The Lie Of Abby: Dancing In The Woods

She put a needle in a doll then had Mary Warren give it to Elizabeth. Later that evening, Abby impaled herself with a needle making it look like Elizabeth did voodoo on the doll to her. If Abby did not do this, Elizabeth would not have went to prison and John would have been alive. The only reason that John was accused is because he was defending Elizabeth in court and Abby turned the tables on him. During the scene where the girls were having an outburst in court, to John Mary Warren said, “You are the Devil’s man” (110)! Abby basically forced Mary into accusing John because she was going to accuse Mary if not. This scene shows how vindictive Abby truly

This is later confirmed when she threatens to “come to [them] in the black of some terrible night and … bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder” (Pg.175) Mary Warren and Betty Parris if they dare to tell the truth. This shows her determination at killing Elizabeth Proctor and securing her own reputation. Unlike many naive villains in other literatures, Abigail sets out a meticulous scheme to frame Elizabeth. First, she witnesses Mary Warren leaving a needle in a doll. Then she “[sticks] two inches [of a needle] in the flesh of her belly”(pg. 203) to frame Elizabeth of performing witchcraft. So mendacious is Abigail that she is willing to injure herself to accomplish her plan. Under her beautiful appearance also lays a manipulative heart. She is capable of manipulating not only the girls into doing things her way, but also the members of the court to her advantage. When questioned by Danforth whether the spirits she has seen are illusion, Abigail steps it up a notch by making the members of the court feel sorry for her and madly refutes, “I have been near to murdered every day because I done my duty pointing out the Devil’s people—and this is my reward? To be mistrusted, denied, questioned like a—” (Pg.210) This, following by Elizabeth's failure to tell the truth and the girl’s verisimilar acting toward the “yellow bird”, further demonstrates her manipulative power which brings the court in her favor. Altogether, many

Once Abigail began feeding everyone her false indictments, one person followed after the other and commenced the actions of those in the mob mentality mindstate. Abigail’s issues within herself and those she was wounded by, clearly left an impact on her overall personality, thus resulting in her choosing to wreak havoc and seek revenge. If no one had followed her untrue actions to begin with, all of the hype would have died down. By the end of The Crucible, it is acknowledged that following what our own heart knows is right rather than what everyone else is doing (mob mentality), is what truly

In sum Abigail is a conniver willing to lie to get herself out of trouble.

Throughout the play we see instances where Abigail shows she still has feelings for John saying things like “ Give me a word, John. A soft word.”, but she is only met with rejection from John “ No, no, Abby. That’s done with.”. (Miller 22) as he has moved on and is trying to live a more righteous life. Even though John has made his intentions clear Abby continuously attempts to sway him “...do you tell me you’ve never looked up at my window?” (Miller 23) believing he will still come back to her. After still facing rejection from John, Abigail believes the only reason he denies her is because of his wife. Knowing that she has the power to condemn people by accusing them of witchcraft, Abigail decides that it is the only option she has to be with John. As time goes on the Proctor family is torn apart when Cheever, a clerk of the court, comes with a warrant for Elizabeth. The Proctor’s find out the reason for the arrest is because of attempted murder through the use of witchcraft. It is to our understanding that a poppet that is in the possession of Elizabeth, given to her by their servant, Mary, was used to attempt to murder Abigail . As the situation goes on we discover the entire ordeal was an elaborate plan by Abigail when Mary says “...she saw me sewin’ it in court. Or better still: Ask Abby, Abby sat beside me when I made it.” revealing that it was a plan by Abigail. Abigail saw Mary making a poppet for Elizabeth and came to the realization that it would probably be her best chance to get Elizabeth out of the picture. By placing blame on Elizabeth, Abigail is able to further her own personal goal of being with

Not only is Abby an improper girl, she dirties her name even more by making threats and lowering herself to violence to conceal her wrongdoing. For instance, Abigail shakes Betty, and smashes her across the face. Her anger is clear and may justify her actions somewhat, but what she says afterwards goes too far. Speaking to Betty and Mary Warren, she says “...Let either of you breathe a word...and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it…”. She afterwards tells Mary to shut up (Act I,18,19) These terrible threats, along with Abigail’s violent nature to cover her sins, condemn her to a life of treachery which she does not turn from. Mary Warren adds further proof to Abigail’s guilt when she is asked by Proctor to testify in court as to the nature of the poppet she had made. Mary speaks in fear of Abigail and what she might do to both herself and Proctor (Act II,

One of the worst qualities about Abby is that she is very manipulative. Abigail threatened the girls if they tried to say anything other than what she told them to. Abby tries to convince that she is innocent. Abby wants her uncle to lie and say that she from what happened. Abigail got John to have the affair even though she is only seventeen and John is in his thirties. Abigail took advantage of his loneliness through his wife’s

Abigail's deception toward the people is driven by her lust for power. Abigail begins to accuse others of being witches, so she can build up her power and reliability. She carefully selects defenseless targets at first to accuse, only those that would be believable when in court. Each of the innocent people that Abigail condemns to hang gives her more credibility, gaining her more power over the court and the people. Abigail continues to grow closer to the big picture every time she gains power. Abigail is viewed as a threat; since her lust for power made her into a ruthless person. Abigail in the manner of a leader convinces the other girls to follow her; those who are frightened by her are the ones who join her. She needs more people on her

Abby is an extremely authoritative women, and has numerous followers. “Abigail is a vengeful, …. manipulative, and magnificent liar… she (also) has an eerie sense of how to manipulate others and gain control of them”. Although Abby can be deceitful she is still

In Arthur Miller’s play, Abigail is represented to restrict the voice and opinion of others, through the use of ferocity. During Act 1, we see how her manipulation skills are on full display. As almost busted for

Since Abigail is the Reverends niece and grew up with a pastor in the household it seems as if she should be very humble and a good person but her human nature took a toll making her greedy therefore making her dishonest and deceptive. She is afraid that people won’t agree with her, that motivates her to get people on her side. She then falsely accuses others of witchcraft and her being the victim. Witchcraft was taken very seriously back then and it ended up ripping apart the town and caused non stop fighting by almost everyone. Abigail’s main motive is John Proctor so she tries to lie to John about his wife to get him to fall for her “She is blackening my name in the village she is telling lies about me she’s a cold swiveling

All in all, this girl was trouble from the beginning, it didn't matter who she hurt or killed and she liked getting her way no matter what it took. Abigail Adams is a very active character in this play. She wanted a maid named Tituba to make a blood charm to kill Mrs. Proctor, the wife of a man she had an affair with. Abby wanted him to herself and she was willing to kill in order to do that. When the girls were caught dancing they were confronted she didn't want to get in trouble and so Abby decided that she was taken over by the devil and “wrote in his book”. She sparked something that would cause a lot of trouble and pain for

Abigail Williams is a main antagonist that shows the personality of being vengeful, selfish, manipulative, and a magnificent liar; she has the ability to control people and she conveniently has the power of destruction towards those around her. She gets the girls to agree on a set story in order to selfishly protect herself. She uses a threat of violence, which goes along with their belief that she might know witchcraft, in order to keep them in line. When Reverend Parris discovers the girls dancing in the woods, Abigail attempts to mask the situation because it will reveal her affair with John Proctor if she confesses to attempting to cast a spell on Elizabeth Proctor. This is her main act of deceit within the play. She lies by using her abrupt ways to accuse others of witchcraft in order to draw attention off of herself. Abigail then flees because she cannot have what she

When Abigail was accused of being involved in the events that happened in the forest, she took a proactive role in the situation. Abigail was able to manipulate others to make them believe she was innocent. One of the major factors that motivated Abigail in her lies was fear. She did not want to be punished or whipped for what she did in the forest. She also made the other girls fear her by threating them with their lives if they contradicted her story. Abigail did not want to bring shame to her name. When Reverend Parris approached her with the events that happened in the forest, she placed all of the attention on everyone but herself. Revan Parris also asks her why Goody Proctor fired her, and her

First off, Abigail uses the trials to seek revenge, resulting in the wrongful deaths of many. Abigail commits many sins, including lust for John Proctor. Once she rises to power in the courtroom, she uses it to exact vengeance upon those who have done her wrong. Victims of her wrath include Elizabeth Proctor; who she calls a ¨a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her¨ during an argument with John Proctor and Mary Warren (Miller 23). After Mary Warren starts siding with John Proctor, Abigail goes so far as to accuse Mary of sending her spirit out in the courtroom to attack the other girls. Abigail can be seen using such accusations to inflict a twisted justice on her enemies. Actions as unjust as these