself a few days back, this concerning Elizabeth and effects her tremendously seeing as though she had not been told sooner and shows the audience how there relationship has gone from bad to worse, being so upset and starting to raise her voice, showing no hope for there marriage now. At this point proctor is fed up with Elizabeth's suspicions as he hasn't even committed anything bad since the affair between him and Abigail. ' I have not moved form there to there without I think to please you, and still an everlasting funeral marches around your heart' what he has said he, you can really tell his anger has got the better side of his, and turning nasty and vicious towards Elizabeth almost in a defensive manner. This is seen as rather unfair as she has the reason for judging him. She speaks ' the magistrate that sits in your heart that judges you' This shows us that it is actually him that is judging himself due to the guilt and pressure he is feeling and has nothing to do with what Elizabeth says. Here we can see Miller presents them both really trying to get to each other.
Soon after Mar warren, their servant comes into the room, and tells them about what she has said during court. After hearing the new Elizabeth seems to get quite panicky and frantic but proctor steps in to reassure her, changing his mood from an hurtful argument to being caring and there for his wife. This shows a real change in there relationship in such a short space of time.
Gradually getting to the end of Act tow the audience are shown a few dramatic things which shows how much Elizabeth really means to him, such as when she is taken from her home into Salem, john argues continuously and puts up a real fight and refuses to let them take her away from him and there children at first but then once told to rip up the warrant a very important document to him, he does this showing how far he will go to stay and be with his wife Elizabeth. Yet after a while John realises there just isn't anything else he can do and they both accept the fact she has to leave, but his aggression really shows once he finds out they will be chaining her.
'Damn you, man, you will not chain her! Off with them! I'll not have it! I will not have her chained!' In what he is saying you can see he is really repetitive showing how much he really cares, and the fact he just won't let her go that easily as he is the one who should be protecting her, doing his role as a husband and a hero in her eyes but she may be finding it difficult under the circumstances because of what's happened so it may not bother that it effects there relationship her as much as it does him. He now feels such guilt, because he knows it all his fault she has been taken away and accused affecting there relationship between each other.
Act tow in Millers play, really shows us how Elizabeth's and proctors relationship changes so much, but this continues as we go on. Elizabeth is seen to have said her last words to do with her children whilst being dragged away from her family and home 'tell the children I have gone to visit someone sick' this leaves the audience with the feeling she is still such a caring and loving women just like she was at the beginning of act two and proctor cant change that.
Now on to Act three were both John and Elizabeth both show how much they both mean to each other, realising they need to put each other before themselves. This takes place in court were first of all John Proctor admits he committed adultery with Abigail. He shows this in such a strong way seeing as the stage directions are so dramatic and really take the audience to the edge of there seats. The way he admitted to the crime really shows that he wanted to tell the truth to stop his wife getting hung, even though doing such a thing would affect his future and his reputation.
Secondly Elizabeth made a sacrifice, and really showed by doing this how much she respects John Proctor as her husband. When it came to the question itself, whether John was a lecher, she waited a while before she came to a final decision as she had no idea what to say, not knowing what her husband had stated before her. Constantly looking for a sign from john across the court having no clue what he had said before her. She was nervous, but was forced to answer the question and make that final decision:
She replied faintly 'No, sir'. This answer really shows the audience how strong her love is for proctor, lying for him to save his life, doing this against her religion, condemning herself to hell however this was a choice between either her husband or her religion and chosen her husband shows how strongly she feels about him. From what she believed he had lied to but they were both court out.
Act Four is considered to be a very emotional scene and is really shown by Miller himself. The events which occur in this scene are considered gruesome and drastic and have various reactions from different characters, but mainly Elizabeth and John's relationship and how it dramatically changes and gradually pulls together in the final Act of the play. The day in which act four starts Elizabeth is aware John is going to be hanged, and clearly states that no emotion is shown towards him, especially when talking to Dan forth about it before speaking to proctor himself. She shows this coldness, relating back to the first two scenes and makes it seem as though she's not going to let them win against her, making it very hard for her as really underneath she knows in fact her husband is about to die before her very own eyes and there's nothing she can do to save him, and she wants to follow what she think john would have wanted her to do for him or if he were in her shoes.
Having Elizabeth and Proctor apart from each other for a period of time whilst she was taken to Salem must be hard for them as they both haven't as of yet spoken at all to each other about what has happened. This proves to the audience there a large amount of emotion between them both which a real change from Act two were emotion between them was very low and Elizabeth's thoughts toward Proctor weren't anything to what they are now. Miller really uses this scene to stun the audience when seeing the couple starring into each others eyes with such needed love and emotion really showing how there relationship is some what different to before. The first thing that is stated when the conversation begins with john is 'the child' which straight away takes us back to the first conversation they had in act two were the general talk was about there children. The conversation continues but sentences and phrases are very short, showing a real awkward atmosphere between them which is acceptable seeing as though they haven't spoken or even seen each other in so long. The conversation carries on and they begin to open up to each other, there speech becoming longer and idea's coming out, such as whether john should now confess or not? Finally there reaches a point were they are coming to terms with the truth and Elizabeth and john except the fact they have 'known each other' deeply and that fact he can end his life knowing she was always there to support him.
This is were Act four is drawing to an end, were john lifts Elizabeth and kisses her with great passion which clearly states there relationship has come together, and changed so much from act two were john kissing Elizabeth was seen as such disappointment to her but no such a romantic and emotional moment. However its not just Elizabeth feeling this passion, they both share such moment together, letting the audience really no what they both want.
After this passionate moment takes place, john is taken off the scene to be hanged, and Elizabeth is there to say her last few words to support her husband's tragic death. Elizabeth seems glad he can finally be at peace as before his life seemed always troubled and never settled. He only really had one fault that he had made in his life and that was the affair with Abigail, and from she believed was that it was because of her, this shows her true feelings for there relationship and faulting herself makes her feel that little bit better.
Throughout the whole play Author Miller presents the couple in many different ways, changing the way there relationship occurs in each scene, taking both different personalities into perspective. From act two were the relationship between them both was extremely tense and uncomfortable at times around each other, but progressively throughout the play, even when times got really tough there relationship seemed to get stronger and closer, showing that when times got tough they were actually there when they needed somebody to be with them and help the through it, this really shows how all along the couple have never fallen out of love and have always had such deep feelings for each other and meant for each other and this can especially be seen in act four when there relationship had to end due to the death of john Proctor.
