In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, one of the main characters Abigail Williams is a big part of what caused the Salem witch trials in Salem Massachusetts in 1692. Abigail is a very mean, vindictive and controlling girl, who always tries to get her way no matter who might be hurt by her along the way.
Throughout the play we can see her lies, accusations and just being plain mean and vindictive causes a lot of pain and suffering for many people, but she never seemed to care about anyone other than John Proctor, which him and her had an affair seven months before the play started. John and Elizabeth Proctor had employed Abigail, and then Elizabeth found out about it, she fired Abigail and threw her out of the Proctor home. Even after John told Abigail that he would never have anything to do with her again, "Abby, you'll put it out of mind. I'll not be comin' for you more"(21). She tried to change his mind and rekindle the romance. John restates they are done. "Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I'll ever reach for you again. Wipe it out of mind"(22). Abigail says she loves John and that he was in love with her, before the affair ended. “I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I come near! Or did I dream that? It's she who put me out, you cannot pretend it were you. I saw your face when she put me out, and you loved me then and you do now"(21)! While Abigail and some other girls of the village were dancing in the woods and trying to conjure the boys they all liked, she tried to kill Elizabeth Proctor with a curse. In her eyes if Elizabeth were dead and gone then John would be with her. A little later in the play we will see her accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft. She stabbed herself with a needle and then told Reverend Parris (her uncle) that Elizabeth Proctor's spirit had done it. Abigail watched Mary Waren make a poppet in court that day and seen her stick a