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Examples Of Foils In The Crucible

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A lesson that can never taught enough is to be careful of what you say about others. Miller demonstrates this with the characters of Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams, they are foil characters, meaning they are polar opposites and bring out the worst in each other. Elizabeth is a strong Christian woman who doesn 't hardly hold a grudge against anyone, always tells the truth, and is selfless. Abigail however is full of hate and revenge, lies to get what she wants, and thinks she runs the town of Salem during the trials.The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play set in the 1600’s in the puritan village of Salem, Massachusetts. This play shows how a little lie can spread into something uncontrollable and out of hand.
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Gaining power has its benefits and consequences, like a sphere of influence over others, or respect from your peers. All the same, too much power has major consequences. Abigail is an example of that consequence. In Act I on page 20 Abigail said “I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you….”to the other girls in Betty’s room. Abigail threatens the girls knowing that they will listen. As a result of, Abigail gains tremendous power and influence over the girls and their actions, this is seen in pages 114-123, where Abigail pretends to see Mary Warren’s spector and the other girls join along. Nonetheless, Elizabeth has a good reputation of a Godly and honest woman in the town of Salem. This is shown on page 81 where Elizabeth willingly goes with Cheever because she knows who she is and is faithful that her character, reputation, and that God will save her. Elizabeth is always true to herself and doesn 't hide from who she truly is.
Abigail is a foil for Elizabeth due to their conflicting personalities and choices. The lesson to learn from these two is not to lie, do not push your luck beyond a certain limit, and be true to yourself. If the world or even just a few of its inhabitants learned these lessons, we could grow as a whole and lead a better and brighter future towards the next generation and leave our impact

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458 Words | 2 Pages

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.

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512 Words | 3 Pages

Abigail is one example of a character that allows jealousy to control her actions. For example, when John and Abigail talk to each other at the beginning, Abigail keeps broaching the topic of their love and also calls Elizabeth “...a cold, sniveling woman” (Miller 24). This shows that Abigail still loves John and hates Elizabeth because she is John’s wife which embodies jealousy. There are also many people in Salem that Abigail could have accused and Elizabeth has a good reputation which makes her a smaller target. Therefore, it is conspicuous that Elizabeth’s allegation was not coincidently by the girl her husband had an affair with, but instead completely out of

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692 Words | 3 Pages

Miller best depicts the evils in people through the main prosecutor in the the play Abigail Williams. Abigail is undeniably the most destructive and corrupt individual in The Crucible. Through her vengefulness, threatening her peers, carelessness at others’ expense, and complete disregard for human life, she ensues a tumultuous event to Salem. Abigail’s initial accusation against the town beggar was solely to defend herself from punishment for dancing in the woods.

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881 Words | 4 Pages

In our lives, we will all often go through phases of being a leader and being a follower. Sometimes we can be a little bit of both. In Abigail’s situation she was a leader and she acquired her power because of her followers. Without her followers, she wouldn’t have been as influential. We all know leaders and followers in our lives, and this story really differentiates how you can either be a leader or a follower in your life, and it’s all up to you.

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794 Words | 4 Pages

Abigail, despite being close friends with Betty and Mary implies that she would hurt them if they said anything she didn 't agree with to anyone. This, among many of Abigail’s behavior in the story, shows that people will abandon the morals they have

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582 Words | 3 Pages

Mary Warren, Mercy, Betty and Abigail gave the impression of a close knit bond. But, in secret Abigail is ruthless to the girls. This personality change shows the steaks of the situation at hand. Maybe Abigail did value their friendship but not enough to put before her own greed. She found it easier to protect herself by bullying the potential threats.

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925 Words | 4 Pages

“Character Analysis over The Crucible” Arthur Miller is a commonly-known playwright, most famous for his 1953 play, The Crucible. The basis for The Crucible came from the witch trials which occurred in Salem, Massachusetts during the puritan era. Miller even uses some of the same characters in his dramatized play that were a part of the original witch trials in Salem. However, Miller made a few alterations to the historical members of the Salem society in order to suit his dramatic purpose in The Crucible, particularly Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Reverend Samuel Parris.

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491 Words | 2 Pages

In Arthur Miller's “The Crucible” (1953), it is shown that people seem to forget basic morals when dealing with mass hysteria. Puritans in the play do not want the devil or any other demonic figures such as witches in their community, they will go to great lengths, as far as turning their back on their own people to get rid of these demonic figures as shown in “The Crucible”. This idea of witches in the community caused chaos in the village which led to the deaths of 20 people in the village. Do people in the play not care about the consequences other people face because of their actions? In the play, loyalty falls far below self selfishness in the face of mass hysteria.

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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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551 Words | 3 Pages

The Crucible “The Crucible” is a play, by Arthur Miller, about the Salem Witch Trials. After reading “The Crucible”, you will be asking yourself, is it necessary for a person to suffer? The answer to the question is shown through the characters, Giles Corey, John and Elizabeth Proctor, and Abigail Williams. John Proctor is a respected puritan man in the community. John had made the mistake of sleeping with, a teenage girl, Abigail Williams.

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705 Words | 3 Pages

As Abigail affiliated herself with god’s will, she gained power over society. Her low status and perceived innocence under normal circumstances allowed her to claim even greater power in her

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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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934 Words | 4 Pages

Abigail Williams was the goody two shoes that kept her reputation high, until she turned on many with a single lie. In The Crucible By Arthur Miller, is set in the year of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts where a witch outbreak has jailed many of the women from a fault of one girl named Abigail. It causes havoc in Salem that will lead to death in the village. Abigail has shown many transformations and showed that she is very dynamic from her emotions, to her actions, and to her experiences throughout the story of The Crucible. Abigail has shown that she has grown mentally and emotionally.

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569 Words | 3 Pages

In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the characters of Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams can be compared and contrasted through their personalities, motivations, and relationship. In view of, Abigail Williams personality, she is intimidating because she threatened the girls by saying she was going to make their lives miserable if they said another word about what they had done. Moreover,

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315 Words | 2 Pages

Although, no one or thing is perfect, Abigail was still close to believing she had everything under control. In the website Wikiversity, the type of manipulation that Abigail used was called “Emotional Manipulation. In addition, the website inquires this type of manipulation as an “Emotional or psychological manipulation is a form of social influence where a perpetrator attempts to further their own purposes or agendas using manipulative techniques and deception, in order to obtain the assistance of another. Emotional manipulation can occur is [grammar?] many aspects of everyday life including in families, relationships and friendships, the workplace, in selling, and in a variety of other settings.”

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