Analysis Of Abigail Williams In The Crucible

Abigail Williams is deceiving, vengeful, and controlling throughout The Crucible. Through these characteristics Arthur Miller illustrates the theme lies and deceit. First, Abigail Williams protected herself in court by using her lying nature. Abigail Williams is told to be a deceiving person when she is introduced.

While spring is a time for growth, newlife, and awakening, in the spring of 1692 a rotten presence (both figuratively and literally) swept over Salem Village, Massachusetts when a group of young girls claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. Not only was this the spark of a religious uproar in the quaint, puritan town; but a spark that lit the match which eventually convicted over a hundred innocent people and claimed 20 lives. While the true pain of these trials cannot be seen in photographs or videos, it can be experienced through the words that have been written. In Marilynne Roach’s novel, “Six Women of Salem”, she tells the untold story of six women who underwent the grueling Salem witchcraft trials, and she evoked a strong sense of empathy for the victims through her use of first person narratives and factual evidence. Through these devices Roach successfully highlighted the twisted, prejudice, and uneducated society that America was, and, in some ways, still is today.

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.

Rebecca Nurse is a religious, caring, and sensible person, she is a very respected old woman throughout the town of Salem. She was accused then later condemned of witchcraft and the town was shocked since she was highly respected. “I take it on my soul, but who else may surely tell us what person murdered my babies?... They were murdered, Mr. Parris! ... “ (Miller, 16).

Stacy Schiff’s national bestseller The Witches highlights the suspicions, betrayals and hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials. In 1692, the commonwealth of Massachusetts executed five men, fourteen women, and two dogs for witchcraft. One might wonder how and why this Puritan colony became so caught up in this witch frenzy. In this book she is able to paint a clear picture of the panic that occurred among the people of Salem.

The hysteria, craze, trials, and deaths, still rest an unsolved case. The theories of politics, rivalries, religion and the “circle girls” seem the most believable, in my eyes. However, as the happenings in Salem village still continue to mislead and amaze not only historians, but many others, the witch trials lie a great turning point for Salem, and the lives of many; let alone

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.

John Demos’s nine point portrait of a witch is one way to analysis the case of Rebecca Nurse. To do so, one must first evaluate and understand the history of Rebecca Nurse and her role in the Salem in the late 1600’s. Rebecca Nurse was the wife of Francis Nurse, a farmer who became wealthy after buying and tending a large plot of land between Salem Village and Salem Town. Together they had eight children, and as a family they were prosperous. Connecting this information to Demos’s portrait of a witch, Rebecca Nurse falls under the first four points made in his sketch. These first two points are that she was “female” and that she was of “middle age”. However, the latter point is slightly inaccurate because Nurse was older than sixty years. The final two points that Rebecca Nurse falls under in Demos’s portrait of a witch are that she was of “English” and “Puritan” descent and culture, and that she was “married”, with little or no children. Again, the latter point is not fully accurate because Rebecca Nurse, while married, had, in fact, eight children in her lifetime. The significance of these traits of Rebecca Nurse agree, for the most part, with the

During the late 1600’s, 19 people were hung and and hundreds more arrested and jailed on the account of conjuring with the devil and divulging into witchcraft. In 1692, a hysteria broke out in Salem, Massachusetts. Witchcraft was being uttered in every inch of the small Puritan town, spiraling Salem down a dark path from which they would have no chance of returning. Names of accused were flying around faster than the winds rolling in from the ocean. Mass panic drove people to find any way to survive the Salem Witch Trials, as we now know them. These actions are what playwright Arthur Miller covers in his play The Crucible; clearly, the literary character Abigail Williams emerges to manipulate the Puritanical society of Salem using their superstition

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.

The spring of 1692 was the beginning of what would later be known as the Salem Witch Trials. In January of 1692 Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams the daughter and niece of Samuel Parris the Minister of the Salem Village, began having violent fits of anger and outbursts of screaming as well as crawling under furniture and muttering strange words. A local doctor diagnosed the girls, along with a few other young girls in the community with “bewitchment”.

The Salem Witch trials were more than just accusations and women being sentenced to death. The politics, social status, and way of living back then all played essential roles in the trials which are discussed throughout the book “Salem Possessed” by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum. The authors touch upon how social status of church members, farmers and community folk impacted who was accused of witchcraft and who was sentenced to death. While times have changed and the laws regarding imprisonment are very different, it is essential to remember that while the techniques and methods used during the witch trials were common back then and just their way of life.

In March 24, 1692 Rebecca Nurse was a seventy year old women standing before the court while she was accused of being a witch. Rebecca nurse was a kind-hearted, and honest women. Abigail Williams and Ann Putnam Jr. were the ones who accused Rebecca Nurse. Abigail said she felt the spirit of Rebecca one morning. Rebecca could not testify against it because the examination had already been set. When judge Hawthorne asks Rebecca about the accusations Rebecca says, “I can say before my Eternal Father I am innocent and God will clear my innocence." After Rebecca contradicts many more accusations, two grown men began to accuse Rebecca. In the court room many people cried out to Rebecca, “Did you bring the black man?” Rebecca Nurse kept saying she was innocent, and that god will prove her innocence. Hawthorne starts to question these accusations of Rebecca Nurse. Many people believe that the Putnam family was behind Nurse’s accusations. The Putnam family and the Nurse family would frequently fight over whose land was whose. There were many people who risked their lives to save Rebecca Nurse by signing a petition. Rebecca Nurse never did confess that she belonged to the devil. On the final day of her examination she was found guilty. This was not surprising to the town or to Rebecca Nurse. If Rebecca Nurse would have confessed her life could have been spared, but she

The time of the Salem Witch Hunt was a confusing, fast paced experience for all involved. For the accused, it was rife with drama, loss of property, and conflict between their deeply held religious beliefs and the doubts that they may truly be practicing witchcraft. The accusers held more power than they had ever had before ; many were young women and girls limited by the patriarchal Puritan society in which they dwelled. The elaborate presentations of the women and girls afflictions’ shook the small village to the core. Many hypotheses exist to explain what may have happened, including those of: Marion L. Starkey, Carol F. Karlsen, Mary Beth Norton, Paul Boyer, and Stephen Nissenbaum. Although each

In the play and film titled The Crucible, there is one particular character who is quite a strange one. Abigail Williams is her name, acting crazy is her game. All of the characters in this film have various thoughts and actions about what is going on around them. Abigail’s thoughts and actions are quite strange compared to everyone else’s. Once you realize what the full extent of her plans are though, her actions become far less strange. She also interacts with people in a peculiar way. Her thoughts are what brought about her actions and interactions with others in the first place.