The Crucible of Abigail Williams

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.

Elizabeth Proctor knew Abigail was after her, that is because while in court, the Proctors new Servant, Mary Warren, heard that someone sent his or her spirit to try and harm Elizabeth. Elizabeth is very frightened now so she tells John to go to Abigail to plead with her not to kill Elizabeth. Elizabeth believe Abigail may “dote on it now..”,but she then will think “to kill” Elizabeth, and take her place (61). It is quite evident that Elizabeth is hated by Abigail, but I really believe that besides the fact Abigail loves John Proctor, she really is a witch deep down inside. Eziekel Cheever, sent by court to gather those accused of witchcraft comes for Elizabeth proctor. According to him something has happened to Abigail and that something is the fault of Elizabeth, a so called “witch”. Cheever describes to John Proctor about Elizabeth and how she was accused of “stabbing Abigail” He explains how Abigail “ fell to the floor” and Reverend Parris, her Uncle, “draw a needle out,” and then he says “testify it were your wife familiar spirit that pushed it in” (74). Mary Warren, before this mishap, gave Elizabeth a poppet that she made in court. She gave it to her as an apology gift for her behavior. So when Cheever came, Elizabeth had the doll,which had a needle stuck in it! Coincidence Mary gave it to Elizabeth right before this incident…perhaps, but most

Abigail’s fear of prosecution and of losing John Proctor causes her to cry witch. When Reverend Hale asks Abigail if she called “the Devil last night” (42), she realizes her peril, and says “I never called him! Tituba, Tituba . . . “ (42), diverting the accusations from herself onto Tituba. Abigail notices Warren storing a needle in the belly of a poppet after sewing it in court. Abigail sticks a needle into her stomach the next day and cries witchcraft. Later, the blame of witchery falls on Elizabeth Proctor because Mary Warren gave her the stabbed poppet. Abigail designs to see Elizabeth Proctor hanged, and believes that John Proctor will be “singing secret hallelujahs” (152) with her when she does. Abigail cries witch on Elizabeth Proctor so that she does not lose John Proctor. The driving fears of Abigail and Tituba contrast in that Abigail’s are complex and twisted whereas Tituba’s are primal and straightforward.

Abigail is a highly jealous character, concentrating her jealousy on Elizabeth Proctor. This jealousy is driven by lust and her desire for John Proctor. Abigail served as a servant in the Proctor household and after an affair with her husband John, Elizabeth fired her. She still resents Elizabeth for this as she is still in love with John. She clearly says to John, "You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!" Abigail is still in love with John and she assumes the converse. Her love for John only causes her resentment for Elizabeth to strengthen. She hates John Proctor's wife and in her conniving ways she attempts to inspire the same views of Elizabeth in John's mind. Saying things to him such as, "She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me, She is a cold, sniveling woman." Abigail fabricates stories in attempt to steel John from Elizabeth. She is a manipulative liar that does and says as she pleases in order to get what she wants.

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

Abigail Williams is a manipulative character that broke apart the town through lies, accusations, and trying to get what she wanted. Abigail, the niece of a reverend, should be a good girl but instead is considered a whore and a liar. She is motivated by wanting to marry John Proctor, be a mom, and be considered a “saint”. By wanting these things she goes out of her way to get a potion created to kill John’s wife, and get others to agree with her. By doing these things it creates death and terror throughout the town and causes manys to be hanged and killed brutally. Abigail goes to court and accuses many people of witchcraft and sending her soul on

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.

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.

Abigail is the character that no ones wants to be in a story. She is most of the responsibility for the girls going with Tituba to the woods. Then after Paris finds them, she tries to fake her behavior because if she doesn’t it will show her affair with Proctor if she confesses to casting a spell on Elizabeth Proctor. Betty calls Abigail out by saying “you did it, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Procter’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor! (Miller, 19). Abigail lies first to hide her affair but then she starts lying to prevent being accused of witchcraft. To keep all the attention off of herself she starts accusing other people of witchcraft. Abigail is heartless because she thinks nothing of just accusing people of witchcraft which will send them to their death. Abigail was a very deceiving when she spoke to anyone about anything throughout the story. Abigail was lying at the court case they had durning the Salem Witch trials, she was trying to get everyone to believe that Mary’s Warren was a bird coming to get her, she says, “But God made my face; you cannot want to tear my face. Envy is a deadly sin, Mary” (Miller 106). Abigail was lying that who court case so she didn’t get in trouble, she wanted to save herself even if it meant that others were going to die.

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

“The arrogant are wise in their own eyes, but the wise will recognize their lies” (Anonymous). This quote accurately describes how the events in the Salem Witch Trials unfolded. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, places the reader into the city of Salem, Massachusetts. Arthur Miller tells a fictional story based on real events of how people who were wise in their own eyes used others to better themselves in a community based on honesty. Three characters from the story stand apart in their arrogance. Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Reverend Parris were conceited and cared only about their personal gains. These characters used their power to blame, but not to be blamed or accused of alleged witchcraft which resulted in the deaths of several townspeople. Arthur Miller used these characters to illustrate how simple lies and rumors can spread and become an unstoppable force. With these simple but powerful accusations, well respected citizens soon became the targets of these characters manipulation.

The devastating Salem witch trials occurred between February 1692 and May 1693. By the end of the trials many people were accused, nineteen were executed and several more died in prison. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, captures the hysteria that developed during the Salem witch trials. Crucible character, Abigail Williams, represents the repressed desires that many of the Puritans possess. Abigail’s readiness to abandon Puritan social restrictions sets her apart from the other characters, and eventually leads to her downfall. Abigail Williams uses manipulation and cruelty to create an atmosphere of terror and intimidation in her town. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Abigail Williams leads the hysteria in Salem by taking extreme measures to succeed in attaining John Proctor's love.

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.