Who Is Abigail's Motivation In The Crucible

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.

For example, Abigail displays her mean side when she says, “You bought me from my bed to speak of her?” By her, Abigail was referring to John Proctor’s wife who throughout The Crucible had tried to get rid to get John Proctor, and although she did get rid of her, she didn’t fully succeed, Proctor was also hung.

Despite Abigail pretending she’s angry at Elizabeth Proctor for tarnishing her reputation in the town. She is more envious of Elizabeth and her marriage to John Proctor. Here she resorts to paltry name-calling in order to cast suspicion in John’s

This suspicion creates tension between Elizabeth and her husband. The tension between the Proctor’s is exactly what Abigail wants to occur. She thinks that this means that John will come back to her when in reality Elizabeth just hasn’t fully forgiven him. This tension all started with Abigail causing problems within the Proctor’s marriage. She may not still be with John Proctor however, the idea of her and John together lights a spark of tension and difficulty within the Proctor’s marriage.

Abigails motives is to be with john proctor and to protect her name. In the beginning she drank chickens blood to cruse elizabeth proctor when her parris found out. Abigail is a brilliant manipulator and a very good liar we see that in effect when she is in court and has to come up with a expectation of what she did in the woods. Abigail also as a young women in salem wants power and now that the most of the town would believe in what she says she keeps on going with this lie because of her thirst for power and she can use this newfound authority to get john proctor and remove elizabeth out of the picture

The Crucible is a play is referred to the Samel Witch trials that takes place in Massachusetts in 1962. Abigail Williams is the leader of a group of girls who are a part of the Samel witch trials. Abigail is Betty Parris cousin and the niece of Reverend Parris. She never went down without a fight. Abigail is selfish and only cares about her own goals. Throughout the whole pay she shows her greedy, dishonesty, manipulative character.

Abigail would do anything to protect herself she intensively lies so she would not get in trouble and also she falsely accuses other people to save herself. Abigail saw the Proctor’s servant Marry Warren making the poppet and mart put a needle into the doll and Abigail used that as an accusation for her and that’s how she claimed that Elizabeth soul did it so she lied and falsely accused her. John Proctor force Marry Warren to tell the truth for the lies Abigail and she did. Abigail then began to accuse Mary of her being a witch. “But God made my face; you cannot want to tear my face. Envy is a deadly sin, Mary”(115). Abigail wanted protect herself she feared for her life even when John Proctor was sentenced to be hung for being accused of doing witchcraft. Even though Abigail loved John she would not sacrifice her own life for John. Abigail has Tituba cast a spell on Elizabeth in order to avoid being caught she lies about seeing all these people with the devil. She also lies in court by pretending to see thing things that aren’t even there in hope to get others “Why do you come, yellow bird”(114). She doesn’t even see any bird. No one even sees the bird except her. Proctor knows she is lying and she is to protect herself. Abigail shows tremendous mendacity throughout the

She, along with a couple other girls, met with Reverend Parris’s slave, Tituba, and practiced witchcraft. During the ritual, she casts a spell on John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, as a means to damage their relationship. In doing so, she would be able to be with John Proctor permanently. When Parris finds the girls in the woods, Abigail lies about the ritual so her affair would remain a secret. Moreover, she feared that her reputation within the town would be ruined.

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

The Crucible was based on a real event that had happened in 1692. It was the talk of witchcraft and stories that were made up which caused people to become scared of witchcraft. These stories and accusations were the beginning of the Salem Witch trials. Many innocent people died during these trials due to one girl who was only chasing affection from one man. Her name is Abigail Williams. Abigail Williams was the reason of all the innocent deaths and horrible accusations that people made. At that time there were many people that you can put the blame on. However, Abigail Williams would be the root of all problems. She was the most responsible. Towards the end of the book, Abigail realizes that everything was going out of control and could not keep everything in check anymore and decides to run away. Abigail had the power to stop everything at certain points in the story. If Abigail had gotten over her fantasy, or rather her obsession, of being with John Proctor maybe things would’ve happened differently.

Abigail becomes so focused on crushing on John Proctor it kills him and nineteen others. This occurs because of her ignorance to be mature and accept reality. Abigail loves John Proctor and she will do anything in her power to acquire him. John Proctor cheats on his wife with Abigail, consequently giving Abigail a foothold on him. She takes advantage of that, and goes mad attempting to receive his attention. “She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a-”(Miller 23-24). In attempt to win back John Proctor, she makes lies up about Elizabeth, Proctor’s wife. Abigail lets her anger out on the girls, supposedly her friends, in Salem. She is controlling the girls because they fear her. Abigail takes this

Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a dramatization of the happenings during the Salem Witch Trials as an allegory of the McCarthyism era. The characters in the play go through the same sort of misfortune and unfair judgements as the people being accused of communism during the McCarthyism era. One of the characters, Abigail Williams, is a manipulative, deceitful antagonist who was caught in hysteria in the town. She has an affair with John Proctor, and it puts strain on Proctor and his wife, Elizabeth’s, relationship. She tries to conjure a way to get rid of Elizabeth so she can be by Proctor’s side. Abigail and a few other girls are caught dancing in the woods, and witchcraft is spread

Abigail is an abrupt controlling liar who is seeking revenge on many people in Salem, she doesn’t strain if she hurts anyone in her path to succeed.

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

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.