Abigail Williams was the initial instigator of the witch hunt in Salem in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible. She lied and accused others of witchcraft in order to save herself. During the Salem Witch Trials over 200 people were accused of witchcraft and 20 were executed (Blumberg). Abigail Williams is a member of a strict Puritan society. Witnessing her parents being murdered right in front of her, being forced to live with her selfish, inconsiderate uncle, and having a love for a man she knows she cannot be with contributed to making her into the psychotic and distraught character she is. Throughout Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, Abigail Williams shows many signs of psychotic behavior. She became so immersed with accusing other …show more content…
Abigail is in love with John Proctor, but the feeling's not mutual and this causes Abigail to get angry and accuse John’s wife and eventually John himself. We see that if she accuse her own love of witchcraft that she cares nothing about anyone except for herself. As time goes on, more and more people are being accused of witchcraft and many good hearted people are being hung for no reason, yet Abigail shows no remorse what so ever. After John Proctor is declared a participant of witchcraft and is set to hang, Abigail tries to get him to leave with her, but denies her offer and leaves alone rather than staying and facing her mistakes and confessing to the fact that everything she has said was a lie. During this we see a small sense of guilt and remorse towards the people she has accused, otherwise, why would she come back and try to save John from being hung?
Abigail Williams had a number of peculiar relationships with other people within the play, she never had anyone that she was really close with. Did this play a role in how she treated people throughout the play? One person Abigail truly despised was Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor’s wife, because of the simple fact that Elizabeth had John’s love rather than her. “It's a bitter woman, a lying, cold, sniveling woman, and I will not work for such a woman!” (1264). Abigail felt that Elizabeth was the only obstacle keeping her from being with John
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.
Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, is about the persecution of people falsely accused of being witches or believing in witches in Salem. Many people die in the village after a series of lies and unjust practices. Abigail Williams, after having had an affair with Proctor, begins this cycle of lies to make her feel more important in Salem. Her character includes both superiority and resentment throughout the play so far and the way she does it shows that she is rebelling against the compressed society.
Abigail was driven by jealousy when John Proctor slept with her and then moved on and married Elizabeth. Elizabeth was known for telling the truth no matter what. Abigail was outraged and was ready to murder Elizabeth. When Abigail was performing these pretending acts, people were starting to believe what they were seeing, they started to believe Abigail. Abigail was only doing this because she was doing whatever she could to get Elizabeth accused as a witch. During this time of mad accusing, 20 innocent people were hanged just because of false accusations. “ I have a sense for heat, John, and yours has drawn me to my window, and I have seen you looking up, burning in your loneliness. Do you tell me you’ve never looked up at my window” (Miller, 23)? Abigail is trying to get into John Proctor’s head. She wants John to join her side and get rid of Elizabeth, together. She feels that John loves her but he doesn’t and that's why she is driven by jealousy. John did not give into Abigail’s
In the Crucible, Readers are introduced to many characters. Of all the characters Abigail Williams is the protagonist in Arthur Miller's “ The Crucible.” Her undying love for John Proctor, accusing people she dislikes for doing witchcraft, and having a negative effect on Elizabeth and John Proctor's marriage can all be used to back up this reasoning.
The play the Crucible, by Miller is aplay about the salem witch trials. One of the characters Abigail Williams is a girl who grew up without parents. Her parents got killed in an indian attach when she was just a young girl. Since abigail is motivated by power,her decision to execute what she thanks are witches create hysteria in the town by the end of the play.
The Crucible is a controversial piece of literature by Arthur Miller. Abigail Williams is in love with John Proctor, whom she has an affair with. John is married to Elizabeth, and when she finds out that John is sleeping with Abigail, she fires her. Abigail hates Elizabeth’s guts. She will do anything to get rid of Elizabeth and have John all to herself. Abigail Williams’ actions stir up trouble in the town of Salem, and she is caught up too deep in her lies and manipulations. The main character Abigail Williams demonstrates that unjust people escape consequences by pointing fingers, turning people against each other, and running away.
When a person is backed into a corner and facing serious consequences, it is common for them to begin self-preservation and attempt to put the blame on others, lie, or do whatever it takes for them to get free of their accusations. Abigail Williams uses such approach when accused of witchcraft along with multiple other girls in The Crucible. However, Abigail is manipulative and selfish, which aids her ability to keep herself from being charged with witchcraft and killed. In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, the author uses direct and indirect characterization to reveal that Abigail Williams is as much of a dynamic character, as she is a round character. Arthur Miller immediately shows direct characterization by stating, “...
Abigail Williams, the niece of Reverend Parris, is one of the girls who led the accusations in the trials. The Crucible shows her selfish desires when she speaks to John Proctor, “And now you bid me to tear the light out of my eyes? I will not! I cannot!” (Miller, 1110). This example shows a desperate want Abigail has towards John Proctor. She is denying living in a world where she cannot be his love and one where she cannot love him. Here is her main motivation that the reader can see throughout the entire play. When showing Abigail's desperate motivations, Miller gives causes for her future actions. One action that was a response to this motivation can be seen from Elizabeth, John Proctor’s wife, when she learns of Abigail’s action against her, “She wants me dead. I knew all week it would come to this” (Miller, 1127). Here we see Abigail’s motivation to be with John Proctor into action. Her selfish want leads he to purposely accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft. One can see the Abigail wishes to get rid of anything that stands between her and John Proctor. She hopes that Elizabeth can be executed so she may join with John without any consequences. She does not care about how John feels, which ties into her selfish
A reader can begin to see that Abigail is much more than they initially thought. She is wrapped up in all sorts of problems and lies, whether it be her pursuit for John Proctor, or her false witch accusations. Abigail spends a lot of the play in a fiery pursuit of John Proctor’s love, and her lies cover this. John is married, which would make an affair very bad for his good name, especially because of the age difference between the two. We see an example of this lying in Act 1 on page 1132, Abigail says “My name is good in the village!
Abigail Williams is a manipulative, vengeful 17-year-old girl that will do whatever it takes to get what she wants. Abigail is the antagonist in the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller. She lost her parents at a young age, and has been living with her uncle for several years. Abigail is directly responsible for the mass hysteria in Salem, which caused innocent people to become accused and executed. She deeply cares about protecting her reputation, even though she had an affair with a married man. Some people may defend Abigail’s character for various reasons. However, her actions throughout the play prove that she is a selfish, villainous character.
Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible demonstrates how Abigail Williams commits malicious actions and inveigled others to benefit herself and to protect her reputation. Abigail manipulates, lies, deceives and tears down friends and the town in order to do anything to keep her name clean and eventually sends 19 individuals to their death. The inconsiderate actions she commits are to fulfill her desire of getting revenge on Elizabeth Proctor because her jealousy escalates. She continuously has a sexual desire to be with Elizabeth’s husband and a lust for power.
In the play “The Crucible” Abigail williams was the only character to blame for all the deaths and trials. She manipulated the kids in Salem. And she pretended to be attacked multiple “demons’’ or “spirits”. All of her actions caused the death of others in the town.
The Crucible is a dramatic story based on the witch hysteria that occurred during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692.(Miller 1124) The villainous, troubled Abigail Williams is one of the major characters in this novel. Abigail becomes very powerful throughout the story and defends herself from her own actions by blaming and ruining the lives of many in Salem. In The Crucible, Abigail shows her true motives of being the antagonist in the story, shows her real character and personality traits, and can personally connect with the writer of this essay.
Although Abigail’s relationship with Elizabeth is not much of a relationship considering Abigail’s goal is to eventually kill her. Abigail’s motivation for this act is to be with her ex-lover, John Proctor. Abigail will ultimately do anything to rid of Elizabeth Proctor, leading to the accusations of witchery. In spite of pure hatred, Abigail accuses Elizabeth Proctor to be undoubtedly crazy. “She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a-.” Thus proving that Abigail’s motivation to behave the way she does within each character relationship, is unique in its own
The Crucible is filled with witches, from the wise woman/healer Rebecca Nurse to the black woman Tituba, who initiates the girls into the dancing which has always been part of the communal celebrations of women healers/witches.11 But the most obvious witch in Miller's invention upon Salem history is Abigail Williams. She is the consummate seductress; the witchcraft hysteria in the play originates in her carnal lust for Proctor. Miller describes Abigail as "a strikingly beautiful girl ... with an endless capacity for dissembling" (8-9). In 1953, William Hawkins called Abigail "an evil child";12 in 1967, critic Leonard Moss said she was a "malicious figure" and "unstable";13 in 1987, June Schlueter and