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Abigail's Motive In The Crucible

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The Puritans have an extremely strict and religious way of life. They do not accept any forms nor signs of witchery. Although Puritans, John Proctor, and Abigail commit a sin in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible; Thus, leading to the Salem witch trials. Abigail is responsible for the deaths of innocent puritans in Salem during the witch trials, in which 20 people were accused and executed for being a witch. She is the first to cry out witchcraft, which give her complete control over the situation, Yet, John Proctor only plays a small role in this nonsense. Abigail starts this error of the “Witch Hunt.” One of her motives to start this is from revenge, “[you drank blood], You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to …show more content…

In the Crucible Abigail appears to be powerful and the head of all this non-sense. Whatever she says go. So at the end of the day, she could end this at any time. Elizabeth states “…Abigail brings the other girls into the court, and where she walks the crowd will part like the sea for Israel. And folks are brought before them, and if they scream and howl and fall to the floor – The person’s clapped in jail for bewitching them” (miller ). The court felt that God sent her down to expose all of the devil’s witches., like god sent Israel. Although she was not sent by God. One might say that the girls also play a part in this; because they could come out and admit their frivolous cry of witchcraft. However, they cannot.Abigail threatens them “…we danced…and that’s all. And mark this let either of you breathe a word or edge a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the middle of some terrible night, and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shocker you…” (miller 1244). Abigail threatens the girls to lie for her. She has a lot of power over these girls, she is the boss. She does not want to take any chances of getting caught. This just goes to show how much Abigail control this situation, and how far she is willing to go for the one she

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286 Words | 2 Pages

In the play, The Crucible” , many people were hanged for being accused of witchcraft, and I believe it is all due to Abigail. For many various reasons, one being that since the very beginning of the book we read that she drank blood to kill Elizabeth Proctor, and she was always refusing to tell the truth. She had even threatened all the girls, and Betty to not expose her or they will never see the sun rise, meaning she would actually consider killing them. We also found out that Abigail had some kind of affair with John Proctor. Which is probably why she wanted to kill Elizabeth Proctor, but her affair was most likely the outcome of her drinking the blood, and accusing others of being involved in witchcraft.

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504 Words | 3 Pages

Abigail Williams: The Conniving Woman of the Crucible The Salem Witch Trials began in Salem Massachusetts in 1629. Many people were accused of being a witch and many lives were lost. In Author Miller’s The Crucible, Abigail Williams is the most to blame for the events of the Salem Witch Trials. Abigail is one of the main characters in the play.

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625 Words | 3 Pages

In the Salem Witch Trials, 141 people were arrested, 19 people were hanged, and one person was crushed to death. In the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the witch trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. Abigail was the initial accuser of the witchcraft when she and a few other girls broke the rules. Abby had lied about what happened so she didn’t get punished. Abigail displays her villainous characteristics by telling lies, being manipulative, and leading nineteen innocent people to their untimely death.

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168 Words | 1 Pages

In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, in 1692 witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts the main character in the play, Abigail Williams is to blame for. Throughout the play Arthur Miller had many things to state about injustice. One of the many things was how Tituba had been blamed for witchcraft because she was a slave as well as the race that she was. Arthur Miller also showed the trait, injustice, through Abigail Williams: everyone else was wrong and she always had to be right. In addition, John Proctor was married to Elizabeth Proctor and he had an affair with Abigail and throughout the play her jealousy was revolved.

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603 Words | 3 Pages

Abigail Williams calls Elizabeth’s name in court accusing her of witchcraft: “she (Abigail) wants me dead, john, you know it” Elizabeth said. Abigail started this hysteria hoping to kill Elizabeth so she could have her husband. By looking at The Crucible by Arthur Miller, one can see how the people were being accused of witchcraft in Salem, which is important because it all started upon John’s adultery with Abigail Williams and ended up causing innocent people to die. Protecting her reputation motivates Abigail Williams to accuse people of being witches.

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811 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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491 Words | 2 Pages

but in reality she was caught attempting to cast a spell on Elizabeth. The reason for her trying to cast a spell is because Abigail falls in love with John Proctor but he is married to Elizabeth but that doesn’t bother Abigail.

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1072 Words | 5 Pages

The Destruction of Abigail Williams Humans and government has always played a complex and contrast. A person’s emotions affect their actions when it comes to any situation and the internal battle of whether or not a person should lie in court to protect their feelings is brutal. It is never clear if a person is telling the truth or only looking to protect their feelings. This sort of problem arises in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts where the witch trials begin to broil after Abigail Williams and her friends are caught dancing in the woods and suspected of using witchcraft. In the midst of the Salem Witch Trials in The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, Abigail cannot find satisfaction with Salem because the people are hypocritical and she cannot

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1859 Words | 8 Pages

2) I think the other girls followed Abigail's lead because they feared her. At the beginning of the play, she threatens to stab the girls in the black of some terrible night if they speak up about what happened that night. 4) Abigail's motivation is her jealousy and desire for revenge against Elizabeth since Abigail thinks she is the only thing standing between her and John.

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756 Words | 4 Pages

Abigail believed that Proctor actually loved her and she waited every night for him. She was brainwashed to think he would leave his wife for her. The witchcraft accusation came from the beginning of the story when Abigail and the girls were dancing naked in the woods and chanting. She made false accusations that people in the village were worshipping the devil to cover what she had done. Many lives were taken but Abigail had no empathy for anyone who was hanged.

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1580 Words | 7 Pages

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.

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721 Words | 3 Pages

People in the village had power by influencing others to lie in order not to receive the consequences of witchcraft. Abigail shows power in the play by influencing the girls and what to say and do. She threatened all the girls she will hurt them if they open their mouth and say the truth. Abigail threatens, “Let either one of you breathe a word, or the edge of the other thing and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will being a pointy reckoning that will shutter you.”(Act 1). Abigail tells them she will shutter them with something that will hurt them in a dark night.

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565 Words | 3 Pages

She accuses all of the wives in the village basically, she also shouts names of random people and says that they are capable of witchcraft. Need I remind you that these are innocent women that she is putting all of the blame on, but for what? To save herself, if she as innocent as she claims to be then there should be no need for cover ups. She also lied about Mary Warren being a bird that was apparently attacking her and the girls. She was a very manipulative girl throughout the whole trial, she accused many and lied about a lot.

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842 Words | 4 Pages

And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you” (317). Abigail is trying to convince herself that this is all she did with the girls even though, in reality, she knows they did much more. She does this in order to make herself feel less guilt towards the situation. She knows the trouble she will get into so she chooses to

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429 Words | 2 Pages

She will say or do anything to cover up the fact that she took a blood charm to kill John Proctor's wife, whom she had affair with. Abigail threatens the girls that she will come “in the black of some terrible night” if they mention what happened to anyone that night (1.1.1244). Abigail Williams will also lie about anything to

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