More handpicked essays just for you.
Salem witch trials and how the effect us today
Allagories on the salem witch trials
Allagories on the salem witch trials
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
It becomes apparent in the very first Act that Abigail is not a trustworthy character. She is willing to throw blame at anyone to deflect the suspicion from herself, or even to gain something she wants. I suppose in some ways Abigail could be seen as a tragic character, but her manipulative nature sure makes it difficult to sympathize with her. She is willing to hang an innocent woman in her delusion that this will somehow result in John Proctor realizing his love for her. He has made it clear multiple times he has moved on and wishes to not see her but - of course - Abigail only persists.
In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible Abigail Williams, a young, headstrong woman , is the main villain of this story. Most people will say Abigail is the victim but the only thing she is a victim of is a broken heart. The reasons of her being the fellon are she started the witch hoax and tried to rid of Goody Proctor. Abigail commenced the whole witch hoax in order to save herself from getting into trouble for ‘dancing’ in the woods.
Abigail is to be blamed a lot, because she seduced John Proctor even though he had a wife. Elizabeth found out about the affair and Elizabeth told Abigail not to mess with her husband or she will regret it. Abigail confesses to withcraft saying that she gave her soul to the devil. She convinced other girls to cast spells with Tituba. She carefully planned the way she accused people in the community of withcraft , so she could be credible when she accused Elizabeth.
Abigail A 17 year old girl who portrays herself to be sweet and kind, but is truly not what everything thinks she is. Abigail at one time worked in Proctor’s home. She was dismissed from Proctor’s home because Elizabeth found out what was going on. Abigail started to point fingers at people and telling lies to get back at Proctor. Abigail’s pay back to him affects everyone.
Crucible Essay Abigail was very questionable in the play. She could be very quiet. Being quiet actually turned out to be pretty powerful to her.
Now we learn that all of the problems lead directly to Abigail. She is not to be trusted and would just bring pain. Abigail presence is felt throughout the story in many ways. At the beginning of Act 2, they are eating dinner and talking. After they're done, Elizabeth starts talking about how Mary Warren went to the court to accuse Abigail.
In The Crucible, a movie based on the play written by Arthur Miller, fear constantly motivates Abigail Williams to make decisions that will not only determine the fate of members of her town, but Puritanism itself. In Act 1, while accusing an innocent black lady known as Tituba, Abigail pleads to Reverand Hale saying “She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer!” (Miller 272) Abigail attacks Tituba’s harmless reputation by accusing her of something that is completely against their religion. With fear of being charged of her wrongdoings in the forest with the other girls, she seeks a scapegoat to divert the accusation of guilt away from herself.
In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible (1952), there are many examples of aspects of the Salem witch trials repeating themselves today. One example in specific was the similarity between President Trump banning seven countries, mainly Muslims countries, and Abigail Williams accusing people she does not like of being witches, they both abuse the power they are given and when doing so it negatively affects others. Trump judges people based on their religion and the color of their skin by the banning seven countries from entering the U.S. because he thought they are terrorists. He abuses his power, by unfairly judging people and trying to keep them out of the country. Likewise, Abigail misuses her power when she accuses innocent people of being
William Shenstone, a wise English poet, once said “A liar begins with making falsehood appear like truth, and ends with making truth itself appear like falsehood.” As you read you see that Abigail is just telling lie after lie and the majority believe her. When someone goes against what Abigail is saying and says the actual truth, everyone, of course, thinks of it as a lie. Abigail successfully changes their ways of thinking and manipulates them into trusting her. If Abigail had been taken out of the picture this situation would have been avoided.
Since then she been taking advantage of people like Proctor. “You loved me John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet! John, pity” (Abigail 22; Act 1). Abigail tried to make John feel guilty when he trying to do the right thing and fix his marriage. Miller description of women shows multiple problems.
Whether a citizen wills to gain power or keep their power, accusing citizens of witch craft seemed to be the way to achieve power. Ultimate power and the ability to send anyone to their death becomes the same thing in Salem. Constantly the people in Salem struggle for power. Mr. Danforth, the judge in Salem has the characteristic of being power hungry, He maintains his power by sending people to death row. The Salem Witch trials are the response to power hungry individuals.
Abigail The Victim In the Crucible many are to blame for the events that occurred, but one of the one’s who seems to take blame the most is Abigail Williams. She holds most of the responsibility because she was to blame for the girls meeting with Tituba in the woods. When Parris located the girls in the woods, Abigail tries to hide her behavior because she fears that it will uncover her affair with Proctor if she confesses that she attempted to cast a spell on his wife, Elizabeth. Abigail also lies to avoid being punished for witchcraft.
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.
(I.465-472). Seeing Abigail cry, it suggests that Abigail’s affair with John Proctor has influenced her behavior in jealousy and lust as she strives for nothing more than her love for John Proctor. By only being heartbroken, Abigail is not to be fully blamed for the hysteria within the town as her actions are only based on desperate attempts to win John Proctor over, and no intentional harm whatsoever. However, on the other hand, Abigail cannot be excused with outside forces making her the way she is due to the fact that she has clearly had a choice in most of her decisions and actions throughout the witchcraft crisis. When Mary Warren, another girl involved in the forest incident, enters the court, she explains to Danforth, the judge, that the girls are lying and are only pretending to see spirits.
Abigail 's heartless attitude is shown in act two when she frames and accuses Elizabeth Proctor for witchcraft. She desired and longed for this revenge on poor Proctors innocent wife, aiming for her through out the play. Later on in Act Three she seems to lose her last attachment of society by destroying John Proctor, who she claims to love with all her heart. When John attempts and threatens to expose Abigail’s wrong doings, she skillfully manages to turn the whole problem around on him, sending him off
