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Patrick Scott

Ms. Winter

English 3, Period 7

9 November 2015

Every Action Begins With A Single Thought

Sticks and stones may break your bones but words can kill you. In 1953, Arthur Miller

published The Crucible, a play which portrayed an accurate representation of the 1692 Salem

Witch Trials, in which many innocent people were accused of witchcraft and later hanged with

no physical evidence. Miller delves deep into this event to provide readers with a greater

consciousness of the theocratic society of the small town of Salem. Throughout the life of this

play, a man named John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth, strengthen their marriage as a result of

the stress, struggle and restrictions surrounding and confining them as a result of the accusations

of witchcraft.

There were many instances in which the Proctor marriage experienced stress to some

degree. In the beginning, John Proctor has a house servant who he secretly has an affair with,

Abigail. She indirectly tells readers this when she says, in detail,I know how you clutched my

back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I came near (Miller 22). One can

see how Proctor having an affair may damage trust and install stress inside the house of subtle

uncertainty. Much further into the journey through time, there is also an uneasiness and invisible

tension in the household, which can be observed when Arthur narrates,She is watching him

from the table as he stands there absorbing the night. It is as though she would speak but cannot.

Instead, now, she takes up his plate and glass and fork and goes with them to the basin. Her back
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is turned to him. He turns to her and watches her. A sense of their separation rises (Miller 51). It

truly is an unspoken feeling; however, it is clear that both of them are affected somehow and are

not acting quite normal; this event unknowingly pollinates the marriage so that it may blossom

through hardships. Carbon is an abundant, plain, black, sand-like substance; however, when put

under extreme stress, something beautiful is created, a diamond. The Proctor marriage is merely

carbon at this stage in the Crucible. Although, stress is not the only conflict they are facing.

The struggles which the Proctors endure outweigh many modern day marriages. Act II

supplies readers with a different angle of the relationship between the two lovers. When

Elizabeth is accused of witchcraft, the pair of significant others must work together and converse

about the lurking issue. She explains the importance to John,There be fourteen people in the jail

now, she says. And theyll be tried and the court have power to hang them too, she says (Miller

52). Now the couple must watch their backs, for she can be arrested without any physical proof.

The reader may see how this can be an obstacle in such a small town. Elizabeth has had a

dramatic past with Abigail, especially since Abigail flipped out and said,[Elizabeth] is

blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman,

and you bend to her! (Miller 23-24). Elizabeth is being repeatedly attacked and this, then, also

falls upon her husband, which ultimately is on the marriage; making a greater struggle for them

as a whole. Throughout the story, John and his wife evolve from being victims of struggle as

well as restrictions.

Limitations are put on Elizabeth and her husband in the form of restrictions in a vast

series of angles in the seemingly never ending play. Arthur explains that Elizabeth is jailed and

brought upon the judge,Herrick enters with Elizabeth. Her wrists are linked with heavy chain,
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which Herrick now removes (Miller 131). Being torn away from John and now imprisoned has

fabricated yet another conflict for the two of them. Reverend Hale, a witch hunter summoned in

the beginning of the book, tells Elizabeth,Goody Proctor, your husband is marked to hang this

morning (Miller 131). Dramatically escalating the situation, to where now the partners can no

longer be together. The hardships took a great toll on the marriage, with Johns death the

marriage left with him but their love was unyielding , this strengthened it in the long run.

Through the tense story, John and his wife, Elizabeth, became greater as a whole from

what they endured together. The strongest two dimensional shape in nature is the triangle, and

with stress, struggle, and restriction being the three points, they are the strongest details.The

couple may not have had very reactive chemistry, but they did have history. History is not

visualized as a line, but layers. With these layers, the Proctor marriage built an incredibly strong

pillar of emotion and value. To build a strong relationship takes time and perseverance. One

must be willing to fail, for you can not climb the ladder of success with your hands in your

pockets.
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Works Cited

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. 1952. New York: Penguin, 1976. Print.