Abigail Williams In The Crucible

Throughout the story she is a controlling person. When the girls begin to tell Abigail that they wanted to admit to more than what was told she shows her controlling attitude. In Act One the true Abigail Williams character is shown when she is scolding the other girls for even thinking about telling others about the woods. She is controlling when she says, “Now look you. All of you….

Concerned that word about her affair will spread throughout the village, Abigail begins to lie and point fingers at people for witchcraft, hoping it can draw the people’s focus away from her. After she and the girls were discovered in the forest by Reverend Parris, she lies or purposely forgets to mention to that she had drank a potion that would kill John Proctor’s wife. The only thing she said to him was: “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.” (Miller 9). In another situation where Abigail's lying is shown again, Parris is asking why she was fired from her previous job as Elizabeth Proctor’s servant, and her excuse is: “She hates me, uncle, she must, for I would not be her slave. It's a bitter woman, a lying, cold, sniveling woman, and I will not work for such woman!” (Miller 11). Clearly this is false because Elizabeth didn't fire Abigail just out of coldness, though that was part of it, she fired her because she found that Abigail was having an affair with her husband, John. These lies led to unnecessary problems and prove Abigail is a self centered person because she only wants what's best for herself.

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.

Sara Shepard wrote in her book Flawless “The sweetest smiles hold the darkest secrets…” This quote relates to the main character Abigail in a play called The Crucible. This play was written about the Salem Witch Trials and inspired by the McCarthy Hearings in which Arthur Miller—the author—was living through. In The Crucible, Miller portrays Abigail Williams as a troubled orphan who is manipulative, cunning, and has a propensity to victimize herself in every situation that does not fall her way.

Abigail Williams, while on the journey of adultery, seems to of already carefully positioned her name in the devil’s book of self-conceited, merciless, and vindictive individuals that roams this Earth. No one's back holds an off limits sign when it comes to her grabbing a knife. Some may say that Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, is dictated by a whore’s vengeance. While there’s some truth to this argument, I would counter that Abigail, the main antagonist, motives are beyond this. Maintaining her position of a victim to entrap anyone who dares cross her path is the premise upon which I build this counterargument. Abigail, not only abandons her hopeless relationship with John Proctor in the end, but continues the travesties against the people of Salem before and after John’s imprisonment.

In a town full of religious-imposed justice, is the crimes happening in the towns actually considered true crimes? Should the people that committed the crimes be held responsible? In Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” the town “Salem” many are being are being accused of witchery, which is a crime in their society.The problem is that they aren't witches but normal people to be hanged. The executioner behind these accusations were a group of salem girls, but the one who leads is Abigail Williams.The witch court that soon comes, makes the punishment of theses crimes hanging or confess of witchery. Another problem occurs when the accusations that the salem girls say are false.So are there any “True” crimes being committed in this play.Should the people who committed these crimes be held responsible?With the crimes of perjury, involuntary manslaughter, and theft, the people who committees these crimes should be held responsible and should be punished on how severe their crimes are.

In the crucible Abigail williams is one of the main characters and she did a lot to form the story.These are three most dominant traits that Abigail williams had in the book.

Responsible for nineteen overall deaths by the end of Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, Abigail Williams is accountable for the Salem Witch Trials and surrounding hysteria. She makes false accusations against many others, and constantly manipulates others to benefit her throughout the play. Although the outside influences from her community pressures her into making the accusations she does, the main reasoning behind her actions and reactions is her own personal agenda which is obvious throughout the play. She should be held responsible for her actions and given the appropriate punishment as a result.

Abigail Williams did not want to stop the witch trials because if they found out she was lying about most of the things she said she would have been hanged. Blaming other people, getting them killed because of her ignorance. She only was loyal to the girls. One wrong move for abigail then her life would have been over with. Abigail was full of herself in the play she was selfish, ignorant, and a back-stabbing liar, it was her way or no way she did not let nothing stop her from getting rid of who was in the way.She even told lies on Tituba, but she had the courage and was brave enough to stand up and confess about it only because she was a slave and she thought they were going to kill her. The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the author of the book put everything in play because Abigail Uses the town’s fear and Witchcraft to her own advantages. She stole Reverend Parris money and lied about it and, acts the whole shouting and screaming in court and puts the town in fear. Being so vindictive as she is, she scares herself at times because she’s afraid if anyone would find out about her lien about the witchcraft.

Abigail is the character that no ones wants to be in a story. She is most of the responsibility for the girls going with Tituba to the woods. Then after Paris finds them, she tries to fake her behavior because if she doesn’t it will show her affair with Proctor if she confesses to casting a spell on Elizabeth Proctor. Betty calls Abigail out by saying “you did it, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Procter’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor! (Miller, 19). Abigail lies first to hide her affair but then she starts lying to prevent being accused of witchcraft. To keep all the attention off of herself she starts accusing other people of witchcraft. Abigail is heartless because she thinks nothing of just accusing people of witchcraft which will send them to their death. Abigail was a very deceiving when she spoke to anyone about anything throughout the story. Abigail was lying at the court case they had durning the Salem Witch trials, she was trying to get everyone to believe that Mary’s Warren was a bird coming to get her, she says, “But God made my face; you cannot want to tear my face. Envy is a deadly sin, Mary” (Miller 106). Abigail was lying that who court case so she didn’t get in trouble, she wanted to save herself even if it meant that others were going to die.

Abigail Williams is a main antagonist that shows the personality of being vengeful, selfish, manipulative, and a magnificent liar; she has the ability to control people and she conveniently has the power of destruction towards those around her. She gets the girls to agree on a set story in order to selfishly protect herself. She uses a threat of violence, which goes along with their belief that she might know witchcraft, in order to keep them in line. When Reverend Parris discovers the girls dancing in the woods, Abigail attempts to mask the situation because it will reveal her affair with John Proctor if she confesses to attempting to cast a spell on Elizabeth Proctor. This is her main act of deceit within the play. She lies by using her abrupt ways to accuse others of witchcraft in order to draw attention off of herself. Abigail then flees because she cannot have what she

While many characters in the Crucible harm or help the community, two stand out as especially influential to the fate of Salem. These two are John Proctor and Abigail Williams. Both, perhaps, do not have the community at the forefront of their minds, but in the process of pursuing their goals they affect Salem for better or for worse. Where John inspires other Salemites to rebel against the trials, Abigail tears apart the community with hysteria and paranoia.

In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Miller demonstrated that it was Abigail’s flaws- lust, jealousy, and mendacity- that led her to be responsible the most for the tragedy of the witch-hunt in Salem. The Crucible focuses of the finding of young girls and a slave messing around in the woods, trying to conjure spirits from the dead. Rather than admit to their actions and face the consequences, the girls accuse everyone else of the crimes they were guilty of. Abigail Williams is the person who caused much of the drama in this story. She bears much responsibility for everyone meeting with Tituba in the woods. Once Parris discovers this meeting, Abigail attempts to keep her actions a secret because it would possibly reveal her affair with Proctor. Abigail lies to cover up her affair with proctor, and to stop the charges of witchcraft in order to prevent the terrible punishments that go along with the accusations.

Patty Jenkins, an American film director and screenwriter wrote,“Every villain has their belief system that makes perfect sense to them.” This quote is reminiscent of Abigail Williams, a character in The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller. In Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, four girls were caught doing witchcraft. The girls accused other innocents of witchcraft, so they would not be framed for it. Due to the girl's actions, many of them, accused were hanged to death. Abigail Williams was a villain in The Crucible.

The play, “The Crucible” is written by Arthur Miller in 1953. During this time of American history, a war had just ended and there was a deeply rooted fear of communists infiltrating American soil; Americans had begun to turn on each other out of fear that people around them were against American ideals. Arthur Miller expressed his concern for the time by writing “The Crucible,” which is written about a witch hunt that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Arthur Miller used the themes of an earlier American event to remind people of his time that their actions were indeed following a historical pattern of fear. The play, “The Crucible” takes place in America in a time of deeply rooted religion, fear of the unknown, and early civilization. The juxtaposition of this play, it’s characters, and the time in which the play was written, teaches a very difficult, yet important, lesson about fear and it’s position in a society of people.