Analysis Of Arthur Miller 's ' The Crucible '

Abigail was a servant in the Proctor's household, but got fired by Elizabeth Proctor for having an affair with her husband, John.

A week later, alone in their farmhouse outside of town, John and Elizabeth Proctor discuss the ongoing trials and the escalating number of townsfolk who have been accused of being witches. Elizabeth urges her husband to denounce Abigail as a fraud; he refuses, and she becomes jealous, accusing him of still harboring feelings for her. Mary Warren, their servant and one in Abigail’s circle, returns from Salem with news that Elizabeth has been accused of witchcraft but the court did not pursue the accusation. Mary is sent up to bed, and John and Elizabeth continue their argument, only to be interrupted by a visit from Reverend Hale. While they discuss matters, Giles Corey and Francis Nurse come to the Proctor home with news that their wives have been arrested. Officers of the court suddenly arrive and arrest Elizabeth. After they have taken her, Proctor tells Mary that she must go to Salem and expose Abigail and the other girls as being frauds and making up all these accusations just to gain the attention of others.

How many people have you met in your life that is stronger because of a difficult experience they went through? Most people are because we take these difficult experiences and grow from them and become better people. This is the exact case is expressed in the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller. The story begins in Salem, Massachusetts 1692 right in the middle of a period of witchcraft hysteria. During this time many people were accused of being witches and wrongly convicted by judges Danforth and Hathorne. The characters in the story are struggling because of a girl named Abigail who gets caught practicing witchcraft and then starts naming and accusing others so that she doesn’t get in trouble; one of these people being a well-respected farmer, John Proctor’s, wife Elizabeth. The title, The Crucible, refers to a test, trial, ordeal, formation by fire, and vessel baked to resist heat, and the entire story is an allegory meaning it has a hidden meaning. John Proctor symbolizes a crucible by embodying the definition of one, as he went through a test and was formed by fire.

Abigail was being accused repeatedly of lying and making up all of the accusations which were of false nature. The many people who were hung because of her testimony was what would now hang over her head. When she was brought before Mary Warren her false tears and outcries of pain were all an act, but in her mind she was the only one who was correct in her dealings. Abigail was for unfathomable reasons a port of knowledge through which the judges and lawyers convicted and sent to death those who were accused. The awful girl was but of one mind. She wanted revenge and to be back to her “love”, John Proctor. Abigail tried and tried repeatedly to get her hands on John, she tried to get his wife hanged, and when she couldn’t have him she decided that no one else could. Abigail soon began to accuse John Proctor of the precise thing she was known for, witchcraft. Abigail had been in the woods when the young Mary Warren went mute from the shock of seeing Abigail drink chickens blood and curse Goody Proctor, all of these happenings had to do with Abigail Williams, and now she would have to suffer through her own crucible, to figure out how she was going to get out. And though Abigail did narrowly escape the major shackles of her crimes, the guilt and foreboding of being a treacherous liar found her rumored to be a young prostitute in Boston. Forever to be alone and used. That was Abigail’s crucible and punishment for all the problems and

responsibility for his actions and others. Proctor is a man of his word except for the fact that he had an affair with Abigail. He gets imprisoned as a witch getting ready to get hanged the morning. As for Elizabeth,

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.

Abigail Williams is a 17 year old girl whose parents were murdered, so Parris has taken care of her since they’ve been murdered. She had worked for the Proctor’s as their servant, but she was fired by Elizabeth Proctor. John Proctor was having an affair with Abigail until Elizabeth had discovered what they’ve been doing so she fired Abigail. John knew he was sinning and this sin would ruin him. He realized that he loves his wife Elizabeth, so he stop seeing Abigail for love. Abigail was upset that he didn’t love her, so the only way for her to have him was to get rid of Elizabeth from his life. Abigail tried to get rid of Mrs. Proctor by dancing in the woods and talking to the Devil. In act one Betty screams out the truth about the night and what Abigail’s plan was. She said “You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor.” (pg

“The Crucible” is a play that takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The play starts in the woods, the characters Abigail, Betty, Tituba, Mary Warren, and Mercy Lewis were casting spells in the forest. Samuel Parris catches them in the woods and Betty passes out. They go to the Proctors house to make sure Betty is okay. Parris is contemplating on what the town will think of him when they find out what has happened. He tells Abigail to tell him what happened in the woods. Abigail tells him they were dancing.

In order to get what she wanted, she had pulled a group of friends to get involved in it, which they willingly obeyed Abigail in fear she would accuse them next. Many of her friends began to slowly fall apart because the guilt was taking over their minds. One of them had said, “She’ll kill me for sayin that! Abby’ll charge lechery on you, Mr. Proctor!”(Miller) Mary Warren feared that if she were to tell the truth, that the other girls would accuse her for witchcraft, and have her hung. It is hard to say who the hero is in this play, but the ones who know the truth and try and explain seem to be at war with Abigail and the other girls. One might say, “it is unfortunate that the play itself aligns a group of heroes against a group of villains."(Budick) Abigail and her group of girls are the villians in this play, having men and women wrongfully hung to save

The play begins in the home of Reverend Samuel Parris, whose daughter, Betty, lays ill. Parris lives with his daughter and his seventeen-year old niece, Abigail Williams, an orphan who witnessed her parents' murder by the Indians. Parris has sent for Reverend Hale of Beverly, believing his daughter's illness stems from supernatural explanations. Betty became ill when her father discovered her dancing in the woods with Abigail, Tituba (the Parris' slave from Barbados) and several other local girls. Already there are rumors that Betty's illness is due to witchcraft, but Parris tells Abigail that he cannot admit that he found his daughter and niece dancing like heathens in the forest. Abigail says that she will admit to dancing and accept the punishment, but will not admit to witchcraft. Abigail and Parris discuss rumors about the girls: when they were dancing one of the girls was naked, and Tituba was screeching gibberish. Parris also brings up rumors that Abigail's former employer, Elizabeth Proctor, believes that Abby is immoral.

Mary succumbs to Abigail’s "hypnosis " and accuses John Proctor of forcing her to lie. Clearly the battle which Mary faced from the very beginning was enormous.

John Proctor, a well respected man, was having an affair with Abigail Williams, one of the girls who was caught. His wife, Elizabeth Proctor, knows about

Mrs. Proctor is a judgmental, doubtful, and reserved woman. She loves her family also she had a maid who was Abigail Williams but she fired her because john was having an affair with Ms. Williams. “ John if it were not abigail that you must go to hurt, would you falter now? I think not ” (Miller 1294).

John Proctor states, “I never spoke on witches one way or the other. Will you come, Giles?”(Miller, 82). Abigail is not only John Proctor’s mistress, but she is also one of the girls who are accusing innocent people in the town of being seen with the devil. Abigail is the character who has the most influence on the town’s hysteria. John regrets his affair with Abigail, but she thinks what they had was love.  Because Abigail wants to be with John Proctor, she and few other girls from the village, and Tituba (a slave) dance around because they believe it will somehow kill Proctor's wife. Abigail is asked about her affair with John, but she says none of it is true. She is does not want to get caught.  While coming up with more lies along with Betty (Reverend Parris’s daughter), she tells the other girls, “If anyone breathe a word or the edge of a word about the other things, I will come to you in the black of some terrible night (The Crucible.)”

As the play continues, Elizabeth gets arrested after Abigail accuses her of being a witch and a servant of Satan. John comes to his wife’s rescue by presenting evidence testifying his wife’s good character in order to save her from the charge of witchcraft. He also threatens Mary Warren, one of the girls and the Proctor’s former servant, into confessing to lies and pretense concerning the accused witches in court. After Mary turns on him he is forced to admit his sin of adultery with Abigail in an attempt of proving that Abigail had a motive to lie. Elizabeth is then brought to court and is questioned regarding Proctor’s adultery with Abigail.