Elizabeth never actually appears in act one instead she is somewhat mentioned by Abigail. She is described as a ‘sickly wife’ and a ‘cold and snivelling woman.’
The words that Abby use draw attention to the frigidity of Elizabeth stand in direct contrast to the words of heat and warmth used previously in the flirtatious dialogue between herself and John.
The common room of the Proctors house is described as being “low” and “dark”. The room lacks any sort of homeliness and comfort to it. We gain this impression when Miller writes, ‘the room is empty’ and is described as “rather long,” maybe showing the coldness and distance between the couple. Another way in which we can see the difference between Elizabeth and John is when Miller writes ‘at the right is a door opening on the fields outside. A fireplace is at the left’ this shows the contrast between them as we can relate John to the fields as he works outside all day, as he is a farmer. We can also see Elizabeth’s side when the reader is told of ‘a fire place’ the reader associates the fireplace to warmth and homeliness and therefore to Elizabeth. We link this to Elizabeth as fireplaces are found indoors. After realising this, Miller uses further dialogue to make this contrast between them more visible. We can see how the couple would like each other to change, for instance John says, ‘you ought to bring some flowers in the house,’ showing perhaps that he wants her to be more at ease with his presence, as in the description for the set the reader is told of nothing from the outdoors. This meaning there is no sign of John in the house. Elizabeth may also want John to do the same, as she complains about him not being at the house early enough, saying ‘I thought you’d gone to Salem this afternoon’ which also shows that she doesn’t entirely trust him, because he might meet Abigail. As John enters the house “Elizabeth is heard softly singing to the children,” showing the audience a compassionate, warm and motherly side to her. This is very different to the side that Abigail had led us to believe, describing her as a ‘cold, snivelling woman.’ This makes the audience uncertain of what Elizabeth is really like and therefore opens us as the audience to question what she is really like.
In the first scene in which Elizabeth and John are put together, Miller shows us some of the apprehension and unease around John and Elizabeth’s relationship. For instance, John adds more salt to Elizabeth’s soup but doesn’t tell her he has done so and then complements her because it’s ‘well seasoned.’ This could be seen as a nice thing to do, as he obviously doesn’t want to upset her. However, there is still the deception there. Also if he had a standard, honest and secure relationship with her he wouldn’t have made such a big deal out of it. We gain a sense of un-ease from the stage directions as they are all very small and precise, for example ‘going to the table’ and ‘she sits and watches him eat.’ Also, throughout the entrance to act two, the Proctors never make eye contact.
From what John and Elizabeth say to each other we can determine how they feel about their relationship and each other. A good illustration of this is when John declares to Elizabeth that ‘an everlasting funeral marches round your heart.’ It’s a really strong reaction and he uses an extraordinarily morbid metaphor. Not only is it a rather melancholic metaphor but John also infers that it’s going to last for ever, as a funeral is where bodies are put to rest. However this funeral is everlasting, meaning it shall never be put to rest. From this, the audience can interpret that John feels that Elizabeth is a rather bitter and unforgiving person. Similarly, when Elizabeth says ‘the magistrate that sits in your heart judges you,’ we can surmise that she feels John may run too much by his own moral standard, and perhaps that he is too hard on himself. It could also be interpreted as a complement, saying that his high moral standards are an attribute.
The audience again gets a feel that there is a tension between John and Elizabeth, but this time it’s because of their strenuous effort to design an atmosphere which is that of a happy and loving couple, which is clearly failing. The audience obtains this ambience largely from Elizabeth, who answers in short and brisk answers, even when John tries to charm her, by saying things like ‘lilacs are the smell of night fall, I think. Massachusetts is a beauty in the spring!.’ To which Elizabeth replies ‘aye, it is.’ This shows her lack of interest and her determination not to forgive John. We again see the contrast of the outdoors and the indoors and John and Elizabeth. Throughout Act 2, we see John as this elemental and earthy person, for example when he says things like ‘it’s as warm as blood beneath the clods.’ He also wants her to walk with him on the farm, again suggesting he wants her to accept him more.
One aspect of John and Elizabeth’s relationship is that because of the tension and awkwardness in their relationship, they might not be as easy around each other and not know each other as well as a couple who had been together for three years and have had three children. For instance when John says ‘I mean to please you Elizabeth,’ Elizabeth replies, ‘I know it.’ This creates a sense that both of them want to say more but cannot. The other side of their relationship is that they both know each other really very well, except because of John’s sin they are separated. The audience feels this when Elizabeth wants John to go to Salem, to inform on Abby, by passing on details of his conversation where Abby told John that the girls were not really bewitched. Elizabeth knows that John does not want to, as it’s been eight days since the incident with Abby, yet he still hasn’t gone. Elizabeth would want John to go to Salem, to prove his loyalty to her. We also get a sense that Elizabeth knows John very well, as she manages to get him very angry very quickly. An illustration of this is when she says, ‘do as you wish then.’ Directly after this John becomes less courteous to her and calls her ‘woman.’ Subsequent to this Elizabeth replies ‘(a little loftily) I have no-,’ at which point John interrupts her and starts shouting. In two sentences, Elizabeth gets John really worked up, suggesting that John knows that Elizabeth knows him incredibly well. Through this Miller communicates to us how it is really Elizabeth that ‘sits in John’s heart’ and who John has made his arbiter since the moment she discovered his infidelity.
The 17th Century was a time of great upheaval within the church, a time when the ‘Puritans’ broke away from the Church in the belief that it was becoming over glorified. The Puritans were hard working people with a very formulaic life style, which was not to be broken. Their strictness meant the divorce of two people such as John and Elizabeth would have meant they’d have been looked down upon and most likely would have had to leave their community. This would have put an extraordinary pressure on them. Considering this, we can begin to understand Elizabeth’s feelings towards John, as not only has does she have to stay with a man who has been unfaithful but because of the ‘Puritan’ society, she had to devoutly serve her husband. However, it’s not to say that Elizabeth holds no power over John, at one point she says ‘you must’ twice in a sentence. This would have been uncommon for a woman to say, putting an emphasis on John’s good nature and the moral high ground she holds over John.
Personally my response to John and Elizabeth, to a certain degree is sadness. Both of them seem like some of the only nice and honest people in the play, for instance John treats Elizabeth well with comments like ‘I mean to please you,’ and Elizabeth is potentially an affectionate person. This is apparent when she says how it ‘hurt [her] heart to strip [a] poor rabbit.’ To see two genuinely kind people, working so hard to have a loving and kind relationship but not quite getting there as neither one can really forgive each other is rather melancholy. We get this feel from Elizabeth’s lack of enthusiasm when John speaks to her, replying with mainly ‘aye.’ Also from when John asks her from cider, ‘(as gently as he can),’ she still reprimands herself for forgetting.
In Act 3, when Elizabeth tells her lie about John not committing lechery we can tell how much anxiety is put on her. Directions such as “in agony” and “in crisis of indecision she cannot answer” demonstrate that she finds it tremendously difficult to lie. Elizabeth’s lies proves the extent of her love for John, as she even sacrifices her own religious and moral beliefs for him. The audience can also clearly observe the degree of John’s love for Elizabeth when he describes as a ‘wife that cannot lie.’ Beforehand he talks about singing and weeping both are very emotional actions showing the extend of his belief that she cannot lie.
John’s reaction when he finds out that Elizabeth is pregnant is as expected surprise and joy. This effect is gained from him saying ‘my wife pregnant’ and ‘if she say she is pregnant then she must be!.’ Both comments express his surprise and his joy. Comparing this to when he insults Elizabeth in Act 2 saying, ‘how may that mouse frighten you,’ we can see a massive change in Johns way of thinking; he has automatically assumed that Elizabeth hasn’t told him about her pregnancy because of a good and decent reason. However before, he immediately tells her it’s her fault. This may suggest that John knows that he may sometimes a slightly negligent husband.
In Act 4 Miller wants the audience to have a particular view of Elizabeth. This idea is gained when Miller describes her he writes ‘her clothes are dirty; her face is pale and gaunt,’ as well as this her arms are ‘heavily chained.’ Most people would react with sympathy, as she is a pregnant woman who has been kept in these terrible conditions and as a result of it is ‘dirty,’ ‘pale’ and ‘gaunt’ as well this her, chains show a lack of dignity and loss of control. This effect is emphasized as not so long ago in Act 2 we saw her in her own house, were she would have been well-kept-together, as a result of this her sense of deterioration about her is stressed. However, equally Miller may have intended the audience to be repulsed at the sight of Elizabeth and therefore see the extent of the love that John has for her, as he sees past that barrier. Evidence for this is when John calls her a ‘marvel.’
From the stage directions, we can tell lots about how Miller wants to present John and Elizabeth’s relationship. For instance, one of Elizabeth’s stage directions is, ‘now pouring her heart out’ showing the uncontained love and fluency that is now in their relationship. Another clue of their recently established, fierce love is that there is a complete passage where it’s just John and Elizabeth talking, even though there are still four people in the room. This shows just how severe their love is, as it’s so strong that other people back off and stop talking. This is illustrated in the stage directions ‘The emotion flowing between them prevents anyone from speaking for an instant. The two are almost captivated in their own world.’
By the end of the play, the Proctors relationship is far more balanced, as we have seen the transformation in John, from being someone who sees himself through how he thinks Elizabeth views him and regards ‘himself as a kind of fraud’ as he was described in Act 1, to a person who judges himself by his own conscience. For instance, he first wanted Elizabeth to be his conscience and he wanted her to say that it’s all right to confess this is verified when he says ‘would you give them such a lie? Say it.’ However, presently John rips up the confession, finally realizing that it’s how he views himself that’s important and not Elizabeth and therefore no longer needs her as his conscience. If he had perhaps realized this earlier on in the play, then he would have been able to forgive himself for his sin of disloyalty. Ergo, the tension is taken off of both sides of the relationship. We can tell how much the whole traumatic experience has brought John and Elizabeth together, as Abby is not mentioned at all. This shows how much at one they are with each other and how much that John’s sin is no longer a barrier between them.
