Preview

Abigail Williams Essay Example

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
588 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Abigail Williams Essay Example
Abigail Williams

In "The Crucible" the character I dislike the most is Abigail Williams because she is portrayed to have no morals, very deceitful, and is a liar. Abigail is the kind of person who always wants her way, no matter who she hurts. Abigail Williams is a character of no morals. Abigail only did what she thought was best for her and never thought about others. Abigail went to great distances to get John Proctor to be her husband. She had an affair with John. She even accused John's wife Elizabeth of practicing witchcraft. Abigail shows no sign of morals because she goes to great lengths to get what she wants and nothing else. Abigail is also a character that is very deceitful. I feel that she is deceitful because she convinces everyone into thinking that she does not practice witchcraft but she charges others including Elizabeth Proctor for practicing witchcraft. Abigail was also deceitful in the way that no matter what she did or how the outcome of what she did went; she did not care as long as it helped her in some way. She will deceive anyone to get her way, even if it is the one person she cares for the most. She says, "I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I came near!" (Act 1, ). Through this, she is able to control Proctor to a certain extent.
Abigail deceived many other people into believing lies about witchcraft being practice by many of the women in Salem, so she would not hurt her own name or reputation.
Abigail Williams also lies to get what she wants. A prime example for Abigail's lies would be when she influenced the other girls that were in the forest at the beginning of the play to lie and say that certain things didn't happen. Abigail said to the girls, "Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam's dead sister. And that is all. And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    People are products of their environment and Abigail’s environment had shaped her into an emotional, unstable young girl. Consider this, her parents’ death created her need for attention and love, a need that John Proctor met for her. Consequently, when he betrayed her, she was driven into a temporary insanity. In the beginning she had no intent to involve witchcraft, but instead wanted everything to go back to normal, avoid conflict. But when she saw there was no escape from her actions, she embraced it so she would not be to blame, using it as a scapegoat for her actions that were frowned upon by the strict Puritan society. With this intention, one lie built upon another, each lie told in an attempt to accomplish some hidden agenda, despite the consequences others would face for her mistakes. One lie to explain her behavior, another to kill Goody Proctor, a third to stop Marry Warren from telling the truth, etc. Therefore, when all her lies came crashing down around her and her credibility was questioned, she felt there was no other choice but to face her reality and flee before she was hung herself. Victimized by her own immature choices that she felt were forced upon her, Abigail was driven by her own lack of self-love and desperate need for attention created by her parent’s death and those within the…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Abigail can be seen as a misfit throughout the entire novel. Abigail had tried multiple times to get Elizabeth proctor accused of witchcraft so that she could have John Proctor for herself. She used her uncle's power with the church to get her way. Abigail likes to get people executed because they've done something to her that angers…

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    She truly believed that the women she accused of witchcraft were trying to come after her. A sane and mentally healthy person would recognize when it is time to “drop the act” after over a dozen innocent lives have been taken. Abigail was so mentally driven by what she thought was right, she couldn't see the wrong in it. Abigail was so stubborn about what she wanted, which was John. She was manipulated and “abused” by John, she was willing to sacrifice other people’s lives to save herself from everyone and John’s individual reputation.…

    • 694 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams- the main character- is a wicked, confident girl who lies to get what she wants. Abigail defends her name and her life through evil means. The Crucible is most forcefully portrayed through Abigail Williams. Evil is shown through Abigail in many ways. Abigail utilizes three main ways to complete her evil desires. Abigail shows her evil through harlotry, lunacy, and accusations. Abigail is a harlot, and from such harlotry stemmed the evils of The Crucible. Her relationship with John Proctor and her animosity towards Elizabeth Proctor all stem from her evil ways of lechery. Abigail loved John, but John only had lust for her because of strains in his marriage. This lust became evident.…

    • 583 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    She would call witchcraft on innocent people for example John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail fancied John Proctor and was furious when John ended the affair to go back faithfully to his wife Elizabeth. Abigail accused Elizabeth of witchcraft and as a result of of Abigail’s accusation It caused John’s death. Another major reason i believe she is the villain is when she saw her town falling to pieces she stood there and filled with pride. Abigail enjoyed being able to have the power of putting a label on someone and cloud everyone's judgment. Once one of her followers backed down from…

    • 146 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    She is so selfish she yells at people, threatens to beat people up, and wishes death upon them if she doesn’t get her way. In the beginning of the play all the girls should have told everyone what really happened when they were dancing in the forest. If that had happened none of the girls would have started to accuse any one of witchcraft. But since Abigail is so selfish she ruins an entire town by threatening people her friends so her reputation and her name do not get ruined. Abigail tells all of her friends “If anyone spreads the word about us doing witchcraft, I will come to your house and kill you.” I would not want that kind of friend if she threatens to kill me. Also Betty went into a coma so Abigail was trying to wake her up. Abby started threatening Betty that she would beat her up if she didn’t wake up. All of sudden Betty gets up and screams out a window that Abby drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor! She also threatens Marry Warren to not tell anyone that she was in the forest with him or her. I can see why Abigail is threatening everybody because she wants to save her name and her reputation. But everything she does it is in a very selfish…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 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

    In Act II, Abigail had manipulated the town, court and her friends over the desire to get Goody Proctor hanged and take her place.The text states “Abigail brings the other girls into court and where she walks the crowd will part like the sea for Israel(pg 488). This shows that Abigail had lied to…

    • 548 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
  • Good Essays

    Abigail In The Crucible

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Deceitfulness and lies is constant throughout the story, and Abigail is the master behind all of it. She is intimidating and uses this to manipulate everyone, including her friends; she is the puppeteer of the show doing as she pleases. As the quote from page 20 where Abigail is speaking to the girls of the town of Salem demonstrates…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Winona Ryder’s statement about Abigail Williams’ character is very controversial. I believe, unlike Ryder, that Abigail was indeed a villain. Much like her friends, Abigail loved being the “talk of the town.” Once Abigail realized she was receiving attention from the town, she found ways to keep it by accusing people of witchcraft. In Act 1, Abigail says, “...I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!” This proves that Abigail made many false accusations against other townspeople to keep the attention on herself. On the other hand, some might believe that Abigail is innocent. People claim that Abigail and her friends are doing it for fun and games at first, but not long after,…

    • 176 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout The Crucible, we see many instances where Abigail’s actions make her seem evil or immoral. Early on in the drama we come to find that Abigail was involved in witchcraft:…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “Watching a compulsive liar scramble to damage control when the truth and secrets unfold, knowing that they’re hurting others, makes them inconceivably shameful.” This quote is a good definition to describe Abigail Williams morals and how she lives as a person. Abigail Williams is a character from the famous book, The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Malicious, psychotic, and manipulative are a couple of the many words that can describe Abigail Williams to more than an extent. She has no actual morals, she just thinks about herself, what she wants, and what she can say or do that will benefit her. Abigail lies, manipulates, and due to her selfish ways, her false testimonies, sent over twenty people to death, jail, because of her love for john…

    • 126 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Abigail posses an immoral persona and many of her actions are unethical. She wants one thing and one thing only, John Proctor, a married man. She participates in infidelity and constructs a web of lies. She knows that it is a sin to have sex with a married man but continues to proclaim her love for him, “I will not, i cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is you love me yet!” (The Crucible, Act 1). In connection with the infidelity she lies on Elizabeth, Proctor’s wife, and says her spirit stabbed her when in reality she stabbed herself. Similar to her lack of emotions it proves how immoral, unethical, and selfish she really is.…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays