Abigail's Lies In The Crucible

People commonly say cliches like "good will always win" and "the truth will always prevail"; however, when led by a controlling governing power and manipulated by religion these statements can be proven untrue. In The Crucible, Abigail causes problems throughout the town by lying about witchcraft. She is seen as a reliable source and uses this to her advantage to manipulate people and accuse women of witchcraft. Abigail continuously lies with the intentions to pursue her past relationship with John, despite his many attempts to reveal the truth and get the town to see through her lies. Many people end up being hanged due to Abigail's deceit. The truth may not always prevail as demonstrated through the accusations towards Elizabeth, the arrests

They open it and see Hale who has come on his own to warn John that his “wife’s name [was] mentioned in the court”(Miller 2.1.4), however soon Cheever would show up on behalf of the court and inform them that “Abigail Williams charged her” (Miller 2.1.24). With a warrant for Elizabeth’s arrest, they begin to search the house and ask for any poppets in the home. This was all a part of Abigail’s plan in order to get back with John by getting rid of Elizabeth. She made up an elaborate plan, frequently lying and ultimately ruining many people's lives so that she could pursue her relationship with John. They give Cheever the poppet that Mary Warren made while next to Abigail in the court “and in the belly of [the poppet] a needle’s stuck” (Miller 2.1.28). It is now revealed that Abigail had a needle stuck into her side and she testified that it was Elizabeth’s “familiar spirit [that] pushed it in” (Miller 2.1.25). Everyone’s beliefs begin to shift to questioning Elizabeth, but Mary tells them that it was her who made it and left the needle for safe keeping. Still though, the ruling has been made and Elizabeth is taken away without anyone believing the

John felt like admitting to his affair, ultimately revealing Abigail's true intentions would finally prove to the court that Abigail was lying all along. He tells them that Abigail is making up lies about witchcraft all in order to get Elizabeth hanged because Abigail longs to be with John and believes that they are in love. Admitting to this is a big deal, not only because Abigail is a child, but also because their society is run by a christian government and adultery is considered very wrong. Abigail diverts from answering whether she denies the accusations or not, and John pleads for them to believe the truth. John claims that his own wife will tell them about the affair. Elizabeth is questioned and when they ask if “she put [Abigail] out for a harlot” (miller 3.1.16), she claims that she only fired Abigail from working for them due to jealousy. She does this in order to protect her husband, but it only leads to Abigail continuing to manipulate everyone into believing her lies and John along with everyone else arrested due to the witch trials being hanged in the