Elizabeth is good, moral, loyal, also upright and composed. Among this, she is a very cold woman. Maybe it sounds strange, but her good sides are also her bad ones. She is a very shiny woman who is steady and true—but these traits also make her a bit cold. When we first meet her, she's especially cold. She's gotten a good reason to be suspicious and distant: do you memorize that her husband cheated on her with the housekeeper? Elizabeth is a poor victim. The only sin we see that she’s done is when she lies in court, saying that John and Abigail's affair never happened.
Elizabeth Proctor in the Essays