The Reality of the Salem Witch Trails In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Abigail Williams plays a very important role in the play. In fact without her there would not be a Salem witch trial in Salem, Massachusetts. Abigail is the source of all the hysteria in attempt to defend herself from her crimes. She is a mean and vindictive person who always wants her way, no matter who she hurts. Throughout the play her lies and accusations and cause many people there lives , but she seemed to never care for any of them except John Proctor who she had an affair with several months prior to the beginning of the play. Abigail is definitely the antagonist of the village. She tells lies, manipulates her friends and the entire town, and eventually sends nineteen innocent people to their deaths. Abigail Williams is Selfish and …show more content…
She manipulates her friends by treating them with her past experience of murder. ”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,”Act I”. During this point in the play they had been caught doing the ritual in the wood and now the town people know. She put fear into the girls like she was the leader of them and shows aggressiveness by doing whatever she wants to get her way done. Secondly, Abigail is manipulative during the trail she was acting out to act as if she was witched. (INSERT QUOTE). She started acting out and repeating what Tituba said and saying she was torturing from her other spirit that she sent. When she was doing it the other girls joined in with her because they were scared she was going to do if they didn’t. John knew it was all an act but he couldn’t say because, he was not supposed to be around Abagail alone then his wife would know that he was committing
Abigail is in love with John since they lusted one time. Abigail will never forget that; she wants to be with him. “I have a sense for heart, John, and yours has drawn on to my wind…” page 23 Act One. This quote proves that she has very strong feelings for John. Elizabeth loves John since they are married. Their religion is another reason they are different. Abigail goes against her religion by constantly lying, causing trouble, and lusting. “She comes to me every night to go and drink blood.” Page 44 Act One. This quote proves that Abigail is a lair because she lies on Tituba to save herself. According to the text “… Is your husband a lecher?” Danforth accuses. “No, Sir” Elizabeth responded. Act three page 113. This was the first time Elizabeth Proctor lies; she only lies to save her husband. This proves that Abigail is a wicked Puritan and Elizabeth is
First, In the book The Crucible Abigail Williams is the vengeful, manipulative, and a liar. She seems to be uniquely gifted at spreading death and destruction wherever she goes. She has a sense of how to manipulate others and gain control over them. All these things add up to make her one good antagonist with a dark side. In Act I, her skills at manipulation are on full display. When she's on the brink of getting busted for witchcraft, she skillfully manages to pin the whole thing on Tituba and several of Salems other second class citizens. Also since Abigail's affair with John Proctor, she's been out to get Elizabeth, his wife. She convinced Tituba to put a curse on Elizabeth, hoping to get rid of her and take
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.
Abigail’s overly emotional responses correspond with the stereotypical behavior of a woman during this time period. She leads with her heart rather than with her head, both when she refuses to accept that John does not love her and when she verbally berates Elizabeth when she realizes the only way for her to truly have John is for Elizabeth to be out of the picture. Although Abigail believes that she is in love with John, that doesn’t mean that physical attraction does not play a role in her motivations throughout the play. At another point in John and Abigail’s conversation in Act I, Abigail expresses, “I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I came near!” (22).
Abigail would tell John about his wife and say “she is blackening my name in the village; she is a cold sniveling woman”. (Miller 23-24) John tries to end the affair but Abigail will not let him go because she is in love with
her selfish and evil ways, causes the destruction of many people in the town of
A motivation can be described as a character having a reason to behave or act in a particular way. Someone or something can be someone's motivation. A child obeys its parents to avoid punishment or a clerk works overtime so that he can afford a better car are examples of motivation. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, characters illustrate several types of motivations. Throughout the play, Abigail is motivated by jealousy, power, and attention.
In conclusion Abigail is the problem in the play The Crucible and I believe that if she wasn’t in it they wouldn’t have had half the problems they did. She caused almost every single bad thing that happened in the play. She is a terrible, mean, rotten person who I believe should have
Abigail Williams the main character in The Crucible by Arthur Miller draws the interest of the reader as she is a wicked, confident girl who lies to get what she wants and defends her name and her life.
She is the niece of Reverend Parris and the cousin of Betty Parris; she used to work as a servant for the Proctors, before being sent away by Elizabeth Proctor; she is the ringleader of the “afflicted” girls. Abigail Williams was the initial instigator of the witch hunt in Salem in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible. She lied and accused others of witchcraft in order to save herself. During the Salem Witch Trials over 200 people were accused of witchcraft and 20 were executed (Blumberg). Abigail Williams is a member of a strict Puritan society. Witnessing her parents being murdered right in front of her, being forced to live with her selfish inconsiderate uncle, and having a love for a man she
The Crucible is a morality play due to the dramatization of Good and Evil that is shown in the characters. The characters Abigail, Reverend Paris and the Putnams are all painted as the forces of Evil in The Crucible. Abigail Williams, who is selfish, manipulative, power hungry, and intelligent, is the main antagonist in The Crucible. In Act I, it is found that Abigail had an affair with John Proctor who
Sometimes, things are not what they seem. In the story The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a character named Abigail Williams does not fit the description of a typical, Puritan girl. Puritans are dedicated to their religion and the young girls are meant to be well-behaved and proper. Yet Abigail is found breaking some of the Ten Commandments. What drives her to do such evil things? She partakes in forbidden rituals, commits adultery, and lies under the oath of God, but Abigail is not at fault. Any young girl in Salem during the witch trials would have done the same, as a whole crowd of other girls did. She is used for sex by a man named John Proctor. She lies to receive the human necessity of respect, security, and belonging. She behaves the way a young girl would act. Abigail is portrayed as a dishonest, corrupt, and vicious girl, but in reality, she is the victim of the Salem Witch Trials for she is only following her natural impulses, is blinded by her love, and carries out the mess the adults have created only to try to protect herself.
In every family, there is one child that is always very misleading and evil, and besides that, they get away with everything that they do that is unsound. The certain person in the family may break on of you mom’s favorite plate, and then end up placing the blame on you, and then persuades your parents that he or she is telling the true. Abigail Williams is the poor duplicate of that sibling or relative. She influences everyone that she is an innocent teenage girl, but that is not the case throughout the play. In the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Abigail is the bona fide misleading and evil teenage girl.
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.