Final Act of the play Essay

Secondly Elizabeth made a sacrifice, and really showed by doing this how much she respects John Proctor as her husband. When it came to the question itself, whether John was a lecher, she waited a while before she came to a final decision as she had no idea what to say, not knowing what her husband had stated before her. Constantly looking for a sign from john across the court having no clue what he had said before her. She was nervous, but was forced to answer the question and make that final decision: She replied faintly ‘No, sir’. This answer really shows the audience how strong her love is for proctor, lying for him to save his life, doing this against her religion, condemning herself to hell however this was a choice between either her husband or her religion and chosen her husband shows how strongly she feels about him. From what she believed he had lied to but they were both court out.  Act Four is considered to be a very emotional scene and is really shown by Miller himself. The events which occur in this scene are considered gruesome and drastic and have various reactions from different characters, but mainly Elizabeth and John’s relationship and how it dramatically changes and gradually pulls together in the final Act of the play. The day in which act four starts Elizabeth is aware John is going to be hanged, and clearly states that no emotion is shown towards him, especially when talking to Dan forth about it before speaking to proctor himself. She shows this coldness, relating back to the first two scenes and makes it seem as though she’s not going to let them win against her, making it very hard for her as really underneath she knows in fact her husband is about to die before her very own eyes and there’s nothing she can do to save him, and she wants to follow what she think john would have wanted her to do for him or if he were in her shoes. Having Elizabeth and Proctor apart from each other for a period of time whilst she was taken to Salem must be hard for them as they both haven’t as of yet spoken at all to each other about what has happened. This proves to the audience there a large amount of emotion between them both which a real change from Act two were emotion between them was very low and Elizabeth’s thoughts toward Proctor weren’t anything to what they are now. Miller really uses this scene to stun the audience when seeing the couple starring into each others eyes with such needed love and emotion really showing how there relationship is some what different to before. The first thing that is stated when the conversation begins with john is ‘the child’ which straight away takes us back to the first conversation they had in act two were the general talk was about there children. The conversation continues but sentences and phrases are very short, showing a real awkward atmosphere between them which is acceptable seeing as though they haven’t spoken or even seen each other in so long. The conversation carries on and they begin to open up to each other, there speech becoming longer and idea’s coming out, such as whether john should now confess or not? Finally there reaches a point were they are coming to terms with the truth and Elizabeth and john except the fact they have ‘known each other’ deeply and that fact he can end his life knowing she was always there to support him. This is were Act four is drawing to an end, were john lifts Elizabeth and kisses her with great passion which clearly states there relationship has come together, and changed so much from act two were john kissing Elizabeth was seen as such disappointment to her but no such a romantic and emotional moment. However its not just Elizabeth feeling this passion, they both share such moment together, letting the audience really no what they both want. After this passionate moment takes place, john is taken off the scene to be hanged, and Elizabeth is there to say her last few words to support her husband’s tragic death. Elizabeth seems glad he can finally be at peace as before his life seemed always troubled and never settled. He only really had one fault that he had made in his life and that was the affair with Abigail, and from she believed was that it was because of her, this shows her true feelings for there relationship and faulting herself makes her feel that little bit better. Throughout the whole play Author Miller presents the couple in many different ways, changing the way there relationship occurs in each scene, taking both different personalities into perspective. From act two were the relationship between them both was extremely tense and uncomfortable at times around each other, but progressively throughout the play, even when times got really tough there relationship seemed to get stronger and closer, showing that when times got tough they were actually there when they needed somebody to be with them and help the through it, this really shows how all along the couple have never fallen out of love and have always had such deep feelings for each other and meant for each other and this can especially be seen in act four when there relationship had to end due to the death of john Proctor.