Abigail Williams Character Analysis

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the audience introduced to a chaotic 1692 Salem, Massachusetts. Throughout the play we see a series of unreasonable events including the hanging of 19 people due to false accusations of witchcraft. These witch trials killed many people and jailed hundreds for no reason at all. There is many people to blame for the Salem Witch Trials but, Abigail Williams is most culpable.

In the Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Miller shows that Abigail Williams’ is responsible for the tragic witch-hunt in Salam, Massachusetts, because of her flaws: lust, jealousy, and spitefulness. Abigail had the perfect reputation within the town of Salam, but there was a rumor she was a little close to John Proctor. Abigail in the beginning of the story is caught dancing in the woods by her uncle, the priest in Salam. Mr. Parris, Abigail’s uncle, is told by the girls with Abigail that they were possessed by the Devil. This begins the witch-hunt in Salam.

It’s important to note why and how Abigail inherited her selfish behavior in the first place, and what caused her to act a certain way. Abigail claims that she is in love with John Proctor, and the two characters were discovered to have an affair with each other. John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth Proctor, finds out about the affair and

In Arthur Miller 's The Crucible, the main character Abigail Williams is to blame for the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, Abigail Williams remained a static character throughout the book. Abigail is a mean, deceitful and manipulative person who always wants her way; she has no remorse about who she hurts along her journey to get her want she wants.

The Crucible takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during the year of 1692 and during this time, the Salem witch-hunts began. The Salem witch-hunt was one of the oddest and most fearsome epochs in human history. The numerous amounts of people that were prosecuted were all innocent and their lives were taken away due to the fallacious accusations of the Puritan’s belief in superstition and their paranoia that witches had walked among them. One accuser that is the reason this all started was Abigail Williams. Abigail Williams is to blame because she possesses the evil qualities of being remorselessness, jealous, and also having the quality of vengefulness. These qualities that Abigail have are direct contributions to the murder of many people who were unjustly hanged to death.

To begin, Abigail’s background story must be explained for anybody to truly understand her character. Abigail is an orphan who witnessed her parents’ brutal murder as a young child and was taken in by her uncle Reverend Parris (148). Abigail has grown up without a proper mother and father figure to guide her through the trials of life. When Abigail is first introduced into the scene, the narrator uses an intriguing choice of words to describe her. Some literary analysts may argue that Abigail’s childhood living situation is the reason that she behaves the way she does; however this is not the case. Abigail has a tendency to victimize herself to gain and receive attention whenever she pleases. Throughout acts I and II, Abigail has made herself the victim in a multitude of different ways. For example, Reverend Parris accuses Abigail of having a blemished reputation around the town of Salem. She denies this statement; however, when Parris calls her bluff, she blames the

“The most memorable characters in fiction are not people most of us would choose as our friends” (Allen 1). Readers find it intriguing to learn about a character that lacks predictability: they could do no wrong in one scene, then turn around and become a backstabbing liar in the next. The same characteristics that would not make the best of friends. Irregularity makes a character and the story, for that matter, interesting. Abigail Williams from The Crucible develops into a character that readers love to hate. Her anger, her cunning, her passion, every twist and turn she brings throughout the play brings fascination with it. She would not be an especially remarkable candidate for a best friend, however, but it perusers find it extremely easy to remember her. Abigail exhibits memorability not because of the qualities that prove a good friend, but because of her intransigence, her passion, her accusatory behavior, and her manipulation.

During the late 1600’s, 19 people were hung and and hundreds more arrested and jailed on the account of conjuring with the devil and divulging into witchcraft. In 1692, a hysteria broke out in Salem, Massachusetts. Witchcraft was being uttered in every inch of the small Puritan town, spiraling Salem down a dark path from which they would have no chance of returning. Names of accused were flying around faster than the winds rolling in from the ocean. Mass panic drove people to find any way to survive the Salem Witch Trials, as we now know them. These actions are what playwright Arthur Miller covers in his play The Crucible; clearly, the literary character Abigail Williams emerges to manipulate the Puritanical society of Salem using their superstition

Abigail Williams’s actions in the story portray her as being a villain. We see the real Abigail in her first few lines, such as when Abigail was lying to her uncle Parris about her, and the other girls’ actions in the forest. When Abigail says “I want the light of god, I want the sweet of love of Jesus! I danced for the devil” (Miller 48) it does two

Fear, panic, and obsession can drive a person to commit terrible acts. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, many people are accused of witchcraft by a group of girls claiming to be afflicted by the “witches” in their town of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Because there was no way to prove that someone was really a witch, those who did not confess were sentenced to hang for their crimes, which ranged from conjuring up the dead to sending their spirit out on others. Terror soon spread throughout the village and people began to point fingers at each other. Although many townspeople contributed in getting the situation out of hand, one person was responsible for starting the whole ordeal: seventeen-year-old Abigail Williams, ringleader of the troubled girls. Her reason for crying witchcraft and spreading panic was due to her obsession with a man named John Proctor.

The devastating Salem witch trials occurred between February 1692 and May 1693. By the end of the trials many people were accused, nineteen were executed and several more died in prison. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, captures the hysteria that developed during the Salem witch trials. Crucible character, Abigail Williams, represents the repressed desires that many of the Puritans possess. Abigail’s readiness to abandon Puritan social restrictions sets her apart from the other characters, and eventually leads to her downfall. Abigail Williams uses manipulation and cruelty to create an atmosphere of terror and intimidation in her town. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Abigail Williams leads the hysteria in Salem by taking extreme measures to succeed in attaining John Proctor's love.

Imagine causing the deaths of sixteen innocent people for the love of a man. Arthur Miller describes Abigail Williams in, “The Crucible” as a very manipulative and vindictive woman. She tends to be decisive but makes the wrong decisions. She hurts others around her to get what she wants. Abigail thinks very highly of herself and that she can do no wrong. All of her actions are due to her affair with John Proctor. When the Salem trials broke ground Abigail was confident however as they began to demise she seemed like a coward.

In 1692, the Puritan village of Salem was against the practice of witchcraft and they were divided on their opinions amidst the majority who believe the accusations were true and the minority who though they were false. Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible shows how two of the characters, Reverend Hale and Abigail Williams, reflect these groups. Previously, Reverend Hale sided with the majority until he realized the system of the theocracy was corrupt and took the side of the minority. Abigail Williams denied the accusations that were made against her thus changing her views about witchcraft so she could save herself and accuse others for her own benefit. Reverend Hale and Abigail’s beliefs and ideals change as the witch trials affect themselves and other people, the guilt or innocence of others, and the theocracy.

The Salem witch trials took place between February 1692 and May of 1693. It happened because people thought the devil was lose in Salem so they accused many people of witchery. Every person that confessed or accused was hung because the judges thought that they had access to the devil and could put a curse on anyone they wanted to. In The Crucible, Abigail Williams and her friends are accusing people around the town of witchery and having contact with the devil. A total of 14 people was hung, and many more are still to be hung. There are three ways that Abigail Williams could have changed in the Crucible by Arthur Miller.

Imagine the year is 1692. In a small Massachusetts town a culture of highly religious folk live in peace. Salem. It´s late January and the reverendś young niece Abigail and only daughter begin to act strangely. Rumors of witchcraft fly through town and fear runs rampant.In around a year 200 people are unjustifiably accused and 20 sentenced to capital punishment. Who is next? The strange widow down the road? The Coreys? In a time of obscured justice, line were crossed and innocent lives lost. In his breakthrough play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller spins a tale not far from the truth.Letting his readers explore a gruesome tale of blind hatred. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Abigail Williams embodies the wrongdoings of the Salem Witch Trials.