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Social aspects of the Salem witch trials
Social aspects of the Salem witch trials
Salem witch trials and historical analysis
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In The Crucible, Abigail Williams is a seventeen year old girl, who lives in Salem. She never had a childhood nor purity, because of the age that she is, the essential dark side came along with a continuous amount of unfortunate events. Every time something had gone awry in the town of Salem, it had looked as if it always lead back to Abigail. The majority of what she has done was lie and created a shattering destruction and even in some cases, ruin lives. Abigail Williams is motivated by her love for John Proctor; this creates her decision to have an affair with John, accuse numerous innocent people that stood in her way of witchcraft, and disappears when she thinks the tables may turn on her. With the fact that Abigail’s behavior is so heavily motivated by her obsession with John Proctor, she made the choice to have an affair. She first started to be their maid for the Proctor’s. Elizabeth had kicked her off to the streets when she had “thought” her husband had turned from her. Abigail is yearning to be with John Proctor, since after the affair. “John- I was waitin’ for you every night” (Miller 1139). Abigail believes John still loves her because he once used to have feelings for her when his wife, Elizabeth, was immensely sick. …show more content…
Abigail desired to have John all to herself and wanted to take Elizabeth’s place. Nothing was capable of standing in her way, when it came to her mind being set on someone or something. “You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife!” (Miller 1137). Betty Parris was trying to give information about what in fact happened, but Abigail kept telling her to be quiet. She wanted John all to herself but she didn't want anyone knowing she wanted Elizabeth gone.When Abigail was confronted about wanting to kill Elizabeth she kept denying it and putting on a scene to avoid
The Crucible How does an individual gain so much power through trials? In the play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrays Abigail Williams as a powerful individual by revealing her control over the younger girls and the continuous accusations she makes until the end of the play. Throughout the entire play, it is made clear that Abigail has control over the younger girls in the village. In Act 1, it is right away noticed that her way of controlling them is through causing fear by making threats.
Abigail Williams is motivated to lie about her affair with John Proctor. What motivates her to lie is the thought of getting hung. Another big reason that she could be lying is for vengeance. Abigail loves John Proctor and one night they had an affair and touched. Since then, Abigail has been jealous towards John’s wife, Elizabeth. Abigail goes into the forest with some other young girls and Tituba, who makes a potion to have boys fall in love with them. This is a great example, “ABIGAIL, pulling her away from the window: I told him everything; he knows now, he knows everything we—BETTY: You drank blood, Abby! You didn't tell him that! ABIGAIL: Betty, you never say that
Abigail's necessity for revenge makes her threaten the young ladies into following her idea of deception. “Let either of you breathe a word,” Abigail threatens, “or the edge of a word about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you”(835). Abigail knows that all the girls in the woods fear her to death. Which made the witch trials easier for her to get by. Another thing is that Abigail ends her affair with John Proctor to try to get revenge on him. “A man may think God
Throughout the many acts of the play, we sense the anger rolling off Abigail’s words. “I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men! And now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!” By these words, we know that Abigail Williams is angry. She’s angry at John Proctor for trying to hide the crime he committed with her, and for the lack of closure she
to dancing round a fire in the woods but she says that it was not
Comparison of Elizabeth Proctor with Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor, the leading female characters in 'The Crucible'. Both show determination in order to get what they want. Abigail, a cunning girl that is out for revenge, feels she has superiority over many of the other characters even though she is only a young girl. Elizabeth's character portrays a wife in distress after she finds out about her husband's affair, yet she still has courage throughout the play. She shows determination when she is in need of strength to keep her going, after Abigail accused her of witchcraft.
She said to the girls “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you”. (Miller 20) Abigail only wanted one thing she could not have which was a married man. When in court John begins to reveal his affair with Abigail. However Abigail is asked about the affair with John Proctor and she completely denies it.
The motivation of jealousy is portrayed by Abigail in The Crucible numerous times. In the play, Abigail's motivation of jealousy is shown when Betty says "You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!". (1107) Abigail's jealousy gave her motivation to try to kill Elizabeth because she was convinced that John loved her as much as she loved him. Another example of Abigail's jealousy is when she says to Proctor "She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a --". (1110) Abigai...
Her relationship with John Proctor and her animosity to Goody Proctor also interest is as they are reasons why Elizabeth Proctor was accused as a witch and later the death of John. Abigail loved John but John only lusted because of strains in his marriage. When Elizabeth expelled Abigail, John gave up. This is shown when Abigail asked John."Give me a word,John. A soft word." John replies,"I will cut of my hand before I'll ever reach for you again." Abigail cannot have John, this caused bitterness and hatred towards Elizabeth. She says," She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me, She is a cold, snivelling woman..."
In the book The Crucible many characters go mad with power. One of this person is Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris niece. Abigail is the president or leader of a group of girls that start accusing people of being witches. Abigail went Mad with Power when she starts to accuse Tituba and Sarah Osborne of being a witch. “She made me do it! She made betty do it!” (Act 1 pg 847). Abigail first tells Hale about the “witches” when Betty, Parris’s daughter, fell into a deep sleep and wouldn’t wake up. She first accused Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborn. Later in Act II Abigail goes completely mad with power. In Act II Abigail accuses Mary Proctor of have sent her spirit upon her and stab her with a pin. “Why, Abigail Williams charged her” (Act II
“ABIGAIL, with a bitter anger: Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be(act 1 pg 205) relation to prompt .Though Abigail pretends she’s angry at Elizabeth Proctor for damaging her reputation, the more powerful emotion is envy of Elizabeth for her marriage to John Proctor. Here she resorts to petty name-calling in order to cast doubt in John’s mind. “ELIZABETH, She’d dare not call out such a farmer’s wife but there be monstrous profit in it. She thinks to take my place, John. Elizabeth points out that Abigail’s behavior, and her sudden accusation of Elizabeth, is motivated by jealousy and the possible benefit she might gain if Elizabeth dies. Proctor has a hard time coming around to see the truth of this
In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, the main character Abigail Williams is to blame for the 1692 witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Abigail is a mean and vindictive person who always wants her way, no matter who she hurts. Through out the play her accusations and lies cause many people pain and suffering, but she seemed to never care for any of them except John Proctor, whom she had an affair with seven months prior to the beginning of the play. John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth used to employ Abigail, until Elizabeth found out the affair and threw Abigail out. Although John told Abigail that the affair was over and he would never touch her again, she tried desperately to rekindle their romance. "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." (Page 23) She claimed that she loved John and that he loved her. Before the play began, Abigail tried to kill Elizabeth with a curse. She thought that if Elizabeth were dead John would marry her. Further into the play, Abigail accused Elizabeth of witchcraft. She saw Marry Warren, the Proctor's servant, making a poppet. Mary put a needle into the doll, and Abigail used that for her accusation. She stabbed herself with a needle and claimed that Elizabeth's soul had done it. Although Abigail claimed she loved John, she may have just loved the care and attention he gave her. John cared for her like no one else had. In a way he could be described as somewhat of a father figure to her. When Abigail was just a child, she witnessed her parents' brutal murders. "I saw Indians smash my dear parent's heads on the pillow next to mine..." (page 20) After her traumatic experience, she was raised by her uncle, Reverend Parris, who is somewhat of a villain. In the play it was written, "He (Parris) was a widower with no interest in children, or talent with them." (Page 3) Parris regarded children as young adults who should be "thankful for being permitted to walk straight, eyes slightly lowered, arms at the sides, and mouths shut until bidden to speak." (Page 4) Therefore, it is obvious to see that Abigail grew up without any love or nurturing.
In the beginning of act two of The Crucible, Elizabeth confronts John Proctor, her husband, about him seeing what looks like his mistress, Abigail. Elizabeth knew he had an affair with Abigail while she was sick. She knew John would go into town to see Abigail while she was at home and ever since then, she’s had suspicion of what John is doing when he goes to town. “John, if it were not Abigail that you must go to hurt, would you falter now? I think not.”(pg.163) While John is trying to put in effort into their marriage, Elizabeth ignores him because she is hurt that her husband would betray her with another girl. John trys to show her that he is not longer interested in Abigail says, “Let you look to your own improvement before you go to judge your husband any more. I have forgot Abigail…”(pg.163)
Abigail states the facts of the situation and proves the close relationship that she and John had. John saw Abigail differently at the time and ignored his morals regarding the right thing to do. He chose to see Abigail and be alone with her where he made bad decisions and committed the crime of adultery. John Proctor executed immoral actions which created problems for his relationship with Elizabeth. During a private conversation between John and Elizabeth, John lets the information that he was alone in a room with Abigail slip out during one of their arguments. Not taking into account of what he said, Elizabeth notices and questions him on it. Earlier, from when John admitted to his meetings alone with Abigail, Elizabeth gets angry with him and insecure about herself in comparison with Abigail, “You’ll tear it free – when you come to know that I will be your only wife, or no wife at all! She has an arrow in you yet, John Proctor, and you know it well! (Miller 62) There is tension in the air between the two, causing their relationship to become more distant. John’s actions with Abigail have caused the bond with his wife to be problematic and lacking of trust. To add on, Elizabeth strictly points out her opinion on this, claiming that she does not tolerate cheating and that she will be his only wife or no wife of his at all. This puts their relationship at stake because it causes John to be required to make the right decision if he wants to hold onto Elizabeth in his life. He has to deal with the consequences to his immoral actions and try to earn back Elizabeth’s trust to get their relationship back on track again. As a result, when one commits adultery, it causes close relationships to escalate to a problematic
Abigail Williams is the troubled niece of Reverend Parris of Salem. She is an orphan; made so by brutal natives who killed her parents before her very eyes. The witch-hunt begins when Abigail is at the age of seventeen. She has a large role in this novel, especially on these dark events and also her relationship with John Proctor.