The Crucible And Abigail Williams Character Analysis

“What 's in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” (Goodreads). William Shakespeare writes this quote in the play Romeo and Juliet. The play The Crucible by Arthur Miller many of the characters disagree with this quote about a name not impacting the character of a person. The setting of The Crucible is 1692 Salem, Massachusetts during the witch trials. Abigail Williams is a feisty teenager, and starts accusing people of witchcraft as a scapegoat for participating in activities that could be seen a witchcraft. Abigail ends up accusing Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft, and Elizabeth’s husband John Proctor must try to clear her name. The court does not want to hear his deposition though, because then they might

Abigail and John Proctor had relations while Abigail was a servant in the Proctors’ house. When Elizabeth discovers it, she fires Abigail. According to Abigail, Elizabeth has been blackening Abigail’s name in Salem. Abigail still loves John and wants John to love her, so she accuses Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft, so there is nothing keeping John from loving her; we learn about this when Cheever says “Why, Abigail Williams charge her” (Miller 73). Abigail Williams would rather kill someone else and possible get what she wants, over accepting the fact that John loves Elizabeth and moving on. This shows that Abigail disregards her own moral standards and integrity to save her own reputation and get what she

Abigail Williams is willing to disregard her morals, lie, and kill someone else to restore her good reputation in Salem. John Proctor is willing to lose his integrity and life before he gives up his reputation. Judge Danforth is to proud and concerned about his own reputation to admit that he made a mistake and save seven people’s lives. This is relevant for humanity today because it shows that if we are selfish and put our reputation as our most important concern that only problems and bad things will come from