Examples Of Abagail In The Crucible

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The play The Crucible is set in a puritan society; a society which is a theocracy, where priests and church figures have all the power. Abagail; a servant girl becomes the antagonist of the story. Abigail’s character is the victim of the Puritan society in which she rebels. Abigail’s character is one of extreme manipulation; however it does not start out like this. In the beginning Abagail is an unwedded “orphan” (1.8) who lives with her uncle. This means she is only a little higher than being deemed a slave. This low social status is what drives her lust for John Proctor. Abigail’s main goal is to marry John Proctor and doing so displace his current wife Elizabeth. Abagail and John become seduced by each other and have an affair. “I look …show more content…

In proctors presence a fool felt his foolishness” (1.20) But in the beginning his motivations contradict his moral character because he lives with the fact that “He is a sinner, a sinner not only against the moral fashion of the time, but against his own vision of descent conduct.” (1.20) Proctors behavior and motivations are affected by his affair with Abigail and his broken moral code. In the beginning John does not want to testify against the witch trials because it would expose his sinful relationship with Abigail. Elizabeth tries to persuade John “God forbid you keep that from the court, John. I think they must be told.” (2.53) John knows that if he ever went to the court it would ruin his name in the village. Eventually his motivations change when his wife, Elizabeth becomes convicted of witchcraft. He feels that the situation has gotten out of control and admits to the court that Abigail’s doing “is nothing but a whore’s vengeance.” He has now exposed his sin to the village, but by then it’s too late. In contrast Abigail’s character is one that is selfish and only looks to her pleasure. While John is one that will sacrifice his good name to save his wife and …show more content…

This however is not the case once the word of “witchcraft” spreads. This allowed “Long held hatreds of neighbors openly expressed, and vengeance taken” (1.7) the town’s people then manipulate the situation opening up the door for chaos and causing the collapse of order, while Abigail is at the center of this holy mess. The witch hunt begins when Abigail and Betty began shouting out names of villagers “I saw Sarah good with the devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw George Jacobs with the devil!”(1.48) to free themselves of trouble. Once the witch trials emanate any rationality in the court was displaced by the words of the reborn again girls who now were doing the duty of God to point out the devils helpers. This leads to mass hangings in the village, untended farms, and orphaned children. The irony in all of this is that in trying to follow Gods word Danforth, the high judge blindly puts human accusations before God as reason to kill, thus breaking one of the Ten Commandments in which Puritans religiously follow. Ultimately all order is lost and cannot be redeemed by the high court because Danforth “cannot pardon when twelve are already hanged for the same crime” (4.129) Chaos wins the battle against order and thus breaking the power of theocracy in

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