The Crucible shows bravery and cowardice throughout the book. Abigail Williams is a cowardly girl who doesn’t want to get in trouble for her foolish acts, who is then is offered a way to blame others for her actions by giving the names of “witches” in the town. John Proctor starts out as a cowardly man who cheated on his wife and didn’t want to give away Abigail’s secret that her accusations were false, but he ends up being a man that will die for his friends and the goodness of his name. Abigail Williams is a cowardly, manipulative, desperate, stubborn, and dishonorable young girl. Abigail would get every single person she knows in trouble before herself and she rarely tells the truth. When her Puritan uncle Parris the reverend caught Abigail and her friends dancing in the woods naked, she denied it. “No one was naked! You mistake yourself, uncle!” (17). Abigail acted like the victim and made people think her uncle was just seeing things by saying “you mistake yourself, uncle”. This helps to show how cowardly Abigail acted and instead turned the blame on her uncle for incorrectly seeing what was happening in the woods. When Parris leaped out the woods Betty was frightened so bad that she spent the next day in bed acting crazy. In order for Abigail to stay out of trouble the girls started to accuse women in the town of being witches, starting with their servant Tituba. “ I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil”
Concerned that word about her affair will spread throughout the village, Abigail begins to lie and point fingers at people for witchcraft, hoping it can draw the people’s focus away from her. After she and the girls were discovered in the forest by Reverend Parris, she lies or purposely forgets to mention to that she had drank a potion that would kill John Proctor’s wife. The only thing she said to him was: “We did dance, uncle, and when you leaped out of the bush so suddenly, Betty was frightened and then she fainted. And there's the whole of it.” (Miller 9). In another situation where Abigail's lying is shown again, Parris is asking why she was fired from her previous job as Elizabeth Proctor’s servant, and her excuse is: “She hates me, uncle, she must, for I would not be her slave. It's a bitter woman, a lying, cold, sniveling woman, and I will not work for such woman!” (Miller 11). Clearly this is false because Elizabeth didn't fire Abigail just out of coldness, though that was part of it, she fired her because she found that Abigail was having an affair with her husband, John. These lies led to unnecessary problems and prove Abigail is a self centered person because she only wants what's best for herself.
Abigail Williams lies and manipulates others to save her own reputation. After being questioned by her uncle, Abigail lies about whether or not she performed witchcraft. She deceives Parris when she says, “Not I, but Ruth and Tituba,” which makes him believe her lies (Miller I. 317-318). The way Abigail lies about the women doing witchcraft shows how far she will go to save her own skin. Abigail tells lies to weasel her way out of getting in trouble. She lies to Proctor about what happened in the woods with the other girls: “There is nothing more, I swear…” (Miller I. 155-156). Abigail tells Proctor that she is telling the truth; even though, Betty later calls her out on lying. After Abby reveals to Proctor what allegedly happened in the woods, she goes and tells Betty about this to cover up what actually happened, but then Betty calls her out on her lies by saying, “You drank blood, Abby…” (Miller.I.444). This shows that Abby lies to Proctor to make
The Crucible takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during the year of 1692 and during this time, the Salem witch-hunts began. The Salem witch-hunt was one of the oddest and most fearsome epochs in human history. The numerous amounts of people that were prosecuted were all innocent and their lives were taken away due to the fallacious accusations of the Puritan’s belief in superstition and their paranoia that witches had walked among them. One accuser that is the reason this all started was Abigail Williams. Abigail Williams is to blame because she possesses the evil qualities of being remorselessness, jealous, and also having the quality of vengefulness. These qualities that Abigail have are direct contributions to the murder of many people who were unjustly hanged to death.
To begin, Abigail’s background story must be explained for anybody to truly understand her character. Abigail is an orphan who witnessed her parents’ brutal murder as a young child and was taken in by her uncle Reverend Parris (148). Abigail has grown up without a proper mother and father figure to guide her through the trials of life. When Abigail is first introduced into the scene, the narrator uses an intriguing choice of words to describe her. Some literary analysts may argue that Abigail’s childhood living situation is the reason that she behaves the way she does; however this is not the case. Abigail has a tendency to victimize herself to gain and receive attention whenever she pleases. Throughout acts I and II, Abigail has made herself the victim in a multitude of different ways. For example, Reverend Parris accuses Abigail of having a blemished reputation around the town of Salem. She denies this statement; however, when Parris calls her bluff, she blames the
Abigail Williams, while on the journey of adultery, seems to of already carefully positioned her name in the devil’s book of self-conceited, merciless, and vindictive individuals that roams this Earth. No one's back holds an off limits sign when it comes to her grabbing a knife. Some may say that Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, is dictated by a whore’s vengeance. While there’s some truth to this argument, I would counter that Abigail, the main antagonist, motives are beyond this. Maintaining her position of a victim to entrap anyone who dares cross her path is the premise upon which I build this counterargument. Abigail, not only abandons her hopeless relationship with John Proctor in the end, but continues the travesties against the people of Salem before and after John’s imprisonment.
In a town full of religious-imposed justice, is the crimes happening in the towns actually considered true crimes? Should the people that committed the crimes be held responsible? In Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” the town “Salem” many are being are being accused of witchery, which is a crime in their society.The problem is that they aren't witches but normal people to be hanged. The executioner behind these accusations were a group of salem girls, but the one who leads is Abigail Williams.The witch court that soon comes, makes the punishment of theses crimes hanging or confess of witchery. Another problem occurs when the accusations that the salem girls say are false.So are there any “True” crimes being committed in this play.Should the people who committed these crimes be held responsible?With the crimes of perjury, involuntary manslaughter, and theft, the people who committees these crimes should be held responsible and should be punished on how severe their crimes are.
In the crucible Abigail williams is one of the main characters and she did a lot to form the story.These are three most dominant traits that Abigail williams had in the book.
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.
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.
In the earlier Acts Abigail Williams acts like a Crucible by lying to Reverend Parris, who is trying to figure out why Betty Parris is ill and will not wake, after Parris found the girls in the forest with Tituba the night before. In this scene Abigail is trying to avoid being caught and getting in trouble with her uncle who found them dancing in the forest. Abigail says to Reverend Parris innocently, “A dress?” Parris irresolute in his response, “Aye, a dress. And I thought I saw-someone naked running through the trees!” Abigail scared now, “No one was naked! You mistake yourself, uncle!” (Miller 888). Abigail is acting as a crucible in this scene by trying to “melt away” Parris and this problem by lying to him about there not being a naked girl running through the forest, which later is found to be true when Abby talks to Mercy about the incident. Abigail can relate to a crucible because she is acting as she is a melting pot and Parris is just another metal melted away from Abigail’s lying. She is acting this way because she knows she will be in deep trouble if Parris finds out about Mercy Lewis running naked through the woods. Earlier in this conversation between Abby and Parris, Parris questions Abigail in order to find out why Betty is acting sick and will not wake. Abigail knows that she did something wrong and the only way she knows that will work to get out of the situation is by lying to Parris because she wants to act as a clean and well-behaved girl in the town of Salem.
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.
All people commissioned to hang in Salem were innocent… how did they end up there? Through the lies and accusations of Abigail, a teenager whose head was filled with power, revenge, and her reputation. In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible he clearly shows that Abigail is guilty in more ways than one. She is guilty of lies…accusation… and even murder.
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.
In the book, Abigail tries to make sure she does not get into any trouble by telling lies from the night she danced and her stories of seeing the devil. In the beginning, she tells her uncle parris that they were only dancing when he caught them in the woods but they were doing more involving witchcraft. In Act one page “ we did dance, uncle, and when you leaped out of the bush so suddenly, Betty was frightened and then she fainted. And there’s the