The Salem witch trials of 1692 were extreme times for everyone filled with chaos and fear. The Salem witch hunts were accusations or lies people made about others being a “witch.” Since this event took place so long ago, there was no evidence available that, for one, witches were not real, and for two, to find out if someone was really a witch or not. In the story “The Crucible,” many of innocent Puritans were killed during these witch hunts. Many people can be to blame for these deaths, but I believe the main reason numerous people were killed was because of a woman named Abigail Williams. Throughout the story, Abigail Williams is a self-centered, mean, and deceiving person who will always get her way. Many people went through pain and suffering because of the lies she put on everyone's name. She cared about no one except one man, John Proctor. John and his wife …show more content…
Tituba, Abigail's slave who would do anything for her, was asked by Abigail to summon spirits to attempt to kill Elizabeth Proctor. When this came out in court Abigail had no regret blaming it completely on Tituba saying, “She comes to me every night to go and drink blood!” (Act 1.) To make sure she didn’t get in trouble herself, Abigail continued to lie to the court saying, “She comes to me while I sleep; she's always making me dream corruptions!” (Act 1.) This resulted in Tituba being accused of witchcraft and later hanged. Abigail Williams is not the only person to blame for innocent people being killed during the Salem witch trials, but I believe she is one of the mean reasons. She is a mean and deceiving person that cares about no one but herself. She lied on multiple people's names causing them to be publicly hanged. The lack of evidence from that time allowed her to accuse anyone of being a witch and ruining their life. The lies she told caused many innocent people to have their lives taken away for no good
“I saw Indians smash my dear parents’ heads on a pillow next to mine.” She use to live in the Proctor house working as a maid. That was until Elizabeth kicked her out because of an affair that happened between Abigail and John Proctor. In the beginning of the story line she was accused of witchcraft in the forest with her cousin, friends and Tituba. That is where the whole story started. Abigail has this huge never ending infatuation with John Proctor and she wants his wife out of the picture so she can take his side as she dreams. But the only way she thought of was to make Tituba give her chicken blood so a charm would kill Elizabeth Proctor. In Abigail eyes Elizabeth is evil and she disserves to die off and never be thought of again. Everyone else in the book doesn’t really matter to her they aren’t that important as John and Elizabeth Proctor.
Abigail Williams was the person who was most responsible for the boisterous witchcraft situation in Salem. Abigail was in the forest dancing when Parris caught the girls. In The Crucible, act 1 page 1093, Abigail says, “ We did dance, Uncle, and when you leaped out of the bush so suddenly, Betty was frightened and then she fainted. And there's the whole of it”. This quote is Abigail admitting to Reverend Parris that she was dancing in the forest. Reverend Parris assumes them of practicing witchcraft. Dancing in the forest at night in Salem because they were strict. This creates the topic of witchcraft in act 1 of The Crucible. Abigail accuses Tituba of calling the Devil. In act 1 of The Crucible page 1108, Abigail says, “I never called him! Tituba, Tituba …” . This is important because it brings another character into the situation. Tituba is accused of being a witch. This is going to cause her to act chaotic because she is going to be denying it. Being accused will also lead to her being whipped or killed. It will also lead to her accusing other women. Abigail accuses more girls to be witches. in act 1 of The Crucible page 1111, Abigail claims, “ I saw Goody Sibber with the Devil!... I saw Goody Hawkins with the Devil!... I saw Goody Booth with the Devil!”. This brings more chaos to the situation. The girls accused of witchcraft will accuse others which will lead to
Abigail, a former house servant to the proctor family, began to imagine her life along side of John Proctor. She becomes infatuated with John and although he is married, she is intent on being with him. When their passion becomes too strong to resist, they have a torrid love affair and she becomes more or less obsessed with him. When he says to her “but I will cut off my hand before I reach for you again” (Miller 22) and refuses to speak any more of their affair, her jealousy rages out of control and she has to devise a plan to win him over.
The Salem witch trials was a very big thing back in the 1600’s. At that time Puritans believed in witchcraft and that the devil could conjure your spirit. They were scared of these things happening in their village so they would do anything to prevent it from happening,. This included killing anyone suspected to be with the devil or to be a witch. It turned out to be a big problem when a group of girls were supposedly seeing spirits sent out at them and the devil would come to them telling them to sign his book.
Abigail Williams, the obvious villain of the play, is petty, jealous, and revenge-driven. Throughout the film, we clearly see her intentions and motives as she seeks out to have John Proctor all to herself. It seems that she has deluded herself into believing that she and Proctor are “meant to be,” and this is the main foundation for which she builds her plans. Originally, Abigail joins in on what seems to be some kind of cult ritual sacrifice out in the woods, led by her uncle's slave, Tituba, along with many other of the town's young girls. Williams pleads with whatever entity they're attempting to call, wishing for the death of Goody Proctor (John Proctor's wife), going as far as drinking the blood of her chicken sacrifice. At the point in which she and her friends are sought and suspected of witchery, Abigail's tactics take a swift turn.
Abigail Williams is a selfish, psychotic, and a pathological liar. A great deal can be said about Abigail. One thing is for certain throughout the course of the story, she took this a little too far. In the beginning, the woods. It was nothing more than a little ritual, she “cursed” Elizabeth Proctor so that she could have John to herself. This is where it all started. In order to protect herself, she came up with a convincing story and told the other girls not to rat her out, or each other. One thing lead to another and soon the circumstances had started to change she needed a better story and people were starting to get hurt. Even with all of these events taking place she still went to John. He pushed her away.
The Crucible follows the lives of those in the Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts, through these witch trials. Although it keeps true to much of the actual witch trials, characters and events have been changed, added, or taken out. This version of the trials is mainly centered around a girl named Abigail Williams. While it does follow the lives of other characters, Abigail determined everyone’s fate in The Crucible.
Abigail Williams is a character in The Crucible whose every objective is to get revenge. Abigail had an affair with John Proctor while
Abigail Williams was perhaps the pinnacle of atrocity in the play. After primarily disregarding the authoritarian, although quite strict, propriety of then modern puritan culture by “dancing like heathen” (Page 10), deceiving her uncle (and the judges), and inhumanely using Tituba as a scapegoat for her own wrongdoing when Tituba could have potentially been hanged, Abigail continued to serially advocate the prosecution of many innocent individuals including her opponent, Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail’s contempt for Proctor’s wife was made prominent in this part: “ABIGAIL, with a bitter anger: Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be-” (Page 23). The fact that “Abby”, along with other children, was installed as an “official of the court” (Page 59) highlights the weakness of a theocratic court system. Theocracy grants and defines legal and social power based principally upon piety and religious value, which frankly is a transient and pathetic structure of authority. Consequently, when the Salem witch delusion was active, the power of theocracy was granted primarily to the “victims” of bewitchment (Abigail Williams, Mary Warren, etc.), who, due to their “religious value”, were treated like court magistrates. This provided Abigail Williams with an exceptional and rare opportunity to exploit the
“How can one be well...when one suffers morally?” (Leo Tolstoy) Beliefs and morals essentially influence the entire life of an individual. Jeopardizing those morals slowly diminishes a person’s soul. Too many wrongdoings leads to an unhappy, dreary existence. However, when under scrutiny many choose to relinquish their faith, to inturn escape strenuous situations. Throughout the play, The Crucible, characters demonstrated the effects of holding on to and abandoning morals. In viewing the result, it was revealed which choice led to a better legacy. Although characters in The Crucible with discredited ethics often proposed a sense of authority over others, those who withheld their principles until perishing, were truly fulfilled in life.
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
Abigail Williams, a young woman living the year 1692, is a major piece in the Salem Witch Trials. Between accusations and coveting Elizabeth Proctor’s husband, Abigail is far from immaculate. Throughout this play you can comprehend the amount of drama that she puts into this story. Abigail Williams plays a major role in the downfall of other characters, as well as her own.
Set in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, a group of young girls were in the forest chanting “spells” in order to have the men they desired. Leading them was a black woman named Tituba, who later confessed to being afflicted and was let off with minimum charges. The teenagers feared being exposed when two young girls fell ill and the town doctor couldn’t find a cure. They confessed to being afflicted and used it as means to accuse the women whose husbands they wished to have relations with. Leading the herd of deceiving girls was Abigail Williams who was in lust for a married man named John Proctor. The trial for Abigail and the girls was heard at the congregation hall where the girls pretended to be possessed by fainting and hallucinating causing
The population of Salem, MA in 1692 was roughly 600 people, and out of 600 people nearly 200 were accused and 20 executed because of the accusations. Thanks to these accusations 1 out of every 3 people in Salem, MA was called a witch. In the story “The Crucible” it is evident that Abigail Williams did play a significant part in these accusations, yet she does not carry the most amount of blame like your book suggests. Your book has all the evidence that Thomas Putnam is the most responsible. Thomas Putnam’s desire for land and complete lack of Puritan values and morals is the largest contributor to the 20 deaths that plagued Salem.
...le. Their character intentions were one thing that made them especially diverse. Abigail Williams wish for John Proctor and disdain of Elizabeth might be depicted as dishonorable. She adored for the greater part of the wrong reasons. When her uncle, Mr. Parris, blamed her for perpetrating a wrongdoing with John, she might lie and accuse Elizabeth. She once said "She abhors me uncle; she should, for I might not be her slave. It's an intense lady, a lying, frosty, whimpering lady, and I won't work for such a lady!" (Miller, Act 1). Subsequently, she dreaded finding of her transgressions, moving in the forested areas, longing Goody Proctor deceased body, and drinking his blood. Elizabeth Proctor needed to recapture Proctors love and admiration. She needed to be the great adoring wife that he knew she could be. Above all, she needed Abigail out of their lives for great.