When writing a book every author aims to perfect it; often times along the way parts are amended, removed, or added. As in the tragedy, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, he wrote Act 2, Scene 2, but before the play was released, he removed it; it was not his intent to destroy it entirely as it was additionally added to the appendix of the book. The scene between Proctor and Abigail should not be attached to the book. Moreover, the scene should not be added because John Proctor’s darker side should not be revealed. Along with this, Abigail is no longer just spiteful and cunning, but crazy, unpredictable, and evil. Her personality and inner desires should be more shrouded so the reader can speculate and fill in the blanks. Additionally, the supplemented scene would have been repetitive; Proctor and Abigail's complicated relationship is already defined in the book. Abigail true motivations and inner desires should be shrouded as …show more content…
Proctor and Abigail's complicated relationship is already defined in the book. John arrives at Reverend Parris’s house then Abigail and him end up in a room alone together. Abigail confesses to John,”And you must. You are no wintry man. I know you, John. I know you. She is weeping. I cannot sleep for dreamin’; I cannot dream but I wake and walk about the house as though I’d find you comin’ through some door”(Miller 22). Here Abigail is expressing her desire and love for John. In numerous instances Abigale professes her love to John, and he expresses the same animosity every time. Scene 2.2 restates everything that develops in the book. Instead of letting their relationship play out through multiple scenes, the essence of it is caught in one scene. The play is understandable and smooth with no strange gaps; the play doesn’t truly require the scene. This is recurrent to what is known about their relations; he scene is not really needed, it's just fluff on what the reader already
Others could find more emotions shown in metaphors to show a deeper meaning. In the third act of the play, Proctor confesses that he is an adulterer and he explains why he would not lie about it. When Proctor said that Abigail was the person he was having an affair with it shows that his name is now tainted. Since his respectable name is tainted it has shown his sincerity in his claim that Abigail had an affair with
In Act Ⅱ Scene 2 of The Crucible, a 1953 play by the Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams, the antagonist, meets John Proctor, the protagonist, in the forest at night, where John asks Abigail to free his wife in court the next day, or otherwise he will expose their affair in public to ruin her. This fast-paced short scene portrays Abigail as pious and possessed, which contradicts the impression given by previous scenes. Most importantly, the scene reveals the crucial plan of Proctor which he is planning to use to take down Abigail. By excluding the scene, Miller eliminates the unfavourable danger of jeopardizing the credibility of the characters due to the inconsistency of descriptions, heightens the dramatic effect when Proctor confesses in
Abigail is a highly jealous character, concentrating her jealousy on Elizabeth Proctor. This jealousy is driven by lust and her desire for John Proctor. Abigail served as a servant in the Proctor household and after an affair with her husband John, Elizabeth fired her. She still resents Elizabeth for this as she is still in love with John. She clearly says to John, "You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!" Abigail is still in love with John and she assumes the converse. Her love for John only causes her resentment for Elizabeth to strengthen. She hates John Proctor's wife and in her conniving ways she attempts to inspire the same views of Elizabeth in John's mind. Saying things to him such as, "She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me, She is a cold, sniveling woman." Abigail fabricates stories in attempt to steel John from Elizabeth. She is a manipulative liar that does and says as she pleases in order to get what she wants.
Throughout the play we see instances where Abigail shows she still has feelings for John saying things like “ Give me a word, John. A soft word.”, but she is only met with rejection from John “ No, no, Abby. That’s done with.”. (Miller 22) as he has moved on and is trying to live a more righteous life. Even though John has made his intentions clear Abby continuously attempts to sway him “...do you tell me you’ve never looked up at my window?” (Miller 23) believing he will still come back to her. After still facing rejection from John, Abigail believes the only reason he denies her is because of his wife. Knowing that she has the power to condemn people by accusing them of witchcraft, Abigail decides that it is the only option she has to be with John. As time goes on the Proctor family is torn apart when Cheever, a clerk of the court, comes with a warrant for Elizabeth. The Proctor’s find out the reason for the arrest is because of attempted murder through the use of witchcraft. It is to our understanding that a poppet that is in the possession of Elizabeth, given to her by their servant, Mary, was used to attempt to murder Abigail . As the situation goes on we discover the entire ordeal was an elaborate plan by Abigail when Mary says “...she saw me sewin’ it in court. Or better still: Ask Abby, Abby sat beside me when I made it.” revealing that it was a plan by Abigail. Abigail saw Mary making a poppet for Elizabeth and came to the realization that it would probably be her best chance to get Elizabeth out of the picture. By placing blame on Elizabeth, Abigail is able to further her own personal goal of being with
The two characters John Proctor and Abigail portray contrast between the characteristics of fear/courage. When Abigail and her friends are caught dancing in the woods with animal blood and children, she is scared. She begins pointing fingers at others to distract from her own faults. This shows that Abigail is a coward for not accepting her own mistakes. Out of fear of losing what she has with John she begins to blame his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, of witchcraft. She blames Elizabeth and hopes to get her out of her life so she can be with John. Her fear caused her to see no other option but to run away. Parris says, “Mark it, sir, Abigail had close knowledge of the town, and since the news of Andover had broken here-”(Miller 127). Throughout the play John Proctor shows an extreme amount of courage. He confesses to having an affair with Abigail in order to save his wife's life. He speaks up to Reverend Parris even though no one has the guts to. He chooses to be hanged rather than living in shame with his name on the church door. “Because it is my name! Because i cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because i am not worth the dust on the fet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given my soul; leave me my name!”(Miller 143) Proctor sacrifices his good name
In the beginning of the play, John and Elizabeth’s relationship was awkward and strange. A quote from the story “Spare me! You forget within and forgive nothin” (Miller 54) which means, John Proctor to Elizabeth is explaining how she doesn’t forgive him, but in reality he doesn’t forgive himself. This quote shows his true guilt and how he hasn’t forgiven himself. Another quote that he says “You were alone with her” (Miller 53) means the lack of trust in the Proctor marriage after John’s affair with Abigail. John is upset that Elizabeth won’t forgive him and move on past the affair and Elizabeth is upset and suspicious of the fact that John was alone with Abigail. The suspicions between John and Elizabeth’s relationship, weaken and drives them apart.
Proctor chose to have an affair with his servant, Abigail and develops a temper when his opinions are questioned or argued upon. John when arguing with Elizabeth, says, “you will not judge me more, Elizabeth. I have good reason to think before I charge fraud on Abigail, and I will think on it. Let you look to your own improvement before you go to judge your husband any more” (Miller 1294). John is snapping on his wife for being mad at him about the affair, when she has the right to be mad as he betrayed her and she is upset. Johns temper is portrayed more so in the first half of the play, as he is concerned of himself, but as the plot thickens he realizes that there are others who need help. John's temper causes him to snap in other instances with Danforth and Abigail causing their decisions to have been affected by what John said. When speaking to Abigail in Act I, John says, “Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind”(Miller 1270). John realizes after the affair, that it was not a good decision and that he
After having an affair with John Proctor, she couldn’t accept not being without him. Abigail also admires “how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife” like Elizabeth be unaware of the affair she had with John Proctor(act1pg#). As a result to the affair, Proctor is trying to rebuild his marriage with his wife. Abigail continues to intervene in John Proctors marriage and attempts to manipulate Proctor so he would confess his love for her. Proctor admits his love for her, but does not continue his affection because Abigail seeps of vengeance for other individuals. He portrays her “as a lump of vanity” who thinks to dance on his “wife’s grave!”(act 3). For her own selfish desires, Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft and tries to intentionally sabotage her. She does this for the purpose of her own selfish and fictitious relationship that she has with Proctor. Abigail believes she has the capability to influence Proctor, but her egoistic actions to win his undefining love makes her appear as the criminal in the
In the beginning of the story Elizabeth Proctor is especially cold and always suspicious of her husband, John. Elizabeth gives John the cold shoulder due to his previous affair with their housekeeper, Abigail Williams. When John Proctor comes home in the first act, he and Elizabeth have a distant conversation about why he came home so late (Miller 1162). Even though Elizabeth never says it, Proctor knows that Elizabeth thinks he went to Salem to visit Abigail. During the story Elizabeth and John have a conversation about Abigail. Abigail finds herself in a predicament that may cause serious consequences for herself. Elizabeth suggests to John that he tell people that she is lying about what happened to her, but John refuses because he knows no one will believe him. In anger, Elizabeth told him that he should go and tell Abigail that she is a whore, and to her dismay he agrees to do that. Elizabeth’s frustration grows as she
Miller made the right decision in removing Act 2 Scene 2 as it would have distracted the reader from the larger purpose of power and hysteria in the play and have instead introduced a new conflict of genuine insanity. In the deleted scene, a different side of Abigail is shown, one that is delusional and seems to care for Proctor. In a wishfully disturbing manner, Abigail promises to Proctor that, “I will make you such a wife when the world is white again… From yourself I will save you”, and repeatedly states her belief that her purpose was to “scrub the world clean” of all the hypocrites and eventually be rewarded with Proctor as a husband. This caring and desperate side of Abigail contradicts the selfish and manipulative persona that is seen
In this eventful drama, The Crucible presents a relationship between John Proctor and Abigail Williams. The relationship of these two characters throughout the play has a massive impact on how certain characters’ act, ruins how people view them, and has a huge part of how people will be spending the rest of their life or even leading to death. John Proctor is a local farmer who lives outside of the town of Salem, John is a husband to Elizabeth Proctor and has children. Abigail Williams was once a servant of the Proctor household, but Elizabeth Proctor fired her after she discovered that Abigail was having an affair with her husband, John Proctor. Abigail is a young mischievous girl who seems to mess with John’s head, persuading him into a sin that he will regret afterwards. Most affairs tend to include the reasoning that they want what they do not have, and a young girl offering herself to him is just the thing that crept into John Proctors sinful thoughts and actions. John had no specific reason to have an affair with Abigail, just falling into the trap of adultery and
For example, the rivalry concerning Abigail and Elizabeth can be noted by Abigail’s words, “I marvel how such a strong man may let such a weakly wife be--,” expressing negatively about Ms. Proctor. Additionally, another line from Abigail, which states “She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me!” might be used to infer the enmity among these characters due to the unconstructive comments uttered by Elizabeth Proctor. Also, the actions Elizabeth is having after she realizes the relationship between Abby and Proctor are proven by Abigail’s expression, “…She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her!...,” letting us know how Mrs. Proctor cannot forbid what her husband has done. Lastly, the way Abigail’s mood changes once Proctor is close to her might be identified when she states, “Give me a word, John. A soft word,” revealing her insuppressible desire. Therefore, the love triangle generates hateful emotions among the implicated
Originally, readers learn that the two have feelings towards one another. When Proctor comes to town to learn what the gossip is about, Abigail finds herself alone with him and states, “Give me a word, John. A soft word” (Miller 22). She proceeds to mention that Proctor would come to her window at night, seeking something to fulfill his loneliness. Readers can infer that the characters had an affair and might be in love. This raises tension when the audience learns Proctor is still married to Elizabeth; we conclude that their relationship must be covert. We learn this through Abigail’s snarky comment, “Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be-” (Miller 23). But with this, Proctor is convinced he will not succumb to her again.
Over the summer I read the book Booked.I Am about to tell you about the deleted scene I think it should be in the story. Nick got a surgery because in the soccer game he got kicked in the appendix and on his knee cap. Then the docter said that he have to quit soccer so he have to quit soccer until his appendix and knee cap gets fixed. That made his team lose the soccer
I think Miller decided to remove this scene from the play because it would kind of spoil the upcoming plot and ruin the suspense for the readers. As mentioned in the deleted scene, Proctor intends to go to court and "ruin" Abigail for all her lies and corruption in the Salem witch trials. The dialogue between the two during their conversation gives away what is going to happen in the next act and that may be why Arthur Miller decided to take the scene out of the