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Abigail And Elizabeth Proctor In The Crucible

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In life, people are often put in a certain situation where their character will be tested. They are presented with a task that may force them to go against their morals and what they believe to be right and decide if they have the strength to follow their convictions or cave to the pressure of outside influences. Elizabeth Proctor is one of these characters whose strong will guided her throughout the Crucible. On the other end of the spectrum are those whose use their strong will to manipulate others. They have a choice to help and use their power of influence for good, but instead use it to cause fear and spread panic. Prime example of this kind of character would be Abigail Williams whose lies divided a community. The differences between Abigail and Elizabeth are readily apparent but for a time they seem to share similar characteristic of love for John Proctor. In this play, Miller uses these …show more content…

When she and her friends were caught practicing witchcraft in the woods, she covered it up with a lie that had far reaching ramifications. This was all designed to protect herself from prosecution with no thought to the effect her lies would have on others. It can be said that part of her reasoning in lying was that she was trying to maintain her relationship with John Proctor.
Elizabeth Proctor can be described as the complete opposite of Abigail. She was a kind, honest, and faithful person who tied to see the best in people and have faith that they could be redeemed. Her faith in John is shown in the statement “You'll tear it free- when you come to know that I will be your only wife, or no wife at all. She has an arrow in you yet, John Proctor, and you know it well!" (Miller, Act 2.62)”. In that statement Elizabeth is stating that although John was unfaithful to her, she will stand by him because of her love for him and her belief that he can be

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