In the play The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, the character Abigail Williams is an orphan who likes to keep her private life a secret to where no one knows what she is doing. Abigail is the type of character that likes to lie about the things that she does, and blames things on others to make sure she is not being suspected of any wrong doings. She makes sure that if people are suspecting her in any type of way then she has an excuse to prove them wrong that she is the innocent one. Abigail Williams is lying throughout the whole play. Her motivation to keep her reputation throughout the play is to lie, or cover up the sins and wrongdoings that she does. If Abigail’s point does not get across, or if someone is in her way, she threatens them so that she knows nobody find out what she is doing in her private time. The quote “ let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and i will come to you and i will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you” (Miller 1268) …show more content…
As you know already Abigail wants to keep her private life a secret, and lies at no cost to keep it that way. Abigail does accuse people for her own wrongdoings throughout the play just to make sure she is not suspected of anything wrong with the beliefs in Salem. The evidence when Abigail is saying “Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And that’s all” (1268) proves the fact that Abigail harms people, and accuses them without thinking twice about it. Abigail’s choices to lie, and cover up does involve and affect the majority of the other characters in the play. She affects the characters when she involves them in her lies to hide herself from the wrong things she is committing. “ I say shut it Mary Warren” (1269) this quote is proving that Abigail Williams is a mean person to the girls and guys that get into her
In the book “The Crucible” By Arthur Miller, some characters would rather lie to save their reputation than tell the truth. If Abigail Williams one of the main characters would have acted out a lot of people would be saved. John Procter committed adultery. Parris is a reverend of the church. All these characters have reputations which they try to save.
In The Crucible written by Arthur Miller we are introduced to one of the main characters Abigail Williams. Abigail is your typical mean girl, she won't stop she gets her way, she will take down anyone who stands in her way and does not care if she hurts them in the process. Throughout the book we see Abigail accuse and lie to many people which causes drama and suffering in Salem. She seemed not to care about anyones feelings except John Proctor. Abigail was having affair with John when she was working for him until Elizabeth, Johns wife, found out and fired her.
She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a-”(151) which is a great example on how Abigail was vindictive and would stretch the truth and everyone would believe everything she says; everyone in that time was very gullible even though they knew deep down that Elizabeth Proctor was innocent. Abigail planned on ruining Elizabeth’s
Abigail has been lying to conceal her affair and to prevent charges of witchcraft. One of her biggest lies was in the court on page 108 when she said, “ I have been hurt, Mr. Danforth; I have seen my blood runnin’ out! I have been near to being murdered every day because I did my duty pointing out the Devil’s people - and this is my reward?” She also tries to make herself look good by confessing that she is a witch then throwing out names of people that have not confessed yet. The quote that backs this statement up on page 48 is, “I danced for the Devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand.
Abigail, however, handles the situation a bit differently, not fearing punishment but more her reputation. As she is continually questioned on her doings in the woods, she begins to worry and reassures everyone that “[she] never sold [herself]! [She is] a good girl! [She is] a proper girl” and that “[Tituba] made [her] do it”(40). Clearly, Abigail is very proud of her reputation in Salem and fears the possibility of ruining it.
Abigail Williams’ Influence Is it okay for a person to lie and hurt other people just to keep him or herself safe? In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, Abigail Williams lies, a lot, to keep herself safe. Throughout the story, many people are accused of witchcraft. When a person is accused of witchcraft, it is very easy for them to get out of the accusation if they lie. The lies that are told shifts the belief of who knows witchcraft, and Abigail Williams uses those lies to gain influence over other people.
In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Miller demonstrated that it was Abigail William’s flaws: lust, vengeance, and jealously that led her to be responsible the most for the tragedy of the witch hunts in Salem. Abigail Williams started the entire suspicion of there being active member of witchcraft throughout Salem, Massachusetts. She did this for her own benefits and used trickery to get what she wanted. Abigail was corrupt and only cared for her own desires. There are many reasons that these flaws are crucial to the outcome of the play.
Abigail defies all judgements against innocence as she is the driven evil force in The Crucible. Arthur Miller shows Abigail Williams to instinctively defend herself, as it is the humane reaction when accused of wrongdoing. It is common to tell a lie but, the intention of sabotage is a different story. Abigail had many tricks up her sleeve to manipulate the court. Her purpose to convince the town of her innocence was one of many.
In the first Act, Abigail manipulates the girls into helping her lie about the forest “incident” in the beginning of the play. "Now look you, all of you we danced and Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam 's dead sisters, and that is all. Mark this let either of you breathe a word and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you." (Miller I, 20). In this quote, Abigail becomes aware of what she did in the forest along with the girl and threatens them to keep silence if they want to keep their lives.
Abigail Williams is not your typical teenage girl. She is a girl that will drink blood to kill someone, accuse people of witchcraft, and have a affair. By looking at The Crucible, one can see that Abigail Williams develops the theme of reputation, which is important because people who fear losing their reputation spread hysteria. Protecting her reputation motivates Abigail Williams to accuse others of being a witch.
Abigail Williams was the goody two shoes that kept her reputation high, until she turned on many with a single lie. In The Crucible By Arthur Miller, is set in the year of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts where a witch outbreak has jailed many of the women from a fault of one girl named Abigail. It causes havoc in Salem that will lead to death in the village. Abigail has shown many transformations and showed that she is very dynamic from her emotions, to her actions, and to her experiences throughout the story of The Crucible. Abigail has shown that she has grown mentally and emotionally.
Reputation is the beliefs or opinions that are generally held about someone or something. Reputation can directly correlate with pride, which is a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one 's own achievements. Reputations are very important to the characters in The Crucible and if they want to preserve their reputation, through pride, they do whatever is necessary to keep it. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the characters John Proctor, Abigail Williams, and Judge Danforth all show dramatic actions to preserve their reputations, each of these characters either hurt themselves or others by being prideful and dishonest for the sake of their good name. There are several ways that Abigail Williams shows her objective of preserving her reputation in the book.
In the play Abigail only cares about herself and what she can do to protect herself. When the girls talk in Betty’s room and Mary shows weakness and wants to tell everyone about what they did in the forest, Abigail gets really angry. She threatens the girls and is not afraid to show what she is willing to do. “Now look you. All of you.
Nicole Schaefer Mr. Becker American Literature October 29, 2014 Two Women for Two Different Worlds In the novel the crucible, Elizabeth, wife of John Proctor, and Abigail Williams, mistress of John Proctor are two main roles. Elizabeth, a woman who is loyal and true, or manipulative and ruthless liar, Abigail. She pretends to see spirits and commands the other girls to pretend as well.
One common question about The Crucible is how Abigail Williams is the most evil force in the play. It is shocking when a girl talks back to authority out of disagreement, but few go as far as Abigail Williams. While she may only be 11 years old, her manipulative and vengeful personality allows her fool her Uncle and later turns a whole town against each other. She is really a master of manipulation and trickery, and she gets herself into affairs without punishment and has threaten all who oppose here. Abigail really is the devil in human form.