Abigail Williams The Crucible Analysis

Abigail’s lust for John Proctor is one of the causes of the witch-hunt. She quotes early in the story saying, “I have a sense of heat, John, and yours had drawn me to my window, and I have seen you looking up, burning in your loneliness. Do you tell me

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 the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams and Mrs. Putnam are are the sources of the witchcraft mysteries because they are able to use their manipulating witchcraft skills to throw the blame onto their enemies. Abigail Williams hates Elizabeth Proctor, for she had an affair with her husband,John, and still has lustful feelings towards him. Abigail used to work for the Proctor family, but was immediately thrown out because of her relationship with John, of which Elizabeth has no idea existed. Abigail believes Elizabeth hates her and calls her a “bitter woman, a lying, cold, sniveling woman” (12). This of course shows tensions between Elizabeth and Abigail. Abigail even admits she would do ANYTHING to get of Elizabeth, perhaps

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.

Abigail is a selfish and manipulative person which gives her the courage to do the things that she does. In act 3, Abigail says "Oh, Mary, this is a black art to change your shape. No, I cannot, I cannot stop my mouth; It's God's work I do" (III.115). Abigail claims that she is doing God’s work, but she is actually doing the devil's work because she is lying and forcing her friends to agree with her and go against Mary. She has the courage to go through with anything that comes to her mind, no matter what harm it could cause. “The girl, the Williams girl, Abigail Williams, sir. She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris's house tonight, and without word nor warning she falls to the floor. Like a struck beast, he says, and screamed a scream that a bull would weep to hear. And he goes to save her, and, stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out. And demanding of her how she come to be so stabbed, she --- testify it were your wife's familiar spirit pushed it in”(Act II.1282). This explains how Abigail is willing to go through with anything to be with John Proctor. She shows a monstrous amount of intrepidness just to do so. Abigail Williams has the courage to do anything when it comes to John Proctor. She stabs herself with a needle just to accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft.

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.

Abigail is a highly jealous character, concentrating her jealousy on Elizabeth Proctor. This jealousy is driven by lust and her desire for John Proctor. Abigail served as a servant in the Proctor household and after an affair with her husband John, Elizabeth fired her. She still resents Elizabeth for this as she is still in love with John. She clearly says to John, "You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!" Abigail is still in love with John and she assumes the converse. Her love for John only causes her resentment for Elizabeth to strengthen. She hates John Proctor's wife and in her conniving ways she attempts to inspire the same views of Elizabeth in John's mind. Saying things to him such as, "She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me, She is a cold, sniveling woman." Abigail fabricates stories in attempt to steel John from Elizabeth. She is a manipulative liar that does and says as she pleases in order to get what she wants.

Abigail wants to get rid of Elizabeth, who she describes as John Proctor’s “sniveling envious wife” (Optional scene Pg. 158)! One can infer how Abigail is jealous and is doing anything to steel Elizabeth’s place in Proctor’s bed. It reaches a degree were Abigail is lies so much she starts to believe her lies, and stabs herself in the stomach with a pin to blame Elizabeth for attempting to kill her. She later goes on trying to convince Proctor that “the jab your wife gave me’s not healed yet” (Optional scene Pg. 155). The revenge that Abigail is seeking to find is directly related to the theme of vengeance that is profound throughout the play. Additionally, other people in Salem, such as the Putnam’s, take advantage of the crisis to help achieve their

Since Abigail is the Reverends niece and grew up with a pastor in the household it seems as if she should be very humble and a good person but her human nature took a toll making her greedy therefore making her dishonest and deceptive. She is afraid that people won’t agree with her, that motivates her to get people on her side. She then falsely accuses others of witchcraft and her being the victim. Witchcraft was taken very seriously back then and it ended up ripping apart the town and caused non stop fighting by almost everyone. Abigail’s main motive is John Proctor so she tries to lie to John about his wife to get him to fall for her “She is blackening my name in the village she is telling lies about me she’s a cold swiveling

Abigail’s behavior was most likely contributed to the traumatization as a child of the murder of her parents; that caused her to have a negative view of the world. After her parents death she was raised as an orphan, then later became the housekeeper for John and Elizabeth Proctor. Eventually, she was kicked out from the Proctor house by Elizabeth after having a sexual affair with John Proctor.Therefore, she had little

She thinks that if she gets rid of Proctor's wife that her and procter can be together. John has told Abigail that this is not the case and that he loves his wife and will not leave Elizabeth. Abigail decides to off her anyway just because she has the power to do so. When one is sixteen years old and the fate of people's lives are at their hands this is just too much power and (especially if she is jealous of the life that is at stake). This power that she has corrupts Abigail's already corrupted mind ino just doing whatever she wants. When Abigail accuses John's wife Elizabeth of being a witch and the whole town just goes along with it, (even though there are rumors of an affair). The whole town turning a blind eye about the affair just shows the reader how much power she has over the town. It also shows that she is using the power for personal gain definitely not for the good of the

In “The Crucible” the story has taught us about how great and powerful fear can easily take over one another and show how people turn against one another just to protect themselves. One of the characters in the story has shown a great example of this and you can see the great evil that is inside of this person who just lets good innocent people die to protect themselves. Cruel and selfish is what you think or maybe it is the other way around for you. Maybe you think you got to do whatever you got to do to keep going in this puzzle of life. Yes that is true but in this story a girl named Abigail Williams deserves to take all the blame that needs to be taken for all of what has been done in the little town of Salem.

After having an affair with John Proctor, she couldn’t accept not being without him. Abigail also admires “how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife” like Elizabeth be unaware of the affair she had with John Proctor(act1pg#). As a result to the affair, Proctor is trying to rebuild his marriage with his wife. Abigail continues to intervene in John Proctors marriage and attempts to manipulate Proctor so he would confess his love for her. Proctor admits his love for her, but does not continue his affection because Abigail seeps of vengeance for other individuals. He portrays her “as a lump of vanity” who thinks to dance on his “wife’s grave!”(act 3). For her own selfish desires, Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft and tries to intentionally sabotage her. She does this for the purpose of her own selfish and fictitious relationship that she has with Proctor. Abigail believes she has the capability to influence Proctor, but her egoistic actions to win his undefining love makes her appear as the criminal in the

Abigail had many flaws throughout the story. One of her flaws includes lust. Abigail was involved in a secret affair with John Proctor, who happened to be married to Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail illustrated lust by telling John, “John- I am waitin’ for you every night.” This suggests that Abigail does have something secret going on with John. Abigail also says, “I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I come near!” This justifies that they have a relationship because she told John that he

In this scenario, it is easier to portray Abigail as emotionally unstable than John Proctor as it seems to sit better with audiences that a young girl would be more likely to act irrationally for the sake of love than a man. Yet, this doesn’t seem to sit right at all when these tired and gendered stereotypes are set aside. John Proctor had been just as involved in the affair as Abigail and while he might not have as intense an emotional connection, he must feel something regarding their relationship. As it is written, it appears that he feels nothing at all except anger, which only comes as a reaction to Abigail’s over-emotional state. From here on, once the audience has established her to be excessively emotional, she becomes a pawn for Arthur Miller to use throughout the rest of the play to drive the hysteria of the witch hunt and, therefore, the plot along.