Throughout The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a series on witch trials occur that creates mass hysteria in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. Abigail Williams, one of the main characters, fabricates the lies that begin the witch hunt in her attempt to divert everyone's attention towards her including the attention of John Proctor. In the play, Proctor has an affair with young Abigail while his wife goes through postpartum depression causing Abigail to fall in love with him but John returns to his wife Elizabeth. While Elizabeth Proctor barely forgives him, John does all he can to make it up to her. Unfortunately, the biggest consequence of the affair is not the loss of security, but when Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft. Elizabeth and Abigail have very conflicting characters, but they also compare in many ways and contribute to the symbolism of the play over all.…
The setting of Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, conveys a powerful structure of jealousy to the reader’s understanding that Abigail Williams’ decision in concealing her affair with John Proctor will prevent charges of witchcraft on John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth Proctor. In addition, Abigail William is marked as the lowest in the social pyramid in Salem. Witchcraft gave her instant recognition within Salem which fed her power from within, which led to the circulation of innocent people being indicted with false accusations.…
The Crucible is a play of the Salem witchcraft trials that took place in Salem Massachusetts. The villagers suspect witchcraft after finding out about a girl who is not responding to anything, she seems to be ill. Abigail Williams had an affair with John Proctor. Abigail soon wishes Elizabeth Proctor were dead. Abigail turns on the rest of the village to cover up her lies. To better understand the similarities and differences of Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor in the play, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller. One must think of the elements of love, personalities of persons, and the maturity of females as displayed by the characters.…
Truly evil people do not just hurt others. They take pride in the pain they cause and try to blame the victim. In The Crucible play and book, Abigail is an unquestionably evil girl who ruined numerous people's lives for her own selfish reasons and enjoyment. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is set in Puritan New England town of Salem, Massachusetts in the late 1600s. The play centers around a group of young girls who were caught dancing in the woods. To avoid punishment, the girls proceed to accuse other citizens of practicing witchcraft. Abigail Williams is an awfully vindictive girl.…
The character of Abigail is often accused of being one-dimensional. She doesn't express one shred of remorse the entire time, making her seem almost inhumanly diabolical. However, even though Abigail's actions are ruthless, they are in some ways understandable.…
The Crucible by Arthur Miller has plenty of emotions that are felt and cause many events in this story of anguish. The Crucible is set in a small puritan village in Massachusetts in 1692. It begins with a group a girls that get caught dancing in the forest, they try to hide what they were doing and they cause the Salem Witch Trials. If there is someone that fills out the model for and evil antagonist in this play it would definitely be the leader of the dancing girls, Abigail Williams. Abigail is 17 years old and on the outside appears sweet and innocent she willingly controls Salem with her manipulative personality. Abigail’s empowering vigilance, desperation, and remorsefulness is the cause for almost every event in the crucible.…
In Salem, Massachusetts in the year of 1692 the Salem witch trials ruined everybody’s lives and ignited all because of Abigail Williams. In the play the “Crucible” which is also known as a severe test, the town of Salem was considered a Crucible. The town was put through hard and controversial times. Abigail’s attachment to John Proctor makes her try to get rid of his wife Elizabeth throughout the entire play. Abigail also even threatens and lies multiple times to people to get what she wants. Abigail is a mean and selfish person that always wants her way no matter who she hurts.…
Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953. He wrote it because he wanted to get his message across. In the 1950’s Arthur Miller was summoned by the House of Committee on un-american activities. He was accused of being a communist. Miller was trying to get his message that the society has turned into a hypocritical society. During the 1950’s the U.S senator John McCarthy was accusing everyone who would be a threat as a communist. Since Arthur Miller was a political advocate who was against the inequalities of race in America and his vocal support of labor and the unions made him a target to John McCarthy. His basic need to respond to a phenomenon which, with only small exaggeration, one could say paralysed a whole generation and in short time dried up the habits of trust and toleration in public discourse. Arthur Miller admitted that The…
We can’t help but to tell a lie here and there. We, as a race, have the tendency to unknowingly tell a tale to save ourselves, others or their feelings. In this particular situation, Abigail Williams was only thinking for herself to avoid the rope.…
She was then taken in by Reverend Parris, her uncle, and was able to find employment in the Proctor household, which led to the development of the conflict in The Crucible. Abigail was sent away from the Proctor household after Elizabeth found out about the lecherous acts between Abigail and John Proctor. The build up of experiences, from the murder of her parents up until the first act probably led her to the current disposition she is in during the play. She easily prioritizes her own desires at the expense of others, even going to the extent of cursing Elizabeth Proctor during prior to the first act and, later on, blaming Elizabeth Proctor for practicing witchcraft. Abigail Williams does not seem to be bound by moral standards, as seen in her continuing active participation in the witch hunt and conviction of a number of Salem's citizens. Her knack for mischief develops further towards the third act, when Mary Warren came forward with the claim that she had lied about being afflicted by supernatural forces. This statement could have displaced the previous accusations that Abigail and her friends had given in the past. Abigail, recognizing the possibility of being imprisoned for deceiving the court, started acting as if Mary Warren had cast her spirit on Abigail and her friends. Mischief turned into vengeance at this point, when the girls were too deep into their lie that self-preservation and hatred towards those endangering that self-preservation fueled their…
Abigail Williams is a deranged character throughout the play. Towards the end she gets even worse. It all starts out because she’s in love with John Proctor from whom she had an affair with. She does everything she does to try to get John to be with her. One night when Tituba and the other girls went out in the woods to dance around a fire Abby brought a chicken. She drank the chicken’s blood and sacrificed it into the fire in hope that Elizabeth proctor would die. When Betty wouldn’t wake up from her sleep while John came to visit her, so then Abby tried to make her move with him. John stated that he didn’t want her no more towards Abby. Once the town starts to talk of witchcraft Abby blames Tituba for the whole thing. She explains that Tituba made all the girls go out into the woods and dance. Abby will do anything to keep herself out of the blame.…
The desire of acceptance burns inside of some of those whom feel as if they live in the dark, but how far will that push somebody to get what they want? Feeling left out or lonely is one of the worst feelings that a person can experience which is why many people have a fire burning inside of them that makes them crave acceptance. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible one of the key characters suffers from this desire to feel needed. Abigail Williams is a young girl of Salem who desires the attention of a man named John Proctor. In the beginning of Act II the reader finds out that John Proctor has already committed adultery with Abigail, which is what has caused Abigail to desire his attention even more than ever before.…
Abigail Williams is a seventeen year old orphan, who cares more about herself than others and she values John Proctor. All throughout this book Abigail was doing multiple selfish things, trying to avoid herself getting into trouble. She lied about her and a group of girls practicing witchcraft in the forest. She also never told that she drunk blood in order to kill Elizabeth Proctor. John Proctor's wife, Elizabeth Proctor, said “I think she see another meaning in that blush.” Elizabeth knows that Abigail has something more like a special feeling about John…
The accusation of more than 200 people was mainly caused by a young girl. Abigail Williams was responsible for the witchcraft hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts, 1962. She would be responsible for the imprisonment and execution of innocent people. She did various things that were wrong and affected the lives of so many people. She not only lied on so many persons but she also threatened people to go along with her play.…
One of the main characters of the play The Crucible, Abigail Williams, is the most spiteful and least complex character throughout the entire play. She is the villain of the play, even more than Parris or Danforth. She is on the lower end of the social hierarchy; the only people below her were slaves like Tituba. Abigail Williams possess wicked character traits that give her a negative perception. She is a jezebel figure who lacks feelings, an immoral character who lacks ethics and a manipulative person who lacks a conscience.…