Who Is Abigail Selfish In The Crucible

In Arthur Miller 's The Crucible, the main character Abigail Williams is to blame for the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, Abigail Williams remained a static character throughout the book. Abigail is a mean, deceitful and manipulative person who always wants her way; she has no remorse about who she hurts along her journey to get her want she wants.

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.

The many books, there are characters that are hated. These people are called the antagonist characters. In the Crucible, the most hated character was Abigail Williams. Abigail Williams was considered the most hated character because she very deceptive, inconsiderate, and selfish. She was considered deceptive because she constantly chases John Proctor to get his affection. The worse part about this situation is that John Proctor is married to a woman named Elizabeth Proctor. She is seen as being inconsiderate because she accuses other people in the village of being a witch to get fame or attention. Abigail does this when she falsely accuses Tituba of being a witch. She is selfish in the story when she says she would tell John Proctor about when

Abigail and Mary Warren have one final similarity; they both are apprehensive. While in court when about to be convicted, both girls blamed someone else for being witches and said they saw them with the devil. Then they would say explain that they have found God again so they are off the hook. When all this shenanigans first started, Abigail shouted “I saw Goody Hawkins with the Devil. I saw Goody Booth with the Devil!” By saying those names she was taken off the hook, and Goody Hawkins and Goody Booth were now being accused of witchery. This shows that Abigail is apprehensive because, she was scared of what would happen so by blaming it on someone else she didn’t have to worry about what would happen to her. Mary Warren also did the same terrible thing. Right before Mary Warren was to be called a witch by the court she said “You’re the Devil’s Man!” to John Proctor. That made the court decide to convict Proctor instead of her because she cried that she had found God. It made Mary not have to be fearful for her own life anymore.

Both characters had some characteristics that were shared, but were opposites in much more. While Elizabeth Proctor symbolized the basic good of the human nature, Abigail Williams showed the darker side of human nature. Both Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams

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’s The Crucible presents Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams who serve important roles through their unique characteristics and thinking. John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, has two defining characteristics that show throughout this play: she not only lives to please everyone around her and behaves passively, but she lacks the assertiveness to confront what lies directly under her nose. However, Abigail, the girl John Proctor commits the crime of adultery with, manipulates those around her. She is keen to act upon an opportunity when one arises and feels a determination to get her way. While Elizabeth and Abigail are similar in their love for John Proctor, Elizabeth differs from Abigail through her tendency to try to please everyone and keep her own emotions bottled up, while Abigail believes the world revolves around her and works to make things go her own way.

Abigail WIlliams beliefs, behavior, and motives are the same as Joseph McCarthy. Abigail williams beliefs are the same as Joseph McCarthy in a way because in The Crucible Abigail Williams accused people in her town of being witches and Joseph McCarthy accused people of being communist even when they weren't but some of their motives were different. Joseph McCarthy accused people of being communist because he was scared that there were communist in the U.S.A . Abigail accused the people that she didn't like of being witches so that they could be imprisoned and killed. One thing that made them different was that Joseph McCarthy thought what he was doing was right when Abigail Williams knew what she was doing was wrong but she accused people anyways. They also had followers who blindly followed them and believed what they were saying was true but that was only because those people were afraid like them too. Those people had the same fears that communist were going to take over or that witches were in their holy town and that these communist and witches were there just to corrupt and take away what they loved. Their followers were also a bunch a “yes men” whenever there was someone who disagreed with what they were doing they would accuse them of being a communist or they would

Sara Shepard wrote in her book Flawless “The sweetest smiles hold the darkest secrets…” This quote relates to the main character Abigail in a play called The Crucible. This play was written about the Salem Witch Trials and inspired by the McCarthy Hearings in which Arthur Miller—the author—was living through. In The Crucible, Miller portrays Abigail Williams as a troubled orphan who is manipulative, cunning, and has a propensity to victimize herself in every situation that does not fall her way.

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

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 a cowardly, manipulative, desperate, stubborn, and dishonorable young girl. Abigail would get every single person she knows in trouble before herself and she rarely tells the truth. When her Puritan uncle Parris the reverend caught Abigail and her friends dancing in the woods naked, she denied it. “No one was naked! You mistake yourself, uncle!” (17). Abigail acted like the victim and made people think her uncle was just seeing things by saying “you mistake yourself, uncle”. This helps to show how cowardly Abigail acted and instead turned the blame on her uncle for incorrectly seeing what was happening in the woods. When Parris leaped out the woods Betty was frightened so bad that she spent the next day in bed acting crazy. In order for Abigail to stay out of trouble the girls started to accuse women in the town of being witches, starting with their servant Tituba. “ I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil”

     Abigail William’s aggressive personality easily persuades the other girls to follow her footsteps, and back up anything and everything she says. This personality also frightens people in the courtroom to question her truthfulness, or her relation with John Proctor. Due to her forceful behavior, the girls support Abigail, and therefore become entangled in her web of lies, sins, and murders.

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

So, after the news that Abigail and the other girls’ outlandish actions begins to spread like a wildfire, the hysteria in the community take over. Abigail only contributes to the hysteria by telling lie after lie just to cover up her wrongdoings. Abigail is dreading telling the truth, which has triggered hysteria to a dangerous level that otherwise, would not have been achieved.