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Character study of the crucible
Characters and characterisation of the crucible
Character study of the crucible
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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.
I think Abigail is to blame for the hysteria at the end of Act 1, because she accuses other people, lies, and tries to get what she wants. First, when Abigail says, “If they be questioning us tell them we danced- I told him as much already.”(18). Abigail is telling the other girls to lie to Reverend Parris about what happened in the woods that night he saw them. Fear is used to scare the girls into lying even though what they did was wrong, Abigail doesn’t want to lose the power of controlling and “witchcraft”. Secondly, Abigail is speaking to John Proctor saying, “Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be-.”(24).
The Salem witch trials were series of hearings of people getting accused of witchcraft in Massachusetts, which lasted from February 1692 to May 1693. During these times, anyone who was accused of being a ‘witch’ or suspected of ‘practicing witchcraft’ was sentenced to death or hanged. The trials resulted in the death of twenty people, fourteen of them women, and all but one some by hanging. The witch trials was full of hysteria which caused a lot of chaos, death and accusations in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. In the Arthur Miller’s book The Crucible, the main character Abigail Williams is to blame for the 1692 Salem witch trials in Massachusetts.
During the late 17th century a total of 200 people were accused of participating in witchcraft, while 19 people lost their lives to the mass hysteria. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a group of girls start a huge uproar in Salem, Massachusetts when they start screeching about Salemites being associated with the Devil. Throughout the play write, it shows the consequences of mass hysteria and how it puts people's lives in danger. Abigail Williams causes a wave of mass hysteria and because of her trickery, innocent people have died by her and the other girl’s actions, for this Abigail is the most unforgivable character in The Crucible.
Even more so, it’s sad to think that Abigail did all of it simply because she wanted John back, and was angry at Elizabeth for being kicked out. On page 1157, Abigail's accusations are put on display, “I saw Goody Sibber with the Devil… I saw Goody Hawkins with the Devil… I saw Goody Booth with the Devil!”. Abigail couldn’t control her mouth, and ran around town accusing and denying to her content. Alan Kazdin talks about lying, “It is unlikely that lying will be completely eliminated, but with the right encouragement, it can be dramatically lessened”. It’s safe to say that Abigail did not have right
Abigail is a manipulative liar. Famous author Arthur Miller points out in The Crucible that hysteria broke out over the perceived threat of witchcraft, which served as an analogy for the communists during the Red Scare. During the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, many Americans believed a war would break out and thus caused hysteria among society. Miller writes a play about a couple who has an affair in a religious small town. Abigail, the cleaning lady for the Proctor family, commits adultery with Mr. John Proctor is soon caught by Mrs. Elizabeth Proctor.
There are several characters in The Crucible who use the witch hunts for personal gain. The worst amongst these villains is Abigail Williams, who is very manipulative. Although Abigail is a young, beautiful, teenage orphan she will not stop until she has John Proctor to herself. John is a middle aged man who is married to Elizabeth Proctor, but committed adultery and had an affair with Abigail. She creates lies to save herself and hurt others.
She goes around accusing everybody but herself to keep herself from being hanged. Abigail's main skill is finding people's flaws, their weaknesses, their prejudices and manipulating them to her
Metamorphosis In prominent works of literature, there is always one character or a handful that cling to minds of readers. This could be due to the characters’ heroic deeds that are deeply admirable. On the other extreme, characters can encapsulate all we despise, making it a challenge to not link the story as a whole to the actions of one character in our minds. One such example of this extreme is Abigail Williams, easily the most despicable and vile character of The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller.
At this point, Abigail is in no care for anyone's life but her own and will lie and accuse anyone she can as long as she is not the one being
She confessed that she was involved with witchcraft. In order for Tituba to get attention off herself and get praised, she accuses others of being involved. Rebuttal: However, Abigail is more responsible than Tituba.
Abigail uses her own personal desires to get to what she wants even though many people died in the
Elizabeth is the victim of Abigail’s heartless actions and affair. These two women are almost complete opposites. Both characters struggle and fight through the story in their own ways. Abigail is the villain in this play.
