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.
Where the Idea of Witchcraft Began
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, there are many characters who provoke the Salem Witch Trials and the belief of witchcraft in the town of Salem. Out of all of the characters the one who stands out the most and is pushing toward the belief of witchcraft is Abigail. Abigail Williams plays a role that leads the court to believe that witches in Salem are real and are bewitching innocent townspeople that are just trying to go about their day to day lives. Abigail displays a very manipulating, deceiving, and conniving personality throughout the text.
Abigail Williams is manipulative and wants everything to go her way. She is the main character and causes trouble everywhere she goes. The Salem Witch Trials is about hearings and prosecutions of people who were accused of witchcraft. In The Crucible Abigail is a no good villain. Abigail first commits adultery with Elizabeth’s husband. Later on Abigail begins to accuse innocent people of doing witchcraft which causes them to die. Abigail Williams uses the Salem Witch Trials to put out all the resentment she has toward everyone.
Joey McCanna
Ms. Fischetti
English 11 Hon. Period 6
19 October 2015
Influence
Sometimes the actions of one character can bring out an otherwise dormant violent side of another character. Such was the case with Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Abigail acts as a foil and exposes Elizabeth’s true characteristics and personal traits.
Abigail Williams has a low reputation in the small village, and can be easily accused for witchcraft, yet she finds a way to avoid this.Abigail uses peoples reputation to her advantage, and accuses many others of witchcraft, taking the attention away from her. During the trials How does Abigail Williams and Danforth demonstrate the value of a “good” reputation in a puritan society? How does it relate to McCarthyism? And how did Abigail use it to her advantage? In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams, a young girl in a small community, is accused to be a “Witch” after someone claims to have seen her dancing in the woods with the devil. Abigail is extremely significant character to this story, as she lead the small puritan society in Salem to the Salem Witch trials, which later on reveals each character's deepest value: Their Reputation. In this play, someones reputation can cost their lives, since the witch trials started, people with lower reputations are more vulnerable to be accused to be a “Witch”. Abigail, one of the accused victims, finds a way to use the power of reputation to control the outcome of her trial. She is the best example for explaining how reputation is so important.
How can a girl who condemned seventy two to a death sentence and drank a charm to kill a man’s wife, a man she has slept with on more than one occasion be the victim? It’s possible when the town she lives in is worse than her. Although Abigail Williams is typically thought of as the antagonist of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, she is in fact a victim as much as any other tragic character in the play.
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.
The Crucible – The Character of Abigail
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.
Abigail is a defensive girl. She is always defending her reputation and herself to get out of trouble. Abigail was on orphan, her uncle Parris feeds and clothes her. She was also expelled from the house by Goody Proctor, therefore she has little standing in village.
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.
Today in society a person’s future is often dictated by their past. Traumatic events will in many times create a such a person to behave in an unacceptable behavior. Throughout literature such people are used as characters to further the plot. The term frequently used for this type of character is an antagonist. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, the protagonist, Abigail Williams, creates the sole conflict based on her adolescent years. For characters like Abigail, in The Crucible, her early life and relationship with John Proctor contributes to her actions despite some being seen as inexcusable.