What Is Abigail's Motivation In The Crucible

In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the characters are driven by certain motives to make them seem less guilty during the witchcraft scenario. However, Abigail Williams is motivated, not to seem less guilty, but to redeem her most wanted desire: John Proctor. She does not matter who she has to get through or what she has to do in order to become Proctor’s wife. During the play, Miller validates that Abigail Williams’s flaws-lust, vengefulness, and jealously- makes the audience believe that she was the cause of most of the chaos during the witch-hunt in Salem.

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.

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.

Arthur Miller states "Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets." The quote of this meaning is that people are falsely accused, but they may be innocent. The Crucible by Arthur Miller, is a play based upon events that occurred in Salem circa 1690s. Through Abigail Williams, Miller was trying to state the injustice in Salem because she targeted the innocent people, leading to their death. Many of the conflicts that occurred in the play were caused by Abigail Williams. Abigail's jealousy of Elizabeth Proctor was triggered by Elizabeth's husband John Proctor. Abigail was a hypocrite because she used the name of the Lord for her own interests. She lied in order to save herself by denying her involvement in witchcraft. The character selected is Abigail Williams because of her three main character flaws which are jealousy, hypocrisy, and mendacity.

People are very impressionable, especially children. Abigail used destructive power to cause chaos in Salem. In the Crucible she is viewed as strong-willed and independent. She manipulated and used people against each other as a stepping stone to hysteria.

The sins of deceit and lust have plagued the human race since the dawn of time. These feelings and wishes can make people do some of the worst things known man. In Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, these two sins are applied to many characters one of which is Abigail Williams. The play revolves around the Abigail and her friends attempting to cover up their past transgressions against the Salem community while Abigail attempts to get together with John Proctor. Abigail suffers from the sins of lust and deceit most chronically which she uses to fulfill her agenda throughout the play. Due to Abigail's lust for John and her constant utility of untruths lead the people to fear for their lives leading them to hurt innocent people making Abigail the main transgressor of the Salem condition.

In conclusion, the numerous characters in The Crucible embodied ranging themes. Abigail rose to power through the witch trials. Many innocent villagers were accused and executed. Her power to manipulate her followers and the town served to prove her deceptive nature. John Proctor protected his reputation by refusing to the sign the confession, and became the tragic hero of the play. The crucible came to be a symbol of superstition and paranoia that tore the community apart in the play, which provided this play meaningful significance

Abigail was so in love with John Proctor she would have done anything to be with him so she did . “ You did, you did you drank the charm to kill John proctor’s wife! You drank the charm to kill proctor's wife!” ( Miller 468) . Abigail wanted revenge on Elizabeth because she was John's wife and he was not going to leave her for Abigail. In his mind it was a silly mistake he

Abigail’s madness does not stop here. Abigail noticed the charm does not work to kill Elizabeth. Abigail noticed that she has to do more than just drink a charm. Abigail is the blame for Elizabeth Proctor being accused of witchcraft. She accuses Elizabeth, because she wants John. She lusts him, and the only reason she lust him is because of the affair she had with John Proctor. “I look for John Proctor

The main character I chose to analyze is Abigail Williams. Abigail is a very intelligent, manipulative, and cunning character in The Crucible. Some would call her the puppet master of the play, as she almost seems to have all of the other characters on a string, controlling their destiny with her sly and devious ways. A main example of this in the play, was her use of Mary Warrens poppet to manipulate and control Elizabeth Proctors fate. A poppet is somewhat of a voodoo doll, which Mary Warren had innocently created, and left in the Proctor household. Abigail saw this as opportunity to finally destroy Elizabeth once and for all, after having an affair with her husband John, and still wanting to get him back. The only way to do this, was to kill Elizabeth. Abigail stabbed herself in the abdomen with a large needle, and cried witchcraft at Elizabeth, insinuating that Elizabeth had been the one to stab her through witchcraft. The courts fell for her ingenious plan, and Elizabeth was innocently sent off to jail. This is only one example of the scheming ways of Abigail, shown throughout the play. Her main motivating factor has a theme of jealousy and revenge on Elizabeth. She is clearly the “villain” of the play with her deceitful ways, and never shows any remorse for her actions. She is also a large example of irony in the play, as she is the one that was first accused of witchcraft, but ends up successfully blaming everybody else.

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 is merely a child, afraid of being punished for wrongdoing as any child is. In Puritan society, God is held as the highest authority and being a witch is one of the worst crimes against God. Having committed such a high crime, Abigail acts as a kid and blames others for the offense. Any adolescent would be beyond scared at the thought of the inevitable punishment: “Witchery’s a hangin’ error…” (Miller 837). Abigail surely is frightened, and that fright in her influences her decision to blame those around her. Abigail’s fear is what motivates her to blame others, get all the girls to join in on her scheme, and the fear eventually leads to all the horrible events in The

Abigail Williams has no respect for marriage. Abigail’s relationship with John Proctor and her friction to Goody Proctor are reasons why Elizabeth Proctor was accused as a witch and later the death of John. Abigail used to work for John and Elizabeth Proctor at their household until Elizabeth found out about the affair and threw Abigail out. Abigail tries to convince John to fall for her when Abigail knows he is in love with his wife, Elizabeth. But Abigail wants to refer back to her affair with John and continue a relationship with him. Although John told Abigail that the affair was over and she tried desperately to continue their romance. “Abby, I may think of you softly from time

When the girls and Abigail were dancing in the woods, Abigail did some strange and dark things. She drank a charm to kill Elizabeth Proctor because she wanted John all to herself. She wanted to get Elizabeth killed because she is the reason that Abigail could not be with John and she wanted Elizabeth out of the way.

Lust, mendacity, and jealousy are three things that can change how a person feels and acts. Sometimes we can't help it and it causes lots of problems. These problems then accumulate and cause something we did not intend to happen and this is something that happen in the town of salem. Abigail had these 3 characteristics which made her do things and blame witchcraft on many people causing several deaths.