Preview

Manipulation in the Crucible

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
634 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Manipulation in the Crucible
Abigail’s Manipulation Manipulation is the control someone tries to establish over certain situations in a devious way. Abigail Williams uses various methods of manipulation throughout The Crucible. She manipulated anybody that was involved with her. Her manipulation tactics are used for personal gain and to try to get rid of John Proctor’s wife. She uses the Salem Witch Trials to her advantage and accuses Elizabeth Proctor of witchery. Abigail’s manipulative ways prove to be beneficial to her, despite all of the damage she causes for the entire town.
Abigail’s manipulative ways first show when her uncle (Reverend Parris) questions her about wrongdoings. Parris claims to have seen Abigail and the other towns girls dancing in the woods and seeing clothing on the floor. He strongly believes that the girls were trafficking with spirits as they danced in the forest. Abigail admits to the dancing and claims that Betty, Parris’s daughter, fainted when he appeared. Abigail uses her so-called innocence to prove to her uncle that they were only playing around. Parris has high doubts, but chooses to believe her because she tells him multiple stories to back her own. Abigail also has a strong grasp over the group of girls. She uses multiple threats to frighten the group into following everything she does. Abigail beats Betty, her own cousin, when she begins speaking about Abigail drinking a charm to kill Mrs. Proctor. Betty’s beating was an example to the group that showed Abigail meant every threat she threw out. Abigail Williams was a ruthless teenager that would do anything to get her way.
Abigail is driven by lust when she attempts to seduce John Proctor. Williams and Proctor had a brief affair when Abigail was a servant in the Proctor home. Abigail believes Proctor came to see her instead of seeing the foolery surrounding Abby’s uncle. She brings up the situation when Proctor clutched her back and said that Elizabeth, Proctor’s wife, was the reason she was kicked

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The Crucible Summary

    • 1914 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Your dream school is right around the corner. Search to find colleges that might be a match for you.…

    • 1914 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The animosity shared between the Proctor family and Abigail williams, a typical man vs man conflict, develops the significance of The Crucible through the influence that Abigail's actions have on the downfall of her relationship with the Proctors. Most notably, Abigail’s affair with John Proctor, her boss of the time, sparks a major change that shapes the rest of the play. Suspicions from Elizabeth about this affair result in Abigail's termination as the Proctor servant. Resentful of Elizabeth, Abigail acts on her jealousy, causing more damage to her relationship with the Proctors. Eventually, the judge's question Elizabeth’s motive for firing Abigail Williams, to which Elizabeth replies, “‘...I thought I saw my husband somewhat turning from…

    • 356 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    sending their spirits on them. The even go to the extent to start shivering, passing out, and…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the Proctor household, there is so much tension between Elizabeth Proctor, Proctor’s wife, and John Proctor. Proctor has committed adultery with a teenage servant, Abigail Williams. Although Abigail has been gone for 7 months, Elizabeth still cannot trust Proctor. Proctor is constantly trying to please his wife, knowing full well Elizabeth is still upset. Proctor finally had…

    • 381 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play, Abigail is only seventeen when the affair occurs. Being a young and naive girl, she mistakes the actions for love and expects John to leave his wife. When he rejects her, she takes matters into her own hands and tried to get rid of Elizabeth Proctor by using Tituba’s magic. When that fails, she blames Elizabeth and others in the town for using witchcraft. This only backfires because John becomes desperate to save his wife. Also, Abigail takes advantage of her friends and does not use witchcraft but still manages to control them. They all support and testify to Abigail’s claim. The play revolves around Abigail doing anything for his attention including being responsible for the death of many. Even though she is young, she proves she is smart enough to manipulate and bend a whole town at her will, control her friends and betray her only family all in the name of her love for John Proctor. Overall, Abigail portrays the same perseverance Elizabeth does for the one they love and are strong minded women refuse to…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Although John Proctor is motivation, he feels bashful for cheating on his wife by having an affair with Abigail Williams. However, Abigail is determined that John is going to leave his wife to be with her. Abigail had told him that he is a strong man with a sickly wife; “You’ll speak nothin’ of Elizabeth.” John protects his wife because he loves her not Abigail. At this point he feels guilty because of what he did. Abigail says that Elizabeth is blackening her name, in the village. John knows that his…

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In act one Abigail Williams was most responsible for the riotous situation in Salem. “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart”(pg 1099). Abigail is saying that John gave her hope and love. John Proctor had an affair on his wife Abigail causing her to fall in love with him. Her desire to have John for herself was a reason why all the chaos happened. Abigail would do anything to have John to herself even accuse Elizabeth, who is John’s wife,…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    John Proctor Sacrifice

    • 1868 Words
    • 8 Pages

    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…

    • 1868 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Abigail Williams, a teenage girl who started the whole scare about witches in Salem, blamed everyone else for her witchcraft practices and ultimately caused many of her village members to be wrongly executed. She took advantage of the judges trust to frame people for her actions. Abigail Williams was once caught performing a ritual dance in the forest, and to save herself she blamed her so called friends. Abigail began doing witchcraft to fight for John Proctor's love, and she wanted to get rid of Elizabeth who was Proctor’s wife. “You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!”(The Crucible, Act One 13). Abigail is known for being mischievous, and selfish. She was definitely not possessed,…

    • 259 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    She holds the flaws of jealousy, spitefulness and mendacity. Abigail Williams is intensely jealous of Elizabeth Proctor because she is in love with her husband John Proctor. Abigail would stay up every night just to wait and see if John Proctor would be coming home to her. She also has a lot of anger and hate built up against Elizabeth that she wants to get rid of. By trying to do this she says some pretty harsh words about Elizabeth to her husband in hopes that he would come back to her in the long run. When it came to the situation of dancing in the woods, Abigail was not truthful in the first place but later on then admitted what had really happened. It could be inferred that Abigail played a big role in some of the events that happened in Salem, Massachusetts in…

    • 954 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    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…

    • 471 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Abigail Williams - 1

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Miller portrayed Abigail’s character as influential, "…strikingly beautiful girl...” (8) yet highly malicious with an "…endless capacity for dissembling…" (8) which is specified in Act 1. This represents and gives the reader an indication instantly, that Abigail can manipulate people using her looks in such a way that they crumble. As the play advances this is brought to action, especially with various members of the Salem community like John Proctor and Judge Danforth. She seduces John proctor with her looks to fulfill her loss of a man figure in her life. Furthermore, she utilizes her attractive looks to take control over the court. Abigail’s manipulation of the girls misleads the court by shifting the blame away from her and towards Mary Warren and Elizabeth. Thus, Abigail’s false pretence shows that she holds enough authority to make others follow her in her deceit, even if it is reflected as a sin.…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    She was a two-faced person who did not care about the outcome of her actions, only if it involved herself. Also known as Reverend Parris' niece, Abigail served as the Proctors' servant before Elizabeth fired her for having an affair with John. Abigail and John Proctor had been lovers but that soon ended. "John, I am waiting for you every night" (Page 176). Abigail's jealousy towards Elizabeth proctor caused her to resort to blackmail. She couldn't take the fact that John no longer loved her the way he did, and that he wanted to pretend that nothing ever happen. "Give me a word John, a soft word" (Page 176). Abigail not only went against Elizabeth, but against anyone she could think of that she did not care for. As the thought's and ideas of witchcraft and devil worship spread through Salem, and words of other with-hunts filled newspaper, Abigail had found an easier way to get rid of her rivals without hurting her name even more. By accusing them or convincing others to accuse, Abigail was able to place many innocent people on trial for…

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Abigail williams is accused of whoring and from this branched the wickedness of The Crucible. Her love with John Proctor and bitterness with Goody Proctor all branches from her evil ways of lustfulness. She loved John, but he only had sexual desire for her because of tension in his marriage. this desire became obvious when John…

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays