Abigail’s Demonstrations of Evil in The Crucuble by Arthur Miller

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the audience introduced to a chaotic 1692 Salem, Massachusetts. Throughout the play we see a series of unreasonable events including the hanging of 19 people due to false accusations of witchcraft. These witch trials killed many people and jailed hundreds for no reason at all. There is many people to blame for the Salem Witch Trials but, Abigail Williams is most culpable.

People believe that actions happen for many different reasons and tend to blame others before themselves. Some believe that the devil is doing the work in the body of someone else, and some believe that the devil does not, and some even believe in witchcraft. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, nineteen innocent people are hung for accusations of performing witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. A group of young girls go out into the woods which is forbidden in Salem. They are sent into a frenzy when the town’s reverend, Parris, spots them dancing in the woods. The girls are led by Abigail Williams, a young teenage girl who lives with her uncle, reverend Parris. Abigail is not the most truthful girl, which ends up causing 19 innocent people their lives. Previous to these events, Abigail was a servant in the Proctor household, but was sent off after Elizabeth Proctor found out about the affair between Abigail and her husband, John Proctor. In Abigail’s case the more lies she told, the more lives she ended.

Abigail abuses the power she is given and causes devastation in the community because she tries to protect herself from the laws of the time. This young lady tends to have a gift at spreading rumors that result in terrible consequences. She has a way of manipulating others and gaining control over them. Act 1 displays her manipulative personality, when she somehow manages to flip the blame from her to several other townspeople. The girl in the town are caught dancing, at Tituba’s spell castings, in the woods. Abigail lies in order to protect herself and her friends because this could be associated with witchcraft. Betty accuses her:

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an elaborate play that tells the story of the village of Salem and how the community slowly falls apart because of a strategic witch hunt ploy. The fear of witchcraft turns the once peaceful village upside down and accusations destroy the lives and reputations of so many people. Different characters’ actions have different impacts on the community, but one character stands out the most. Abigail Williams from The Crucible is a clear representation of how impactful the power of manipulation and deception is in a vulnerable society to create mass hysteria.

Abigail Williams is to be considered a strikingly beautiful young woman. She was the cause of the whole madness of witch-craft by her immaturity because Abigail and with the rest of her friends went out into the woods while having Tituba conjure spirits so the girls could get guys to fall in love with them. Once they were caught by Reverend Parris (which is Abigail's uncle) instead of confessing the truth on what they were doing and owning up to it, Abigail decides to blame Tituba. She blames her for making the girls go into the woods to conjure spirits and help the devil. When John Proctor hears about this though, she quickly tells him in private that its nothing but lie. She wants John Proctor to see her as a women but when she cannot even own

This is later confirmed when she threatens to “come to [them] in the black of some terrible night and … bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder” (Pg.175) Mary Warren and Betty Parris if they dare to tell the truth. This shows her determination at killing Elizabeth Proctor and securing her own reputation. Unlike many naive villains in other literatures, Abigail sets out a meticulous scheme to frame Elizabeth. First, she witnesses Mary Warren leaving a needle in a doll. Then she “[sticks] two inches [of a needle] in the flesh of her belly”(pg. 203) to frame Elizabeth of performing witchcraft. So mendacious is Abigail that she is willing to injure herself to accomplish her plan. Under her beautiful appearance also lays a manipulative heart. She is capable of manipulating not only the girls into doing things her way, but also the members of the court to her advantage. When questioned by Danforth whether the spirits she has seen are illusion, Abigail steps it up a notch by making the members of the court feel sorry for her and madly refutes, “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, questioned like a—” (Pg.210) This, following by Elizabeth's failure to tell the truth and the girl’s verisimilar acting toward the “yellow bird”, further demonstrates her manipulative power which brings the court in her favor. Altogether, many

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.

A court case is an event of great importance, and most trails ultimately end with the person or concept on trail being condemned to be guilty, or being declared innocent of the charge.Some trails take session upon session to find the truth of whether one is guilty and innocent. The longer the trail, the harder it often gets to tell between right and wrong. However, the guilt of some is painfully obvious. The deceptive girl, Abigail Williams, in Arthur Miller’s play the Crucible, shows her guilt by trying to sway John Proctor’s feelings for her, threatening her friends, and accusing so many people of witchcraft.

Abigail's deception toward the people is driven by her lust for power. Abigail begins to accuse others of being witches, so she can build up her power and reliability. She carefully selects defenseless targets at first to accuse, only those that would be believable when in court. Each of the innocent people that Abigail condemns to hang gives her more credibility, gaining her more power over the court and the people. Abigail continues to grow closer to the big picture every time she gains power. Abigail is viewed as a threat; since her lust for power made her into a ruthless person. Abigail in the manner of a leader convinces the other girls to follow her; those who are frightened by her are the ones who join her. She needs more people on her

Abigail Williams is an evil, lying witch responsible for the deaths of innocent citizens in Salem, Massachusetts. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible the young, beautiful Abigail has an affair with married John Proctor. She will stop at nothing to get what she wants, including practicing witchcraft. Abigail is an obsessive, selfish, manipulative liar, who brings destruction wherever she goes.

Hysteria is the vital aspect in the act “The Crucible” about witchcraft which spreads throughout the small town called Salem and involved having tragic events without any facts. Abigail Williams is a major character in the play “The Crucible” Arthur Miller, but she is portrayed as an great antagonist who drives the wheel in the play. She has an unnatural power to manipulate others and gain control over them. Abigail states "I want to open myself! . . . I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil! (Miller 48). While confessing to witchcraft gets Tituba positive attention, and makes her a believable to accuse others, along with Betty she uses same technique to develop trust toward others. A major theme of the play is blame, revenge, and mistaken innocence. Abigail shifts the focus away from herself by accusing others of witchcraft. This furious act of selfishness soon becomes Abigail drive of power.

Fear, panic, and obsession can drive a person to commit terrible acts. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, many people are accused of witchcraft by a group of girls claiming to be afflicted by the “witches” in their town of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Because there was no way to prove that someone was really a witch, those who did not confess were sentenced to hang for their crimes, which ranged from conjuring up the dead to sending their spirit out on others. Terror soon spread throughout the village and people began to point fingers at each other. Although many townspeople contributed in getting the situation out of hand, one person was responsible for starting the whole ordeal: seventeen-year-old Abigail Williams, ringleader of the troubled girls. Her reason for crying witchcraft and spreading panic was due to her obsession with a man named John Proctor.

In the novel, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Abigail, the antagonist in the book is to blame for all the events that occur because she was the one that first dabbled with witchcraft. In that time period, witchcraft was thought of as a sin, and if somebody was accused, they would be hung unless they confessed. She would be categorized as an instigator of her society since she played with witchcraft, and accused others, which would be hung if they didn’t confess. Many events in her past and present influence this behavior, and many problems occur because of her impact on the community. Abigail’s affair with John Proctor, her association with witchcraft and her accusation of others causes her to be blamed for the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts.

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.