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What motivated Abigail's behavior in the crucible
Character of abigail in crucible
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Imagine your life depending on a Seventeen year old girl that has lied to cover what she had done and has accused anyone going against her with witchcraft and eventually sending them to their death how would you feel ? Abigail williams is the one to blame for all the deaths for the thirst towards john proctor she stopped at nothing to get him. Abigail Shows mendacity throughout the whole story by blaming people of witchcraft. “Uncle, we did dance; let you tell them I confessed it” (10). The was one of the first she tells trying to cover up what she actually did. She lied to her uncle about what happened that night about how she was practicing witchcraft and how she drank blood to kill elizabeth proctor to get john proctor all for herself. Another time was when she said “she sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer!” Abigail is lying by saying Tituba sends her spector to her to cover and explain why she would laugh in church while she was praying. Abigail was desperate to put the blame on someone this is only the beginning of the lies. …show more content…
Abigail also looks for him every chance she could get. Abigail said “I look for the John Proctor who took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! (24). This quote is showing the lust Abigail has for a married man and how she has not forgotten the affair they had by telling him she is still in love with him. She also said “ It's she put me out, you cannot pretend it were you. I saw your face when she put me out, and you loved me then and you do now! (22) Abigail in this quote is trying to convince john that he is still in love with her because she saw when his wife kicked her out how he
Abigail asks Tituba to help her cast a love spell on John Proctor. Abigail tells the girls who were also involved to keep quiet. Mary Warren begins to feel guilty and tries to persuade the girls to tell the truth. Abigail disagrees with Mary and browbeats the girls “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things… I will bring a pointy reckoning and shutter you”. (Miller 1137) Abigail is threatening the girls that if they say anything about her drinking blood she will harm them. Abigail threatens the girls for her own selfish reasons, Abigail Williams is a villain because she would rather lie and hurt people than tell the truth.
Abigail Williams tried very hard to keep her pride together. She kept secrets in order to keep her name good to people in Salem Village, but after a while she failed. After she accused so many victims, people stopped believing there were ever really witches in Salem. When John admitted to adultery with Abigail, she didn't deny it, yet she didn't say she did not know him. She wouldn't lie to the court yet she refused to admit to this. She told John her name was good in the town in the beginning , but she didn't seem to know what was in store for her reputation, especially when she fled
Abigail’s mendacity is a driving force throughout the play. It becomes clear early on in Act One that Abigail is hiding something. Her reactions to her uncles questioning of her name and reasons for discharge from Goody Proctors service are curious. The stage directions indicate that she answers “with an edge of resentment,” “with ill concealed resentment” and “in a temper.” She defends herself by slandering Goody Proctor. When she and her friends were together and realized that they could be in serious trouble she told them exactly what to say and threatened them if they did otherwise. When pressed with questions about the night of dancing in the woods and drinking blood, she tells blatant lies about Tituba by saying, “She made me do it! She made Betty do it!” (1154). This is known to be a lie because earlier when the girls were discussing their alibi, it came out that Abigail drank the bloody charm to kill John Proctor’s wife. Tituba says 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
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..."
Abigail was willing to do anything in order to avenge her lustful feelings for John, and his denial of her. When he was fighting for his wife to be released from prison, Abigail fought as well, to keep her in. After hearing her account, John Proctor said that “A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you-see her what she is. My wife, my dear good wife, took this girl soon after,
Although she was a smart girl, Abigail was only out for herself and her own reputation. Abigail Williams didn't only lie about witchcraft, but she forced others to join in. She was Reverend Parris's niece and believed she could get away with whatever she wanted. Abigail did not want to have to damage her reputation by having a different testimony as all the other girls, so she forced them to lie as well. While alone with the girls she said, "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. And you know I can do it..." (Miller 1044). Abigail also stuck a needle in herself because she knew Goody Proctor had a poppet at her home with a needle in it. While talking to John Proctor about Abigail, Cheever remarked, "...and, stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, she draw a needle out. And demandin' of her how she come to be so stabbed, she testify it were your wife's familiar spirit pushed it in," (Miller 1077). Abigail may have been the most prominent person to lay the blame on, but other people were guilty as well.
Have you ever wanted something so badly, that you would do anything to get it? Abigail Williams, one of the main protagonists in the play The Crucible, is a prime example of this. The Crucible takes place in Salem village, where over twenty people are being persecuted for witchcraft. She wanted to be with John Proctor, a married man with three children, more than anything. The extent that she was willing to go is belligerently horrific. Abigail's flaws of immaturity, jealousy, and deceitfulness led to her ultimate downfall of her beloved John being sentenced to death.
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.
Abigail Williams, young and beautiful, swoops into the text with her lies from the very first Act. Only 12 pages into the script we see her lie to her uncle by saying “ She [ Elizabeth Proctor] hates me, uncle, she must, for I would not be her slave. It’s a bitter woman, a lying, cold, sniveling woman, and I will not work for such a woman.” (Miller 12). Abigail’s hate and envy of Elizabeth Proctor, the wife of her ex-lover, brings her to spread lies about her. Abigail loves John Proctor and will do anything to make him love her in return. Consumed by her lust and horrified about her reputation about the town, Abigail throws herself into the pit of deception. After a while, it is evident that she has gone past the point of no return. “ You see sir, she told me that she would stay a night with Mercy Lewis...” (Miller 126). This is takes place in the last act when Reverend Parris is speaking to Judge Danforth. Parris is explaining that Abigail has just run off and stolen all his life savings. Without
One would think she is an innocent girl. Well that person would be wrong. In the story it states that Abigail Williams and John Proctor fondled with each other. This little affair sparked this young woman’s interest in the older man, John Proctor. John has feelings for her until the end of the story but they will fade. He knows he must be loyal to his wife. So he tries to push her away. Abigail Williams won’t give up on Proctor no matter what. She is aware that she will have to overcome some obstacles. The girls and Tituba, a slave, were caught doing some things that are deemed unholy in their community. They were singing, dancing, and creating charms. Well Abigail created and “drank a charm to kill John Proctors wife.”(Miller 148) Elizabeth proctor is the most challenging obstacle she must conquer. So her first attempt was to bring death upon her in a. As you can see, jealousy is grasping firmly onto her
In conclusion I ask this again: how can a girl who condemned seventy two to a death sentence and drank a charm to kill a man’s wife, a man she slept with on more than one occasion, be the victim? Abigail is truly a victim just as much as one of those she condemned to death, because of Salem’s judgemental, self-concerned and oppressive views and beliefs led her to it.
Throughout time one of society’s weaknesses had been it willing to follow and be affected by one individual. This is seen in Arthur Miller's play the crucible. Miller's play is set in salem during the infamous witch trials. The crucible critiques society being able to follow and believe in on person. Abigail sets an example of this when gains control over and initiates the hysteria in salem through her selfishness and manipulative qualities.
Abigail and Elizabeth both love John Proctor. Abigail worked as a servant at the Proctor home, and during that time she had an affair with John. Abigail feels that is Elizabeth were out of the way she could have John all to herself, and that is why she’s jealous of Elizabeth, John’s wife. When Elizabeth is asked why she dismissed Abigail, she won’t say anything about the affair Abigail had with her husband.