Abigail Williams In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Within today’s society, an individual’s morals determines how one is scrutinized, judged, and reprimanded. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Abigail Williams is a character with compelling moral principles. Abigail’s disoriented moral constitution allows the theme, the detrimental effects of mass hysteria, to be constantly reassured throughout the play. Through the egotistical, manipulative, and deceitful rhetoric of Abigail Williams, Arthur Miller is successful in conveying how the spread of misinformation can tear apart a small town.

In Arthur Miller's play The Crucible Abigail Williams, an unmarried orphan in the Massachusetts town of Salem, incessantly grows more jealous, her desire for vengeance only grows stronger, and her selfishness escalates. She repeatedly lies to save herself by denying her involvement in witchcraft. Abigail's Jealousy of Elizabeth Proctor intensifies in attempt to realize her desire for Elizabeth's husband John Proctor. In order to save herself she accuses the innocent, without any sense of ethical violation. Abigail proves to be a selfish antagonist in The Crucible that shows no sense of right and wrong.

Adultery. Abigail Williams is the young niece of Salem's Minister, Reverend Parris, she also was once John Proctor's housemaid until his wife, Elizabeth, put her out because of the affair. Abigial was just a young girl, she felt as if her feelings for John Proctor were ‘true love’, this drove her to do some of the most unspeakable things. She was seeking vengeance on Elizabeth since she put her out on the street, “blackened her name throughout the town” and she had the man she loved. Abigail's best way of getting things done was through manipulation, which she was best at. She voluntarily used witchcraft to ‘curse’ Elizabeth and yet turned witchcraft accusations against everyone of Salem. “I will come to you in the black of the night and will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you”(19), is one threat Abigail used to keep the girls mouth shut. She was a power hungry girl who did anything to keep the power for her own selfish gains. When she realized she was losing her power she claims “I have been near to murdered every day because I done my duty pointing out the Devil’s people- and this is my reward? To be mistrusted, denied, question like a -”(100) this was her way out of the truth. This shows Abigail's true

The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, delineates many acts of self-indulgence and animosity. With clever accusations on one another for witchery, each character is able to derive the conflict away from themselves and appear innocent. A jealous and manipulative girl, Abigail Williams, falsely accuses Elizabeth Proctor for the sole purpose of seeking revenge, so she could have Elizabeth’s husband John Proctor. She is able to withhold her reputation by making herself appear as the victim in the court. Not only was Abigail a model of self cruelty, but Thomas Putnam is also a befitting example. Being a very acquisitive man, he accuses George Jacob for witchcraft to simply gain the land neighboring him. Both characters strive to achieve their goals, but they do it through many acts of greed. In society overall,

During this essay I will introduce the main points involved in answering the proposed question. I will explore the certain aspects of Abigail’s personality and how it is an important role in portraying her reasons for her actions. I will also analyse the ways in which Abigail’s personality changes through the progression of the play. I will sum up which points have a bigger effect on her intentions and motivations and the effect she has on the characters of the play. I will support my reasons with quotations to justify its relevance.

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.

In writing short stories, novels, or plays, there are certain standards the writer comes to meet. He will choose a basic story element to go by; either man versus nature, man versus man, or man versus himself. Then, a setting that is appropriate to the writer is chosen, a place where the writer envisions the story happening. Inevitably the characters are introduced one by one, and the writer tries to convey their personality and instill a mental image for the reader. There have always been the heroes, the villains and the victims. Any story can revolve particularly around any of these, but often they all have roles that create equilibrium in the plot. However, in The Crucible, Arthur Miller did not need to create any such

In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, John Proctor showed wrath many times towards Abigail Williams which is significant in….. One example of John Proctor expressing his wrath is while he is talking to Abigail Williams about the affair the two had. Abigail is sitting in Paris’s house talking to Mary with Betty laying in the bed. When Mary leaves, John Proctor walks in. Abby starts talking to John about the affair, still showing her love for John.

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

“Abby’ll charge lechery on you, Mr.Proctor” (Miller page 80). Salem was a place where people would accuse others to get what they wanted. John Proctor’s tragic flaw is his lust for Abigail Williams which helps to define John as a tragic hero in The Crucible.

A hated by many but still an attention catching villainess. Abigail Williams, as described by the play is young and beautiful, has unique gifts but carries vengeance, is selfish, and has a tic for manipulation. In the text it is clear that nearly every location Abigail visits, she leaves a trail of destruction and is the cause of many deaths. Her skill at manipulation can be seen at full display in between all three acts. In act one it is shown in which she was in the grasps of getting pointed at for witchcraft but manages to direct the entire thing on Tituba, as well as several of Salem’s other citizens, and prior to that convincing Tituba to put a curse on Elizabeth, since she wanted to be with John Proctor after their brief affair.

"He was the kind of man - powerful of body, even - tempered, and not

think and do. As an audience, at this stage we have a mixed opinion of

As we continue to read throughout the book, we notice the true colors of certain characters such as Abigail Williams. Abigail is a very intelligent, persuasive, malicious young woman. She is one of the main characters in the novel and is the main reason witch craft started in Salem. At first Abigail portrayed a young, innocent girl, but once you found out what she was doing with John Proctor, you started to think otherwise. She betrayed her own friends just to protect herself. She stole from her uncle; therefore she can escape from the entire catastrophe she had created. The first reason Abigail Williams is to blame for the deaths of those during the

We all can agree that many times Under pressure we will lie to save ourselves. This is precisely what Mary Warren and other girls did under the influence of Abigail Williams which involved peer pressure, and Reverend Hale suffered from Authority Pressure, In a novel based on Salem Witch trial in Massachusetts called The Crucible Written By Arthur Miller. At the beginning of the play, Abigail starts a considerable lie that gets a lot of people In trouble just because her of her jealousy towards Elizabeth Proctor that let her pressure other girls about not saying a word about what happened.