The Crucible Abigail Williams Essay

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.

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.

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.

Abigail Williams is a little girl who is corrupted by the power and authority she is given due to the lack of knowledge of the people in her time period. The play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, shows how Abigail transforms from a normal person into a monster. Abigail may be a little girl, but she is far more powerful, corrupt and evil than she seems, because she receives high authority and is able to do whatever she wants.

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.

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.

Being related to a priest doesn't mean you are a good person. Abigail Williams was the niece of Reverend Parris, but she was no Puritan. Arthur Miller understood and used this truth while writing his play, The Crucible. Abigail did some things that were not only unspeakable by Puritan standards, but also illegal at the time. She had Tituba use voodoo magic in an attempt to kill John Proctors wife, and had an affair with him while she was living there as a servant. To top it all off, she threatened the other girls who saw and knew what actually happened in the forest. These are all very strong reasons for why Abigail is not a true Puritan.

Responsible for nineteen overall deaths by the end of Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, Abigail Williams is accountable for the Salem Witch Trials and surrounding hysteria. She makes false accusations against many others, and constantly manipulates others to benefit her throughout the play. Although the outside influences from her community pressures her into making the accusations she does, the main reasoning behind her actions and reactions is her own personal agenda which is obvious throughout the play. She should be held responsible for her actions and given the appropriate punishment as a result.

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

that love and jealousy in large quantities can cause a person to go to what they

During this essay I will introduce the main points involved in answering the proposed question. I will explore the certain aspects of Abigail’s personality and how it is an important role in portraying her reasons for her actions. I will also analyse the ways in which Abigail’s personality changes through the progression of the play. I will sum up which points have a bigger effect on her intentions and motivations and the effect she has on the characters of the play. I will support my reasons with quotations to justify its relevance.

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.

The seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. There is a reason they're called deadly, as when humans succumb to these, often the only result is death. Humans are all born with certain expectations as they grow up; however, does our society fully shape who we will or should be? Or do our human tendencies take over and lead us through to our ultimate victory or demise? Although Puritan society places strong emphasis on acting morally as well as spiritually righteous, the instinctive nature of human self preservation emerges through the involvement of temptations such as lust and pride, even in a community of strict catholics.

"He was the kind of man - powerful of body, even - tempered, and not

think and do. As an audience, at this stage we have a mixed opinion of