Elizabeth Proctor's Motivation In The Crucible

Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, expressed many different characters with dissimilar intentions and motivations in great length. These dramatic emotions tied along with greed and desire allowed this playwright to come to life and create an overall exhilarating read for the audience. Most characters in this play have important roles that demonstrate their true incentive in what they will get out of this huge mess of hysteria. The character of Abigail is very interesting to touch upon. This young girl is quite insane with her deep love and passion toward an older man named John Proctor. They had an affair one time and now she is completely attached to him. However, John did not want anything more out of that. Throughout this play. it is shown that her love towards him is in fact dangerous. She shows her motivation in multiple instances that she is willing to do anything to take the place of John’s wife, …show more content…
John is a loving husband and father, but unfortunately, committed the act of adultery with Abigail Williams. His wife, Elizabeth Proctor, found out and was shocked and devastated. For several months, she had not given him any signs of affection as a punishment for his terrible mistake. During the trial, John’s main motivation is to protect his wife from being hanged. He is ever so desperate that he even proclaims to the entire court about his affair and says, “In the proper place-where my beasts are bedded…” (page 110). This quote from the passage of him admitting his affair is very dramatic. It reveals that John is very ashamed of himself and feels guilty. However, it also shows that he is courageous and righteous in confessing this in order to help others. He risks his own reputation to try to convince the court that jealousy is the true reason why Abigail accused Elizabeth. Clearly, John Proctor’s genuine motivation was to protect his wife at any