12th Grade
Prewrite
• Elizabeth Proctor is a major character
• She is faithful, to a fault.
• She has to accept John's guilt.
• Yet she still tries to protect him
• Brave woman
• Exemplifies many modern values.
Elizabeth Proctor from the Crucible
A lot of changes took place since the time of the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts. But the more things change, the more they remain the same. After reading this play by Arthur Miller, it can be seen that Elizabeth Proctor exemplifies many qualities we can find in even today's world. That is why she is the main focus of this essay.
Do not get me wrong, we are not accusing people of witchcraft anymore. But we still have lying, cheating, broken marriages, religion and corruption present in society. A prime example of these issues would be Elizabeth Proctor, John’s wife. She was utterly devoted to John Proctor even though he had cheated on her with Abigail. We can see this in many ways in today’s world, and even personally relate to it. With the fact of guilty people being forgiven.
Elizabeth had to deal with her husband committing adultery. That was her inner battle. But a lot of us have to fight our own inner battles even in today’s world. While most of us do not deal with adultery, we go through a lot of problems like school and work and even problems at home. Elizabeth and I may not have had the same problems, but we each had the weight of the problems on our shoulders.
Elizabeth is also similar to me in that we are willing to always help those dear to us. Elizabeth lied in court and incriminated herself because she loved John and she could not bear to see him embarrasses, even though he had cheated on her. I believe I would do the same to protect a loved one.
Elizabeth also had another thing in common with me, which was putting the greater good before herself. We can see this when she killed the rabbit that came to her house.