Abigail Williams In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

An antagonist a person who is opposed to, struggles against, or competes with another; opponent; adversary. They often cause most of the dramatic events and the climax in a story. The antagonist in a story often feels no regret for the chaos they have caused. They usually display very selfish behavior only striving for what's best for them. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible many of the characters can be named antagonist but the prominent character is Abigail Williams. Abigail Williams portrays the role as the primary antagonist in the Crucible due to her manipulating ways, her selfishness and her lack of empathy. The Crucible begins with the town minister reverend Parris trying to wake his sick daughter Betty. He does not know why she is

What made Abigail such a powerful antagonist was her selfishness. Abigail was involved in an affair with John Proctor which is another factor for the drama in the play. After John Proctors wife found out about the affair she was demoted from her job at their home and sent back to live so her uncle reverend Parris. This affair sets the play in motion since the reason Abigail was in the woods was to cast a spell on John’s wife Elizabeth. Abigails main motivation behind all her actions that caused such chaos in the play was to get rid of Elizabeth so she could have Ohm Proctor. However John Proctor knew his affair with Abigail was wrong and did not enact to continue any relationship with Abigail. Towards the beginning of the play John Proctor pleads with Abigail to forget what they had but that only angered Abigail “You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet! John, pity me, pity me!” Abigail stated (Miller 22). Even though John has a wife and a family to take care of Abigail still tries to seduce him. This shows Abigail's selfishness because she knows how badly John’s family would be affected if he left them for her but she doesn't care at all. As the story progressed and the town Continued to worsen at the hand of Abigail's anger towards John and her commitment to get him to be hers. John understood that his relationship with Abigail was at the center of the chaos of the trials and tried to stop Abigail for causing the demise of innocent people including his wife. John Proctor pleaded with Abigail stating “And God gave me strength to call them liars, and God made men to listen to me, and by God l will scrub the world clean for the love of Him! Oh, John, I will make you such a wife when the world is white again”(160). John wanted Abigail to come clean to save his wife Elizabeth, but Abigail didn't care at all about John’s feeling. Abigail claimed to love John