In The Crucible Abigail Williams would cause trouble in salem and accuse many innocent people of witchcraft yet she was the mastermind behind it all. In that being said Joseph McCarthy in Good Night and Good Luck hid many secrets from society so he would not be indicted of his wrongdoings. McCarthy was a communist and would accuse others of being one so he would not be exposed. In both The Crucible and Good Night and Good Luck, Abigail Williams and Joseph McCarthy were secretive and would indict innocent people of crimes that were not committed.
They are alike in some ways and at the same time they have some differences. Abigail William in The Crucible by Arthur Miller, is a teenage girl. She is practically the villain in The Crucible, she's a liar, manipulative, and selfish. “She has an eerie sense of how to manipulate others and gain control over them.” Abigail William was a big deal, not only did she have an affair with an older man who was married, she also accused three innocent women of being witches.
Arthur Miller makes many different connections to the acts of Senator McCarthy throughout The Crucible. The Salem Witch Trials display many similarities to the acts of Communism in the 1950’s. First of all, false accusations and accusations made without any hard evidence are seen in both The Crucible and the acts of Senator McCarthy. John Proctor in The Crucible was put accused and put on trial for taking part or concealing witchcraft without any evidence of this actually happening. Just like Proctor, Arthur Miller was accused for being a communist during the McCarthy era, although nothing could prove this.
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams and John Proctor are known to have had an adulterous affair with one another. Even though both John Proctor and Abigail are worthy of blame for their actions, Abigail is the most culpable of the two. In The Crucible, Abigail is the most to blame because of her “tempting” Proctor to carrying out the act more. During Act 1, Abigail is shown to keep egging on Proctor although he does not want to have the affair with her anymore.
Arthur Miller said in an interview once, “ I took creative license with her character to make the connection between sexuality and politics more dramatic,” (Shmoop). This is one of the reasons Arthur Miller made Abigail Williams in The Crucible so different compared to the real Abigail. Abigail Williams was an 11 year -old girl who lived in Salem and worked for the Proctor family, John and Elizabeth, before the time of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Before the trails even started, Abigail and her cousin, Betty Parris, got into fortune telling their future like whom they would marry and what their social status would be. After a while they got the other girls in town to start playing their fortune telling game and soon the adults saw it as
Almost every kid in school has read a passage or a story, and never really understood the purpose of learning the topic in school. The teachers expect us to do the work, and hopefully understand it, but we never truly understand why we learned such a topic or event. The Crucible is a prime example on what students read in school, or why we’re obligated to read the book. The crucible and McCarthyism have many similarities that many people over look, and don’t realize, and connects more than we perceive. Books like the crucible and McCarthy are historical events, many schools have very few books based on historical events, which is why teachers spend more time on them.
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.
She accuses Elizabeth of casting a spell on her that caused her to be stabbed, but she really had stabbed herself. Abigail wants revenge on Elizabeth since she is in love with Proctor and Elizabeth is in the way justifying her ethics. In The Crucible Elizabeth is loving towards others unlike Abigail who revengeful. For the duration of The Crucible Elizabeth and Abigail express very contradictory traits following the theme of protecting their integrity.
I disagree with Winona Ryder when she says Abigail Williams isn't the villain of “The Crucible.” To begin with, she is the villain because she does everything for herself and would sacrifice someone else quickly and it wouldn't affect her. Specifically because she lied about John Proctor’s wife to try and get John. Abigail lying on John’s wife makes her seem bad because Elizabeth got her in trouble and got John executed to try and get John to like her. Another, reason I believe that is she threatened the girls lives if they spoke about them dancing in the woods.
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.
The author of the story crucible develop both character similarities and differences through figurative language, theme and irony. So as can see elizabeth and abigail don't see eye to eye, especially with the proctor situation. Which created more tension between everyone. Abigail and Elizabeth are very different people with the same motives of getting things the way the want.
Abigail has countless negative characteristics compared to Elizabeth. The misuse of her power
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.
Girls weren’t allow to lie, dance, they didn’t have no rights at all. Abigail was one of the girls who would not go by the laws of the Puritans. She was malicious, sneaky, and bad. Abigail would influence her other cousins and other girls to go dance with her in the woods. Where ever she goes she spreads death and destruction.
The only similarity between the two is that a great wrong is done by each, yet how each character chooses to handle these wrongs is a testament to their character,
