Theme Of Destruction In The Crucible By Abigail Williams

In the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams is not responsible for the death of John Proctor. Even though she started all the mayhem in Salem by dancing in the woods, it was not the cause of John Proctor’s death. Abigail did start everything up, but she did this whole act to get John’s love, but in the end her attempts were fruitless because he died. That is not what she wanted, so she cannot be responsible for what happened. In fact John Proctor is responsible for what happened to him because he didn’t sign the papers, he started the affair with Abigail, and he took the blame on himself instead of trying to prove Elizabeth innocent.

It’s important to note why and how Abigail inherited her selfish behavior in the first place, and what caused her to act a certain way. Abigail claims that she is in love with John Proctor, and the two characters were discovered to have an affair with each other. John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth Proctor, finds out about the affair and

Abigail is a selfish and manipulative person which gives her the courage to do the things that she does. In act 3, Abigail says "Oh, Mary, this is a black art to change your shape. No, I cannot, I cannot stop my mouth; It's God's work I do" (III.115). Abigail claims that she is doing God’s work, but she is actually doing the devil's work because she is lying and forcing her friends to agree with her and go against Mary. She has the courage to go through with anything that comes to her mind, no matter what harm it could cause. “The girl, the Williams girl, Abigail Williams, sir. She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris's house tonight, and without word nor warning she falls to the floor. Like a struck beast, he says, and screamed a scream that a bull would weep to hear. And he goes to save her, and, stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out. And demanding of her how she come to be so stabbed, she --- testify it were your wife's familiar spirit pushed it in”(Act II.1282). This explains how Abigail is willing to go through with anything to be with John Proctor. She shows a monstrous amount of intrepidness just to do so. Abigail Williams has the courage to do anything when it comes to John Proctor. She stabs herself with a needle just to accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft.

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 wants to get rid of Elizabeth, who she describes as John Proctor’s “sniveling envious wife” (Optional scene Pg. 158)! One can infer how Abigail is jealous and is doing anything to steel Elizabeth’s place in Proctor’s bed. It reaches a degree were Abigail is lies so much she starts to believe her lies, and stabs herself in the stomach with a pin to blame Elizabeth for attempting to kill her. She later goes on trying to convince Proctor that “the jab your wife gave me’s not healed yet” (Optional scene Pg. 155). The revenge that Abigail is seeking to find is directly related to the theme of vengeance that is profound throughout the play. Additionally, other people in Salem, such as the Putnam’s, take advantage of the crisis to help achieve their

A big ego often leads to people doing things they know they shouldn’t in return for what benefits them. Arthur Miller, the author of The Crucible, shows what can happen to a whole town when one young girl Named Abigail Williams performs witchcraft, causing chaos in the town of Salem. Secrets are kept throughout the citizen in fear their reputations would be ruined. Many have claimed, “the bonds of love between individuals that are "the foundations of any society."(Bigsby) Abigail and John had made a sin through lust, causing a big impact on their society. In Arthur Miller's Crucible, Abigail Williams is responsible for the mess in Salem.

Adultery. Abigail Williams is the young niece of Salem's Minister, Reverend Parris, she also was once John Proctor's housemaid until his wife, Elizabeth, put her out because of the affair. Abigial was just a young girl, she felt as if her feelings for John Proctor were ‘true love’, this drove her to do some of the most unspeakable things. She was seeking vengeance on Elizabeth since she put her out on the street, “blackened her name throughout the town” and she had the man she loved. Abigail's best way of getting things done was through manipulation, which she was best at. She voluntarily used witchcraft to ‘curse’ Elizabeth and yet turned witchcraft accusations against everyone of Salem. “I will come to you in the black of the night and will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you”(19), is one threat Abigail used to keep the girls mouth shut. She was a power hungry girl who did anything to keep the power for her own selfish gains. When she realized she was losing her power she claims “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, question like a -”(100) this was her way out of the truth. This shows Abigail's true

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

. .”). The declaration of him having what would be monumental information caused his national popularity and recognition to soar faster than ever seen by any other politician before and helped to begin the period in the US known as McCarthyism. Mirroring this is the plan of Abigail to more or less overthrow and jail the wife of the man she committed an affair with, John Proctor. Elizabeth Proctor, the wife in question, expresses this concern to John by saying “Spoke or silent, a promise is surely made. And she [Abigail] may dote on it -- I am sure she does -- and thinks to kill me, then to take my place.”(Miller 58). She is quite obviously not alleging crimes against people she actually saw committing witchery in the woods but rather has ulterior motives. In this case, she believes that eliminating her competition is the best way to get to John. Abigail has a clear and concise precision in which she charges crimes against members of the community of Salem who she dislikes. Additionally, placing the blame on other members of Salem helps to remove Abigail from being accused of working with the devil. These accusations help to separate her from the situation allowing her to appear as the victim. The two people who were the main impetus behind the crazes in both cases possess much deeper motives than it may appear at first.

First and foremost, Abigail is obsessive. Evidence for this is shown when she refuses to believe that her relationship with John Proctor is over. In a heated argument she openly states, “You love me John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!”(Miller 146). Not only does this statement prove she is head over heels for John but that she does not care at all that he has a wife. She even tries to guilt the poor man into continuing the love affair. Abigail tries to get Elizabeth out of the picture by falsely accusing her of witchcraft, so she can have John to herself.

Conflict within a story does not only affect a single character yet rather affects them all. Abigail Williams, niece to Samuel Parris and cousin of Betty Parris, is most responsible for the conflicts within The Crucible. Abigail Williams consistently caused conflicts between many characters in the story as a revenge towards Elizabeth Procter following the conclusion of an affair with John Procter, Elizabeth’s husband. Initially, this conflict was kept between Abigail and John however soon after Abigail grew bitter towards John Procter’s wife, Elizabeth Procter as well as John himself. This bitterness resulted in a deadly accusation of alleged witchcraft as well as a cruel dispute within the small village of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. People will go to great lengths in order to protect the ones they cherish the most, even if it means destruction.

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

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.

      Abigail Williams’ main cause for her wild accusations is a selfish one. It is to be with John Proctor, a married man with whom she has an affair. She is sent away but all she thinks of is being reunited with him. Abigail drinks blood, wishing to be with John Proctor, which could happen only if his wife Elizabeth died. She then, after committing adultery and contributing to the breaking of a marriage, is not through. Abigail pursues John and does not recognize that the affair is over. She conveys this in saying “I have something better than hope, I think!” (22). Abigail does not just miss her love, she becomes ruthless to get him back.

Abigail Williams wanted what was best for her. She did not care of others. Due to Abigail’s actions a whole conflict outbursts in Salem, Massachusetts. The girls have been caught in the woods dancing and even naked. They have been caught and accused of doing witchcraft. Betty is then “very ill” and they believe she is going to die. Betty awakes. Abigail threatens the girls to stay quiet. “You did. You did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!” (Miller 18). This shows that Abigail Williams was a villain because she was hoping for the death of a person in order to get what she desired. Abigail and the girls were caught doing witchcraft. Abigail comes up with a different story to tell. “Now look you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the back of shudder