The Salem Witch Trials, a horrific event in history involving the incarceration of over 200 innocent people and the execution of 20 for supposed dealings with the Devil. A vast majority of the accusations came from the mouths of the children of Salem, led by 17 year old Abigail Williams, the niece of Reverend Parris. Abigail and the other girls would accuse all whom they disliked to better themselves, leading most to wonder if Abigail Williams was the primary cause of the Salem Witch Trials. Looking at the evidence from Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” and related readings we can infer that Abigail was a main cause for the trials, yet not the only cause.
In the 17th Century of our history, the Puritan religion was spreading like wildfire throughout the new world. To be Puritan is to give all to God and leave nothing for the Devil. Whenever Puritan citizens witnessed the supernatural or anything that wasn’t clear to them they
All of the girls who were out with Abigail began accusing anyone and everyone that wronged them without hesitation. “The Devil may reach anyone.” Abigail said in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.” At this point in the story more than 200 innocent people have been accused and 20 were marked to hang for lack of confessions. Abigail’s main purpose for the accusation were to get back with John Proctor, a farmer whom she had an affair with months before. Abigail accused Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, of witchcraft, which left Proctor no choice but to admit to his lechery to safeguard his wife from the gallows. Proctor’s servant Mary Warren betrays him and states in Miller’s “The Crucible in Act 4, “You’re the Devil’s man!” leaving Proctor thrown in jail and marked to hang in mere weeks. The last thing Abigail expected to happen from the accusation was for John to be
Witchcraft started in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Superstition started when women were accused of acting strangely. These superstitions turned into trials, and later lead to mounds of hanged people. Most of the people accused were innocent, but the harsh judge rulings left them with nothing to live for. The only options for the tried, no matter if guilty or not, were to claim guilty, living the rest of their life in prison, or to plead not guilty and hang. Due to both consequences being equally as punishable, many people isolated themselves from society. Unfortunately, some people caused the uprising of the salem witch trials more than others did. In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams single handedly attributed to the
I believe that Abigail Williams is to blame for turning the town of Salem against many people, and I think it is her fault that several people were killed. Abigail Williams sends the town into a state of hysteria by accusing men and women of practicing the satanic art of witchcraft. Abigail’s flaws - her lustful desire for John Proctor, her deceptive habit of lying in order to retain her good name in the town, and her selfishness and obsessive aspiration for power – led her to be ultimately responsible for the catastrophe of the witch hunt in Salem.
In the Crucible there was three characters that stood out from all the other ones in this wicked story. Abigail Williams was a big influence in this story she would lie and lie to get out of things and she was also the leader of the girls in the woods. Furthermore she also had an affair with John Proctor which made John and Elizabeth relationship unstable. Also John Proctor runs into a situation at the end of the story where he is put in the position if he wants his pride of not signing that paper full of lies or die knowing he did the right thing of not lying. Additionally, Elizabeth Proctor has never lied ever until the day John was being prosecuted for his witchcraft and possibly adultery and Elizabeth lied so that his name wouldn't be ruined.
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows that the tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials stems from human failings, particularly the need for vengeance, greed, and fear. Abigail Williams is an example of all three. Her fear prompts her to first accuse random women, her need for vengeance directs her toward Elizabeth, and her greed for power affects the lives of everyone around her. Individual flaws, when acted on collectively, inevitably cause the downfall of Salem.
In Arthur Miller’s play, “The Crucible”, a dramatic story unfolds about hatred and deception among the townspeople of Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692. During this time, people were being accused of practicing witchcraft and conjuring with the devil. Once accused, all one could do was deny the practice and hang for it or confess and be condemned to prison. Many took advantage of this, including a young girl by the name Abigail Williams who is the main character in the play. Who is to be blamed for the death of the innocently accused? Many can argue and say that other characters in the story share blame in the Salem Witch Trials. Though, the ultimate responsibility belongs to Abigail for the deaths of many innocent people during this time.
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.
John Proctor is an honest, though harsh, man who is clearly the protagonist of The Crucible. Before the beginning of the play, John had an affair with Abigail Williams, a girl who worked in his household, which was abruptly ended when Elizabeth Proctor, John's wife, fired her. This event causes Abigail to desire revenge against Elizabeth while she still pines for John. Once the trials are well underway, Abigail accuses Elizabeth of being a witch, which leads to her arrest. John goes to the court in defense of his wife, where he reveals that he did indeed committed adultery with Abigail in an attempt to expose her as a fraud and a liar. Unfortunately, John's appeal falls on deaf ears and he is arrested as well. While his wife manages to get a temporary stay of execution, due to the fact that she is pregnant at the time of the trials, which in the end saves her by insuring her life until the chaos, hysteria, and persecution comes to an end, John is sentenced to death. The play ends with his hanging, but his death puts an end to the trials.
Miller directly targets McCarthy through the character Abigail Williams in The Crucible. Abigail is portrayed as a sneaky, manipulative girl, not unlike McCarthy. Abigail desperately yearned for John Proctor, begging him to “give [her] a word.a soft word,” but when John pushed her away and told her “that’s done with,” Abigail felt that the only way she could have John to herself was to accuse his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, of practicing witchcraft (Miller 1246). Although Abigail had no evidence that the people she accused were practicing witchcraft, the court took her accusations seriously because Abigail had credibility. Abigail accused Tituba of witchery, and when Tituba confessed that she had, in fact, conversed with the devil, it proved to the townspeople that Abigail had told the truth (1262).
The Crucible is one of the most bizarre accounts of a historical event to date. The naïveté of the townspeople leads them down a road of madness and confusion, led by a shameless Puritan girl. Abigail Williams was a ruthless girl who showed no mercy upon accusing her victims of witchcraft. Knowing the entire town of Salem would believe her and the other girls, she would not hesitate at charging anyone she wished with the crime of the Devil’s work. However, a challenge arose to Abigail when she decided to accuse Elizabeth Proctor, and eventually her husband John, of witchcraft. The Proctor marriage was not just any simple marriage; it had its times of cold shoulders, heartfelt truth, and undying love.
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
First it started off as a want for boys in salem until one of the girls from Salem tried to turn it into something else by wishing bad things upon a man named Proctor. She wished death upon Proctor’s wife whose name is Elizabeth because she was obsessed with him. After the girls left the woods Abigail williams after being caught Abigail tried to convince the rest of the girls that they were only in the woods dancing as seen on page 148 in lines 353 to 360 which explained that Abigail told the others if anyone ask they were only dancing. So who's to blame? Abigail williams because the lies started with her and because she threatened all the other girls to lie also.
Lying is a deception that many people use to cause harm or avoid the truth. However, not all lies are deleterious. In fact, sometimes lying is the best approach for protecting ourselves and others from malice. Deception is what makes someone a pathological liar or simply, Human.For instance, false rape accusation, in many situations, can be viewed in court and in the news.In the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, lust can be argued to be the main weakness of Abigail Williams, however, because her rumors and accusations impact the characters and plot of the story, it is her dishonesty.
Abigail Williams is the start of all the hysteria in the town of Salem. She has caused alot of innocent villagers that were accused of witchery killed with her lies. Run from her or avoid eye contact and fear the you may be the next one put in court in front of neighbors and family members and be accused by the screaming children that you sent your soul out to harm them for the devil. The same children that scream at you are hideing the truth that they were caught in the woods dancing by Reverand Paris. Instead of faceing their consequences they lies to defend themselves from receiving small punishments for dancing.
In The Crucible, two characters that serve as a foil for each other are Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail. Elizabeth Proctor is known as an honest woman, while Abigail is consistently seen as a dishonest person whose lies result in the widespread paranoia of the Salem witch trials. For instance, after she dances in the forest with other girls, she forbids them from telling the townsfolk about it and accuses other people of witchcraft, which leads to their deaths. Another example is the fact that she had an affair with John Proctor, Elizabeth’s husband, and tries to conceal it because she does not want her reputation to get ruined. Her motive for accusing others of witchcraft is because she wants to get rid of Elizabeth so that she could be John’s “perfect wife,” and because she does not want to get in trouble. Abigail is the perfect foil for anyone who is even slightly honest.
The Crucible is considered the outline of the real life events during the Salem Witch trials in 1692. Abigail Williams, the niece of Reverent Paris was found conjuring in the forest along with his nine year old daughter Betty and other girls. After that event the witch trials began. In real life, Abigail was the one who began the witc...