Abigail Williams In The Crucible Analysis

Abigail Williams is a very deceitful person throughout The Crucible, she can be characterized as deceitful because throughout the book she often pretended to be a perfect puritan in the courts and during church, but really she had been the opposite the whole time. In the beginning of the book, Abigail can be described as deceitful because she began the whole witch trails by telling Reverend Parris that it was all Tituba and her witchcraft the other night, that she had made her do the things that they did. In the middle of the book, she can be characterized as deceitful through this line, “Suddenly, from an accusatory attitude, her face turns, looking into the air above- it is truly frightened.” Also, shown throughout the words of John Proctor breathless & in agony, “It is a whore!” These lines display her deceitfulness throughout the beginning of the book. At the end of the book, she displays her deceitfulness when she had asked John Proctor how his wife Elizabeth Proctor was when in all reality she had no interest in how she was doing which showed that even at the very end of the book she still had been a deceitful

Abigail Williams struggles to show that she has a good reputation throughout The Crucible. On Pg 111, Danforth asks Abigail did you ever have a sexual relationship with John Proctor? “If I must answer that, I will leave and I will not come back again” (pg 111 Abigail). Everybody in Salem is starting to find out about Abigail and John, but when she is asked if it is true, she lies. It tarnishes her reputation because she is seen as a whore now. She doesn't want her name to be blackened in Salem. Once you have had sexual relationships with someone and your not married, it will be hard for Abigail to find someone else to love her because she has already been with someone else, so who would want to be with her? “ Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sister’s. And that is all. And do not speak of the other things” (pg 20 Abigail). Abigail and the other girls, were dancing in the woods, getting naked and making charms. The girls knew it was wrong but they blamed it on witchcraft rather than taking a punishment for it. This destroyed Abigail's reputation because she did not tell the full truth on what happened in the forest, but instead, she blamed it on witchcraft. She also threatened the other girls to go along with her to not make her look bad. Abigail does not take ownership of her downfalls and like to place the blame elsewhere.

Due to her fear of punishment, selfishness, and envy, hundreds of innocent villagers were accused, several were killed, and an entire society was left traumatized and afraid in the late Seventeenth Century New England. Her actions resulted in absolute tumult and chaos. You may be wondering, “Who?”, or, “How could one person possibly have such a huge affect on an entire community?” The infamous Abigail Williams, who lied and took advantage of the fearful, suspicious society in which she lived purely for her own benefit.

Their differences would also become evident when Abigail William goes on her path of vengeance. This trait becomes evident as Abigail Williams does whatever it takes to get her name cleared, including lie or commit murder. She then accuses Elizabeth of being a witch in an attempt to take her bed from her. Elizabeth, however, becomes the light of reason and sanity as she refuses to judge her husband, even to save his life. She knows that her husband is a good person and refuses to take that away from him. This was a very different view as compared to Abigail. Abigail held on to the notion that John Proctor would choose to run away and be with her instead. Wherein Abigail Williams had a somewhat weak background and character, which fed off of the fears of others, Elizabeth Proctor has a relatively strong character. Elizabeth refused to surrender her beliefs in the face of hardships, whereas Abigail would abandon her beliefs in order to save herself. Although Elizabeth spoke on the side of truth, Abigail would be the one that is believed because of her ability to change her belief to feed off of the fears of the community, a very powerful tool in puritan Salem.

People are not always who they say they are, and this is true for Abigail Williams. Abigail pretends to be innocent in front of more than one person, including Reverend Hale, Betty Parris, and John Proctor. Abigail portrays herself as pure in front of Hale

Abigail is a liar. She immediately rejects all association between herself and witchcraft. When Abigail's uncle, reverend

Abigail WIlliams beliefs, behavior, and motives are the same as Joseph McCarthy. Abigail williams beliefs are the same as Joseph McCarthy in a way because in The Crucible Abigail Williams accused people in her town of being witches and Joseph McCarthy accused people of being communist even when they weren't but some of their motives were different. Joseph McCarthy accused people of being communist because he was scared that there were communist in the U.S.A . Abigail accused the people that she didn't like of being witches so that they could be imprisoned and killed. One thing that made them different was that Joseph McCarthy thought what he was doing was right when Abigail Williams knew what she was doing was wrong but she accused people anyways. They also had followers who blindly followed them and believed what they were saying was true but that was only because those people were afraid like them too. Those people had the same fears that communist were going to take over or that witches were in their holy town and that these communist and witches were there just to corrupt and take away what they loved. Their followers were also a bunch a “yes men” whenever there was someone who disagreed with what they were doing they would accuse them of being a communist or they would

The first reason that Abigail Williams is not the perfect Puritan woman is because she acts strange in church. For example Abigail started to laugh during church at the prayers that were being recited by the community. Next Abigail started acting like she was getting attacked by a familiar of the accused witch during each trial, from being choked and fainting, being extremely cold to saying that the familiar is in the court room with them.

One of the characters in the story is Abigail Williams. She is a young manipulative lying girl that will do anything for her love, John Proctor. Abigail is held responsible for the charges of many women in Salem at the time. While many people view Abigail Williams as a saint, she is actually motivated by selfishness.

“The Puritans, like many societies in this time period, believed that women were culturally inferior to men,” which is why a young woman, like Abigail Williams, had to be so manipulative to gain control because a women in power was a very contentious topic at this time. (“Women in Puritan Society”). Abigail was both lower class and a woman, making it a challenge to be respected, which is why she used the witchcraft accusations for her own personal gain. From the beginning, she was just, “waiting for an opportunity to gain power,” when she made the girls perform witchcraft, lie about it, and then accuse other people (“The Crucible”). Her true intentions were to accuse Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor’s wife, because she loved John, and with Elizabeth out of the picture, she could have him. In this case, being a young woman worked to her advantage because in this society she was looked at as this innocent girl, but being as manipulative as she is, she used that to her advantage to ultimately convict Elizabeth. Although this was her goal, she accused many people along the way, saying, “It’s God’s work I do,” (Miller 115). By accusing all of these people, Abigail is not only gaining power but attention too. Unlike Parris who doesn’t want this negative attention, Abigail doesn’t mind because it’s better to have negative attention on her than not having any attention at all. Also, she gains

Abigail Williams is Reverend Parris’s niece and is the most arrogant and deceitful character in the play, even more so than Danforth, Parris, and Putnam. Abigail uses her power and intimidation to manipulate friends and eventually the entire town into accusing others of alleged witchcraft. The start of Abigail’s terror is in response to John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth Proctor removing Abigail as

Abigail Williams the main reason why the witch hunts even commenced some may claim, however, Abigail acted the way she did because of fear of having a bad reputation in the town, fear of losing John Proctor and a fear of being caught guilty of making up accusations. When the word got out about the girls being in the woods Abigail made sure none of the girls would say anything “And mark this. Let you deserve you breathe a word or the edge of a word about the other things and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy Reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it”, Abigail was afraid if the townspeople found out she would

Abigail Williams wanted what was best for her. She did not care of others. Due to Abigail’s actions a whole conflict outbursts in Salem, Massachusetts. The girls have been caught in the woods dancing and even naked. They have been caught and accused of doing witchcraft. Betty is then “very ill” and they believe she is going to die. Betty awakes. Abigail threatens the girls to stay quiet. “You did. You did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!” (Miller 18). This shows that Abigail Williams was a villain because she was hoping for the death of a person in order to get what she desired. Abigail and the girls were caught doing witchcraft. Abigail comes up with a different story to tell. “Now look you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the back of shudder

Another example that Abigail Williams is an example of dishonor is because of the significance of it towards Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail claimed Elizabeth of witchcraft to try to get Elizabeth out of the picture to be with John Proctor. Abigail complete disregarded the lives of others, as did McCarthy when he claimed those of communism. By doing so, this got many people fired, and some lives ruined do to allegations. Abigail does the same. As stated in the Crucible, “ You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!” (I. 175). This shows that Abigail did indeed attempt to get rid of Elizabeth Proctor and didn't think of cost of this decision. The rashness shown by Abigail is drawn all throughout the play by Miller to explain how influential and manipulative McCarthy was during the Red Scare. Another quote to explain this dishonor was stated by Elizabeth, “I am sure she does--and thinks to kill me, then to take my place.” (II. 197). This explains that Elizabeth already knew her fate and knew what Abigail intended to do. Also, the quote shows that Abigail has such dishonor that she would go through

Abigail Williams is the epitome of self-preservation. Abigail is one of the first accused of witchcraft, but she dismisses the accusations by accusing and blaming others for her suspicious