 When studying the crucible and analysing and remembering key characters, another major character in the play is Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor's wife. Now she's a really really interesting character because whilst she's not necessarily as enrapturing as let's say Abigail or some of the other girls, she actually is arguably one of the characters who experiences the most profound change and we can see a huge arc in her character development. She essentially transitions from being very stoic, a woman who is the victim of an adulterous affair that her husband has, so of course John Proctor has an adulterous affair with Abigail, who was their servant. However, she goes from being a very stoic woman who to some degree her attitude and her behaviour prolongs the guilt that John Proctor feels to actually by the end of the play being a very passionate, impassioned woman whose desire is really for John Proctor to feel penance, so to feel forgiveness, genuine forgiveness on her end and of course her desire also is to see some kind of freedom for him, her husband especially to experience both from the guilt of the sin that he's committed, but ultimately also to get some kind of freedom from the injustice his faced as being part of the witch hunt trials. However, at the end whilst she feels very impassioned at the fact that John Proctor is going to die because he does not want to accept his guilt in something that he is very blameless for, he has not committed any act of witchery, she also is very passionately upset that her husband will be dying, okay? Now, when it comes to key quotations as you can see behind me I've prepared some key quotes to remember and to memorise when it comes to Elizabeth's character. So let's begin with the first one and the word level analysis to do for that key quotation. Now the first quotation actually describes stage directions in the opening when we first meet her. This is an act two and she's described as being with a smile to keep her dignity. Now the word level analysis you want to do here is the abstract noun dignity. Do you remember that an abstract noun is a noun that we can't touch, taste, feel or see. It usually describes a feeling, a state, a mood of being. Now in this instance this stage direction is important because it's highlighting the tension between John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth Proctor. She's basically playing a role of being a good wife, however of course the tension is very palpable when we first meet them through this stage direction. We can see that she's very stoic. She just does what she's expected to do as a good wife. She does her duties but there's a certain coldness and of course the coldness results from her constantly remembering the adulterous affair that her husband had. And of course this consequently leads John Proctor to be really angry because he feels that she hasn't genuinely forgiven him. Now the second quotation for Elizabeth Proctor's character is when she's talking about Abigail and of course we learned that she's the one that dismissed Abigail when she discovered the affair between her and John Proctor. But then later on she realises that Abigail is using the witch hunt trials as an opportunity to have her murdered and she realises that the power that Abigail has in the way of how she can manipulate people and manipulate public opinion against Elizabeth Proctor. And she shows this by stating Abigail brings the other girls into court ellipsis where she walks the crowd will part like the sea for Israel. So I'm going to repeat that quotation. So Abigail brings the other girls into court ellipsis where she walks the crowd will part like the sea for Israel. And here what she's doing is she's illustrating that she's really up against a very tough opponent. Abigail understands this witch trials. These witch trials are usually just based on emotion, high emotion and she's able to manipulatively use this for her own selfish gain. Of course Abigail's selfish gain is that Elizabeth is killed so that she's free to have a relationship with John Proctor. Now the word level analysis you want to do here is firstly of course this is showing Elizabeth is really angry at the power that Abigail wields. This is shown through the verb brings the power that Abigail has to influence so many people. And also of course we know that Abigail is much younger and prettier. The other word level analysis you want to do is assimilate like this. And of course this is a biblical allusion to Moses as he was leading the Israelites out of their captivity and he parted the Red Sea. Of course again this is illustrating Elizabeth Proctor is really jealous of Abigail's ability to really manipulate and very easily change people's opinions on her. And of course also there's an underlying jealousy as to Abigail's beauty and youth which she doesn't have. And of course it's this beauty that led John Proctor to desire her and ultimately have an adulterous affair with her. The other key quotation to remember for Elizabeth's character is when she reminds John. So Reverend Hale and the other men come in and they check whether he is somehow associated with witchery and witchcraft. And Reverend Hale checks with John Proctor because he hears that John Proctor doesn't go to church every single Sunday. So he asks him if he's really religious to recite the Ten Commandments. And John forgets he remembers all nine commandments except for one which ironically Elizabeth reminds him, adultery John. And this is a declarative sentence. Remember if you're talking about sentences is a structure point and of course there's a deep level of irony here. She's the one that's helping him remember this key commandment but of course this key commandment is tied to his adulterous affair. And of course he's repressing this perhaps this commandment because he's too embarrassed to even talk about adultery. But again what this is showing is that Elizabeth constantly is really loyal towards her husband. She's trying to help him not to be implicated and not to be seen as guilty. But ultimately in this scene this is where she is led away and she is accused of being a witch. The other key quotation to remember is towards the end. So now this is where we've seen her character arc change. This is where she's gone from being a very stoic very passive almost cold emotionless woman who is just enduring. It's just her duty to just act as a good wife to actually transitioning into being a very passionate woman who is passionately angry at these witch hunts and these trials which are seen as wrong. And she states, I am not your judge I cannot be. And this is when she's talking to John Proctor and he's not sure whether he should confess to something that's basically a lie and basically live but he's going to live with the knowledge that he has caved into something that is wrong and fundamentally he disagrees with or he's not sure whether he should refuse, keep his good name and ultimately die for that. Now Elizabeth shows a deep level of understanding here because she tells him that she's not going to judge whatever decision he takes. And the word love analysis you want to do here is firstly the pronoun which is repeated I and this shows Elizabeth greatly has changed. She's able to be self-reflective but equally she's able to empathize with her husband. She's able to put herself in his shoes. The final word level analysis you want to do here is of course the noun judge. She actually is showing that unlike Governor Danforth, Reverend Paris and so on, who basically are going around judging other people for their sins, she is not going to profess any kind of monopoly over what is right and what is wrong. She's not going to say that I'm going to judge you, John. She actually is showing in this instance that she really forgives him and she is happy for him to seek penance for his past adulterous affair. The final quotation to remember and this is to do with and this is actually related to Elizabeth. When she's talking to her husband at the end she's very emotional. This is a stage direction. She's pouring out her heart and of course here the word level analysis you want to do here is hyperbole. Again this shows that Elizabeth has transitioned to someone who's full of emotion. She's able to really empathize with her husband and of course also she feels really really sad because she knows her husband is going to do the right thing. He's going to refuse to show his guilt and he's going to die and she feels a lot of emotion because she's going to lose her husband. So that's it when it comes to Elizabeth Proctor's character and the key quotations to remember for her character.