CRUCIBLE: 50-67

Proctor: I'll whip the Devil out of you! With whip raised he reaches out for her, and she streaks away and yells. (59).

The violent temperament of Proctor is revealed and continues to be shown throughout this scene. Since he first walked in the door, he'd been angry at his wife. He seems to like being in control, the same way he was acting when he was talking to Reverend Parris is the same way he speaks at home. He is a man who allows his emotion to conquer his rationality. Whenever his wife brings up his affair with Abigail, he immediately becomes upset and vehemently demands that she stops speaking about it. He cannot accept authority higher than him, and in this case he especially won't accept it from a woman (his wife) or a servant (Mary). Thus, being the reason for his violent outburst.

Elizabeth, delicately: John - grant me this. You have a faulty understanding of young girls. There is a promise made in any bed (61).

Elizabeth seems to serve as Proctor's voice of reason; she seems mature and intelligent. That is probably why Proctor appealed to her. Here, she makes a reasonable point and realizing that it may possibly be true Proctor (once again) has a temper tantrum. We wonder why Abigail is so clingy if it was just some meaningless affair on the side, which he claims. He must have said something to make her fall so deeply in love with him. There was a much deeper connection between the two and that is where he messed up because she is young so breaking that bond between them would hurt her more than it would hurt him. His wife is slowly connecting the dot and putting two and two together. Proctor is not dumb, he slowly starting to realize that Abigail wants to take the place of his wife but he does not want to believe it.