Recommended: Abigail Archer on Elizabeth I
Charles W. Akers was a history professor at Oakland University for many many years. He received his undergraduate degree from Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Massachusetts and master's and doctorate degrees from Boston University. Akers is an award winning author that wrote two other books and co-authored another. Akers was a member of the Colonial Society, the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and he was an Associate of Early American History and Culture. Abigail Adams: An American Woman was nominated for a Pulitzer prize and won the Colonial Dames of American Annual Book Award.
In 1917, a woman named Elizabeth Huntley decapitated her own daughter. When her case was brought to trial, doctors and professionals wrote it off as depression. Friends and family described that Huntley was a joyful woman until the air raids happened in London. She had nervous breakdowns during the air raids and even more so when her children screamed and cried. Before her doctor got her out of London and away from her children, she had already murdered her child.
The Catholics and the Anglicans always have had tension, and when Queen Elizabeth I came to power, she started to execute Roman Catholics. The Church of England became official once more after Queen Mary I’s decision as a Catholic. However, Queen Elizabeth I’s approach was a moderate access to the Anglican belief (Source 7). This approach did not satisfy the Puritans and later caused them to rebel against the Queen. Under Queen Elizabeth I’s rule, the Anglicans had more freedom than before and were not executed for their beliefs.
Within Act 2, the most momentous event in my eyes was the warrant sent out for Elizabeth Proctors arrest. The element that surprised me the most was not the fact Elizabeth was arrested. But the fact that girls like Abigail are so afraid to get in trouble that they will do almost anything, including blaming it on other people like Elizabeth Proctor to avoid the truth. Because of the accusations they have given out, the town has put these girls on a pedestal where they have achieved an unnecessary and strange amount of authority over women in the Salem community. The following quote from Elizabeth on page fifty-five shows her awareness of Abigail and the other girls influence in the court, “The town’s gone wild, I think.
Mary Warren liked the amount of power she held in the court. She even argues with Elizabeth and says she had a reason to not show up to work since she considered herself a vital judge of the court. On one hand, Mary Warren knows it was the right action to do; help Elizabeth because she contributed to Elizabeth’s arrest. On the other hand, she knows she will lose Abigail's alliance if she testifies against her, and she does not want to lose the power that she was given through being associated with Abigail. Abigail was by far Mary Warren’s most significant influence.
Abigail Adams was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts in 1744. She had a brother and two sisters. John Adams was the husband of Abigail, he was the second president of the United States . John Quincy Adams was Abigail Adams son who after became the sixth president of the United States. Adams did not attend school, which was common for girls at the time.
Mary is part of the courts and seems to use this to manipulate her employer, Mr. Proctor. Her first act of defiance was when she told him that he could not order her to bed, give her whippings, or stop her from going to court proceedings (Miller, pg. 59). It is not certain if she knew the intent of Abigail to use the poppet to condemn Elizabeth Proctor. However, when she asked by Mr. Proctor to tell the truth about the poppet, she adamantly says that she cannot because she fears the girls will turn on her. When she does have a change of heart and is put in front of the courts, she shows her weak side and you can see her confidence wane.
“Inside each of us there is the seed of both good and evil. It’s a constant struggle as to which one will win. And on cannot exist without the other”. (Eric Burdon) In Miller’s play The Crucible Abigail and Elizabeth both had to choose between good and evil.
Courage can be found where it is least expected. In her book, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Mildred Taylor uses Cassie as an example courage. Courage is the ability to do something, even though you are frightened of doing it, which Cassie shows a lot throughout the book. Cassie is a little girl, who is very smart, sassy, and courageous. She stands up for what she believes and helps others that need a voice.
The previous reign of Mary I, who was a devout Catholic, had brought with it widespread persecution of Protestants. The bloodshed of that period was still fresh in the minds of Elizabeth 's subjects, particularly her Protestant nobles. As such, the pressure exerted by those nobles to avoid a marriage to a Catholic suitor was great. While her marriage to a man might bring about a rightful male heir to the throne, the religion of
She was tutored as a child up until she went to the royal estate, where she was involved with a lot of political problems. Her half-sister, Mary, and their cousin, Lady Jane Grey were both in line for the throne after her brother, King Edward VI died at the age of 16. He was crowned king at the age of 9. Due to these problems, people were suspicious about Elizabeth because she wasn’t in line for the throne. Lady Jane Grey was in power for only nine days before Mary took her crown and ruled England.
He followed her every word to get closer to the crown, but one: James married Anne, the crowned princess of Denmark, whereas Elizabeth wanted to choose his wife. On Elizabeth’s deathbed, she crowned James the king of England. After this James was as happy as could be, whereas the people were skeptical. Because he was Mary’s son, the Catholics thought that he would stop their persecution and side with their religion, and the Puritans thought he would side with the Catholic religion as well. Because of this, Puritans were saying that James was a corrupt, lazy, coward to try to discredit him as a ruler.
(Miller 18). Mary was afraid of Abigail Williams and didn’t tell the truth fearing that Abigail would hurt her. While, she developed as a character and made better choices for herself. Acts 3 and 4 she attempted to help John try to accuse Abigail Williams of lying about witchcraft in the court. “I-I promise you, Mr.Danforth, I only thought I saw them but I did not’.
She approved of the plot in writing, she even offered advice. Mary was tried and convicted of treason. On the morning of February 18, 1587, after twenty years
Sometimes there will be people who just seem to fit together flawlessly comparable to two dogs, but in the play it is like a cat being terrorised by a dog chasing it. In the play, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller there are two contradictory characters. Elizabeth and Abigail are important characters who have opposite traits. Elizabeth is an extremely sweet and truthful women, and Abigail regularly tries to lie and be jealous. Throughout The Crucible Elizabeth and Abigail express truly opposite traits only to follow the theme of protecting their integrity.
