Yeah
Hali Hensley
English 11
Mrs. Leach
11 December 2012
The Crucible How can one girl cause so much chaos, in such little time? Her name is Abigail Williams and she has met those standards. Abigail is a vengeful, selfish, manipulative, and a magnificent liar.
She has the way of spreading controversy, and the art of trust and questioning, which all makes her one of the best antagonists. In Act 1, when she’s on the brink of getting caught for practicing witchcraft, she successfully pins the entire responsibility on Tituba, and a lot of other middle classed villagers. Abigail herself convinced Tituba to cast such spells, and even involve herself with the witchcraft. Her anger and vengeance for John Proctor also has a lot to do with her shamming. Her brief affair with the married man, made her resent his wife, Elizabeth, and even convinced Tituba to put a curse on her, in hopes to finally win over John. That’s where she becomes manipulative. In all the irony of the story, she is the one who encouraged witchcraft, and placed the blame on everyone else. In Act two when she frames Elizabeth Proctor for witchcraft, things become more apparent and seemingly mysterious. While still convinced John Proctor is in love with her, she goes to no extent to get what she wants. She exclaims: “You loved me John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!” Rather than seeing herself as an awkward seventeen year-old who took advantage of a man's loneliness and insecurity during his wife's illness,
Abigail portrays herself as Proctor's true love and his ideal wife. She believes she has only to get rid of Elizabeth so that she and John can marry and fulfill her fantasy. Abigail's willingness to discard Puritan social restrictions sets her apart from the other characters, and also leads to her downfall. She continues to threaten the young girls, whom she danced with in the forest, to keep their mouths shut, in fear of
English 11
Mrs. Leach
11 December 2012
The Crucible How can one girl cause so much chaos, in such little time? Her name is Abigail Williams and she has met those standards. Abigail is a vengeful, selfish, manipulative, and a magnificent liar.
She has the way of spreading controversy, and the art of trust and questioning, which all makes her one of the best antagonists. In Act 1, when she’s on the brink of getting caught for practicing witchcraft, she successfully pins the entire responsibility on Tituba, and a lot of other middle classed villagers. Abigail herself convinced Tituba to cast such spells, and even involve herself with the witchcraft. Her anger and vengeance for John Proctor also has a lot to do with her shamming. Her brief affair with the married man, made her resent his wife, Elizabeth, and even convinced Tituba to put a curse on her, in hopes to finally win over John. That’s where she becomes manipulative. In all the irony of the story, she is the one who encouraged witchcraft, and placed the blame on everyone else. In Act two when she frames Elizabeth Proctor for witchcraft, things become more apparent and seemingly mysterious. While still convinced John Proctor is in love with her, she goes to no extent to get what she wants. She exclaims: “You loved me John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!” Rather than seeing herself as an awkward seventeen year-old who took advantage of a man's loneliness and insecurity during his wife's illness,
Abigail portrays herself as Proctor's true love and his ideal wife. She believes she has only to get rid of Elizabeth so that she and John can marry and fulfill her fantasy. Abigail's willingness to discard Puritan social restrictions sets her apart from the other characters, and also leads to her downfall. She continues to threaten the young girls, whom she danced with in the forest, to keep their mouths shut, in fear of