How does Miler create a sense of tension and conflict between John and

Elizabeth and Johns relationship is certainly not an easy one. Although having been married with two children the intrusion of Abigail could not have come at a worse time. With Elizabeth ill and Abigail’s personality being such a contrast John felt it as an escape from his wife’s absence. The affair that John had with Abigail puts a strain on their relationship creating a physical and emotional divide that the audience easily pick up on. On top of the affair, living in a puritan society which can be demeaning to women makes the

John says, “Why, I-I would free my wife, sir” (Miller 90). John is now trying to find any proof and evidence to free his wife from the court. John shows how much he truly by not giving up and acting as if nothing else matters. Elizabeth also shows her deep feelings for John and that she would do anything to protect him or benefit his well being. John yells “Elizabeth, tell the truth!” (Miller 113). Elizabeth was willing to lie to the court in order to help her husband John Proctor and keep his name good. The two relationships strengthen from these events that occur in

Miller creates pathos first in the beginning of Act One when we found out that John Proctor had been cheating on his wife Elizabeth, seven months ago, with their servant Abigail Williams. This created the emotions of shock, disappointment, and empathy for Elizabeth. The audience finds out about the affair when Abigail and Proctor are left alone and she begins to bring up their past saying, “I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I come near! Or did I dream that? Its she put me out, you cannot pretend it were you. I saw your face when she put me out, you loved me then and you do now!” (1. 424-428). This shows the audience that John had more feelings for Abigail than just lust, and she knew that he felt more for her.

Towards the start of the play, Elizabeth Proctor doesn’t have a strong connection with her husband John Proctor. This is mainly because John has just had an affair with Abigail Williams, the play’s antagonist. At the moment Elizabeth Proctor is very much emotionally hurt. She doesn’t have the drive to forgive John Proctor. This can be displayed in the story from this quote: “ There is a promise made in any bed” (Miller 1168). Elizabeth says this with an outraged tone and, as if she is telling John that he has no understanding of how much the

This one similarity, their love for John Proctor, shows Abigail’s calculating, self-serving nature while highlighting Elizabeth’s gentle nature. In conclusion, Elizabeth and Abigail are similar in their love for John Proctor, however, Elizabeth differs through her tendency to try to please everyone and keep her own emotions bottled up, while Abigail believes the world revolves around her and works to make things go her own

Throughout the entirety of The Crucible, the reader is shown all of Proctor's sins, including, but not restricted to adultery and dishonesty. At one point in the play, Elizabeth and John are discussing the situation they are currently in, when this dialogue occurs,

Miller starts the play with a bang, with a quote from Abigail. When the thought of witchcraft goes through the town. With two girls who “cannot wake”. The town starts to get worried there could be a witch in the town, and Abigail takes the opportunity and “confesses” to the devil with an unexpected quote:

The dramatic tension first begins when the reader finds out that Elizabeth has been accused through Mary. This creates an argument between Proctor and Elizabeth because she wants him to break the "promise made in any bed"(50) but Proctor is angered which is shown in the quote "I see now your spirit twists around the single error of my life and I will never tear it free." (51) We can infer that Proctor feels that Elizabeth has become more paranoid so she only concentrates on the mistake she has made because she can no longer trust him. In between this argument, Hale enters which causes a switch in scenes and the reader begins to wonder why Hale is here which creates the tension. When Elizabeth says "If you think that I am on then I say there are none " (57), shocks Hale and the reader because she is going against the Gospel but this shows her independence of mind and more importantly her integrity because she sticks to her moral code and doesn't

B. Establish Controversy : Love is a main idea that is repeated throughout The Crucible, a 1953 play by playwright Arthur Miller. The Crucible is a play set in Salem Massachusetts in 1692-1693 and is an allegory for McCarthy Hearings which took place in the 1950s. The play focuses on the 1950s human need for norm, the puritanical fear of witches and the inconsistencies of the Salem Witch Trials. Hysteria breaks out in Salem when the minister of Salem Reverend Parris catches his niece Abigail and daughter Betty in the woods with paraphernalia essential to conjuring spirits and Betty becoming mysteriously ill. Parris worries about Betty’s condition and summons Reverend Hale who investigates witchcraft and the suspicions of the illness but indubitably finds witchcraft imperceptible after reflection of the motives. This illness manifests fear throughout the residences of Salem and Abigail deviously exploits this fear by accusing villagers to vindicate herself from any accusations of witchcraft. In doing so she becomes the prime accuser for the Theocracy. Jealousy and grudges empower the hysteria which leads to the death of an abundant amount of Salem’s innocent population. One of the most noteworthy jealousy in the play is Abigail’s envy of John Proctor and Elizabeth Proctor’s marriage because of an affair that took place.

Within Act II, scene one opens with John Proctor walking into the kitchen. His wife is absent but there is stew cooking. He lifts the ladle from the pot, tastes it, and adds a pinch of salt. The significance of this short scene may justify his affair with Abigail and a contradiction of Puritan society. Elizabeth embodies the ideal of a Puritan woman, but her Puritan husband does not desire it. After she has spent a few months alone in prison, Elizabeth comes to this realization: she was a cold wife, and it was because she did not show love to her husband that her marriage suffered. She comes to believe that it is her coldness that led to his affair with Abigail. Additionally, it is with this situation that builds up to her telling a lie to save her husbands reputation.

Some students might argue that this early action of John establishes that he loves his wife and tries to please her, but Elizabeth remains separated from him. She appears somewhat aloof or withdrawn. This distance is obviously due to John’s

John proctor was a successful farmer who lived outside of town, Married to his wife Elizabeth Proctor. John Proctor was called over to the home of reverend parris to help determine if Abigail ,who is the niece of reverend parris, Is In fact a witch. John proctor then realizes that the rumors are true of the witchcraft talk that his has heard around town. John proctor knows the truth about Abigail but does not tell. Why? John Proctor committed MAL behavior with Abigail, He had an affair with a 17 year old girl while married to his wife Elizabeth. He knows that if he tells the truth about Abigail being a witch that the truth will come out about him and his affair, so he tells lies to keep

Throughout the play Miller creates tension between the characters, however this tension is mainly shown in Act Two. Although the main theme of the Crucible is witch craft, this act concentrates mainly on the relationship of John and Elizabeth Proctor. Miller uses a variety of dramatic devices such as, stage directions, long pauses and silences, entrances of other characters (interruptions), use of contrast, length of sentences and punctuation to express mood and feeling, use of figurative language and repetition and how other characters react to a particular problem.

Within “The Crucible,” the issues of Elizabeth and Proctor’s relationship are factors in the instigation of the plot of the story. Due to Proctor’s affair with Abigail, a wedge is driven between Proctor and his wife and will prove to be the initiator of the Salem Witch Trials, as it is in “The Crucible.” An effect of this affair is shown in the second scene when Elizabeth is first introduced. Proctor comes home from his day of work and the tension between the two is seen

It is unsurprising to see that the perceptive director, Yaël Farber, omitted nothing in favour of concision. The most fundamental pivotal moment in the play is much regarded as unnecessary by many directors; the scene in the Proctor household revealing the tension within the pair, which helps us to see their marriage unravelling parallel to society unhinging with Salem’s witch trials. A critical, impassioned, and somewhat indispensable scene underpins Miller’s entire work; enabling us to see the strain moral panics can have on the most personal, intimate relationships; a husband and wife. Farber recognises the significance of this