If Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible were only about the witch-hunt for communist sympathizers in government in the early 1950’s, it would be a literary anachronism, a historical artifact with little impact on contemporary audiences. This, however, is not the case. The play retains its emotional impact because it is thematically rich, and one such parallel-yet-integral theme is the classic struggle between good and evil, as personified in the characters of Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor. In the tradition of Antigone and Fatal Attraction, Abigail, who has seduced Elizabeth’s husband, John, is a scorned woman who will stop at nothing to get her man back. Elizabeth Proctor is more complex; cold, unforgiving, and repressive, she is a metaphor for Puritan society. The two characters have antithetical qualities, and understanding these differences, as shown in their goals, traits, and motives, is essential to a critical interpretation of the play.
If Elizabeth is moral, Abigail is not, and these dissimilar qualities shape their disparate goals. Abigail’s goal is John Proctor, and she will stop at nothing to secure her prize. Abigail purposefully frames John’s wife, hoping to get her out of his life. When a penitent John att
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She seeks to undermine Abigail, not for personal retribution, but because it is the right thing to do. This is a heady brew for a young girl, and it obviously intoxicated Abigail and motivated her to continue. Her third flaw – her hypocrisy – manifests itself at an inopportune time and results in her husband’s death. Their differences shape their contrasting traits. She is cold, unforgiving, and hypocritical.
Abigail and Elizabeth are foils – what one is, the other is not. Indifferent to the witchcraft hysteria that surrounds her, she is relatively phlegmatic when she is jailed and condemned. As a child, she witnessed her parents being butchered by savages, but this neither explains nor condones the malevolent fury that drives her to destroy her lover’s wife. She tells John Proctor about the “lying lessons [she] was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men!” (24). She declares, “I will fear nothing” (78). Forgive me, forgive me, John” (137). She is motivated to do what is right, or more precisely, what she sees as the right. Elizabeth, sanctimonious to a fault, is above all a Puritan, and her ruin parallels the destruction of the social order in Salem. Without these women and the influence that they had on John Proctor, there would be no play.
Approximate Word count =
1509
Approximate Pages =
6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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