How Does Miller Present Elizabeth In The Crucible

Discuss the importance of the character of Elizabeth and consider how Miller makes us respond to her throughout the play (30 marks) Throughout the Crucible Miller uses Elizabeth, who is a pious character, as a judge of character. Through her eyes we learn who is innately good such as Rebecca Nurse, we learn that John Proctor is a tragic hero whose fatal flaw is that he is “somewhat bewildered” and that Abigail truly is “a whore” with an “endless capacity for dissembling”. The audience trusts her because when Hale asks her if she knows her commandments she says, “I surely do, there be no mark of blame upon my life Mr Hale.” She has been unfairly wronged by her husband and as a result counts herself “so plain, so poorly made” which prompts
Initially, she is scorned by her husband’s lechery and as a result he resolves to “please her” which shows repentance for his actions, his ‘sin’ and his desire to not wrong his wife in such a way again. Her perseverance causes Proctor to confess to Hale that “the children’s sickness had nought to do with witchcraft” which leads to his admission “I have known her” [Abigail]. He publicises his wrong-doing in an attempt to make amends for his mistakes and earn the forgiveness of Elizabeth. He initially says “I have been thinking I would confess to them” before realising this is wrong – he says in Act 2 “your spirit twists around the single error of my life and I will never tear it free” and yet as he comes to terms with the fact he is “no good man” and refuses to give a false confession in order to save his neck he earns his “goodness”. By the end of the Crucible he has been purged from his wrong doing, and in turn his wife Elizabeth has been purged of her cold nature and inability to forgive John for this “single error”. Although their marriage has been through hell and back, Elizabeth and John are consoled as the play concludes and the audience believes that wrongs have been set