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Examples Of Abigail Williams In The Crucible

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It takes a special type of evil to let innocent people suffer for one's own needs and wants and have no remorse for anything that may happen. In the play The Crucible, Arthur Miller describes the events that are happening in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. People throughout the town are getting called out for suspicion of witchcraft and are being sent to jail to await trial. Many of the people accused were respected citizens in the community while the accusers were a group of teenage girls led by Abigail Williams. In Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, Miller showed that Abigail Williams’ flaws of cowardness, by running away from Salem when people started to revolt, jealousy of John Proctor’s wife, and the manipulation of her friends …show more content…

Parris goes to the courthouse to confess that Abigail and Mercy Lewis have been missing for three days and have robbed him of all the money he had, “My niece, sir, my niece—I believe she has vanished.” (Scene 1, Act 4.) There had been rumors within the town that there was a rebellion in the city of Andover over people being accused of witchcraft. When Abigail hears of this she knows that Salem is close to doing the same and that she will be the target for them. In addition to her stealing and leaving her uncle, when Abigail was called into the courthouse to determine if Mary Warren was telling the truth about the girls, she knew what Mary was saying was true and the only way to get Danforth to believe her was to convince him that Mary was also a witch, “I—I know not. A wind, a cold wind, has come. Her eyes fall on Mary”(Scene 3,Act 1.) Mary and John had the evidence against Abigail that her claims of witchcraft were false, even though she was in a bad spot she was able to get out of it instead of telling the truth. Abigail and her group of girls put on an act to scare Mary into confessing that she was a witch. Abigail was a coward for leaving Salem when she realized that soon she was going to have to confess and also for putting the blame onto someone else instead of owning up to her

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319 Words | 2 Pages

Abigail Williams is the source of the witchcraft hysteria in Salem. Abigail is first accused of bewitching Betty Parris in the woods one night. She quickly disputes the accusation by saying they: Ruth Putnam, Tituba, Betty Parris, Mary Warren, and Abigail herself, were only dancing despite it also being highly looked down upon. By starting out with this single lie, her story snowballs and eventually leads to the downfall of Salem. By associating herself with Betty Parris and Ruth Putnam, both of which are sick while Abigail is well, Abigail is submitting herself to a fight she can’t win unless she lies.

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337 Words | 2 Pages

“She's a witch!” If you heard someone say that over and over again would you start to think differently about that person? Abigail is manipulative and a lair. Hev Parris found her and all the young girls of the town dancing naked in the woods, She claimed that someone made her do it a witch she said. This started a bigger lie, she started to blame anyone that crossed her on being a witch.

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304 Words | 2 Pages

Abigail Williams' remorseless behavior cruelly ended the lives of 19 in Salem. An example of this is when the girls are discovered in the woods,” Parris caught them dancing, with Tituba singing and one of the girls being naked ”(Miller,10-11). Once Abigail was caught, she desperately tried to conceal her actions of that night because Her option to kill his wife would reveal her affair with John Proctor and Have her accused of witchcraft. To deflect the blame from herself she accuses many of witchcraft. Abigail’s remorseless behavior caused deaths because the accused were arrested and many were hanged or died in the jail.

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210 Words | 1 Pages

Human beings all have selfish tendencies, we tend to care for ourselves more than we care for others but how far would you go to get what you want?Would you kill? Would you steal? What would you do ? I Arthur Miller's the Crucible Abigail Williams is one of the most important characters but she chooses to be very selfish and chooses to put her own needs first which caused several people to lose their lives.

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184 Words | 1 Pages

Abigail Williams affected the trials heavily with her accusations. Abigail Williams and her group of girls that follow her were caught in the woods dancing and performing witchcraft. However, to avoid blame and be killed, the girls especially Abigail Williams began to falsely accuse innocent women or people of Salem that they are witches. In this scene, Abigail and the girls are in court as witnesses against Mary Warren, who has turned and the girls and vice versa.

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670 Words | 3 Pages

and the other girls start accusations to be forgiven too(Miller 1). The girl's accusations put the people of Salem in a state of terror. Abigail Williams accuses her own friend Mary Warren of witchcraft. Williams pretends that she is in a state of possession and screams, “Mary, please, don’t do it!” W while the people around her stare with wide eyes(Miller 3).

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639 Words | 3 Pages

The Crucible Miller illustrated a significant story about the Puritans in Salem Massachusetts in 1692. One of the worst events that happened in Salem Massachusetts were the Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials took place when people were being convicted as being a witch or other hands being the devil. The people that were prosecuted were the poor, the aids, and the old people of the little town of Salem. As Miller interpreted the moral behind the historical event, he made a similar connection with the play.

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1330 Words | 6 Pages

At first Mary thought that Abigail was a decent person and she had no reason to distrust her until, several town girls, including Abigail and Mary Warren were caught one night out in the woods dancing, she made them all swear that they would not tell anyone anything. She promised them that if they told anyone about the dancing, she would come and get revenge on them, “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, and out the other things, and I will come to out in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you” (Miller 20). Due to Abigail’s threat to the girls, the girls accuse other people of witchcraft so that they would not get in trouble for dancing. The chaos that ensues the accusations is enormous, people that are respected in the community are hanged, cattle are running all around the village due to no owners taking care of them and neighbors are turning on each other to save themselves. When Mary decides that she is going to take a stand against Abigail and tell the truth that they are creating the witch accusations Abigail starts to act like Mary is a witch in front of the court.

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471 Words | 2 Pages

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.

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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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1608 Words | 7 Pages

(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.

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1085 Words | 5 Pages

”(1.50). After Abigail went off on the group she became disgraced with the group and started to name people she has seen with the devil. Abigail was also very edgy with the subject she becomes paranoid with the acts that she has done and becomes somewhat crazy when Abigail says “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men! And now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes?

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698 Words | 3 Pages

Proctor rejects Abigail when she pleads for him to come back to her. In hopes of getting rid of Elizabeth Proctor, John’s Wife, Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft and attempted murder. Abigail’s fear of being alone results in Elizabeth proctor’s arrest. The village as a whole begins to fear being accused by Abigail because if accused they are limited to either staying honest and being hanged or falsely admitting to witchcraft and being released from prison. Mary Warren in Act IV is scared to testify against the group of girls because she believes that abigail will accuse her of working with the devil.

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655 Words | 3 Pages

Abigail forces the girls of Salem to dance in the woods with her to help conjure spirits and make the charm to kill Goody Proctor. Abigail threatens the girls right after Betty took fright by saying, “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.” (Miller, 144). Later on as the trials prolong Mary Warren turns on Abby and is telling the court that she lied. When Abigail then accuses Mary of witchcraft she turns back to Abby and obeys her once again.

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565 Words | 3 Pages

In a small village called Salem, witchcraft and sorcery exist, however everyone is pointing fingers but not a single soul knows who is actually to blame for this nonsense. During this time period of hysteria, there are multiple scenes that are very questionable due to one person and one person only. Abigail is the one most responsible for the hysteria and witchcraft in Salem. She threatens the group of girls that accompanied her in the woods while they all danced. She has also lied about many things on multiple occasions in which causes an extreme amount of suspicion.

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