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Salem witch trials encyclopedia britannica
Salem witch trials and historical analysis
Salem witch trials and historical analysis
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Should Abigail Williams be held responsible for the rise of Hysteria in Salem? She accused others of witchcraft, while trying to avoid being accused herself. She lied, and blamed it on so many people, the town had no choice but to take notice. if she hadn’t, the hysteria might have never gotten so bad. So, Should Abigail Williams be held responsible for the rise of Hysteria in Salem?
Out of all the characters in the book, there are many that contributed to the hysteria of the witch trials, however, of these characters Abigail Williams contributed the most. In the beginning of the play, we see Abigail and a collection of other girls dancing and making a charm in the woods. Abigail made this charm in order to kill Mr.Proctor 's wife. If Abigail wasn 't so crazy in love with John this scene in the woods probably wouldn 't have taken place. Therefor, Parris would have never caught the girls and there wouldn’t be rumours of witchcraft.
The Crucible’s Abigail Williams is best known for her involvement in the Salem Witch Trials just as Senator Joseph McCarthy is best known for his involvement in the Red Scare. Abigail Williams was known in her society as a saint. She had supposedly committed some form of witchcraft and had redeemed herself by giving the names of other “witches”. She, and several other girls, were largely responsible for the conviction and deaths of nineteen innocent villagers. Abigail and McCarthy both had caused mass hysteria in their communities in order to draw attention to themselves, further their reputations, and to get rid of people they saw unfit to live in their society.
I believe Abigail Williams is responsible for the hysteria in salem. She lies and manipulates people and causes the histeria to worsen. She lies to the court and to Mr. Paris. She also manipulates the girls into lying as well. Abigail also wants to keep a good reputation in the town and will do whatever it takes.
Many people in Salem know the length Abigail will go to in order to protect herself and her lies. Planning to speak out about the Abigails plan to ruin Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor receives warning from Mary Warren to proceed with caution when dealing with Abigail. Mary Warren warns Proctor, “ She’ll ruin you with, it I know she will”(Miller 503). Willing to ruin her own reputation and honor, Abigail threatens Proctor to keep him silent. If Proctor speaks out about Abigail pretending in court, it will bring Abigail’s credibility to be questioned.
Abigail Williams: The Victim Upon the entrance of Abigail Williams one might think she appears as a behaved, but occasionally deceptive child, on the edge of maturity. One might be right, but there be more than what meets the eye. Is Abigail a victim or the culprit? It is evident that Abigail Williams is a victim of Salem due to her emotional scars from her past, the strict, overwhelming environment of the Puritan community, and the symptoms of insanity and power hunger she displayed. It is shown in the text that there are many underlying factors that created her to be a victim.
Instead of getting her punishment when they were found in the woods, Abigail Williams started to pretend that there were witches among them. Which was a big deal to the religious group known as the Puritans, and the Puritans wanted to know who the witches were. That’s when Abigail had this plan to accuse people who she didn’t like or hated as “witches”, so that she could take her vengeance out on them. If Abigail didn’t pretend that there was witches among them in Salem, then nobody would’ve died and the massive hysteria would've never happened.
She is a coldblooded and malignant young lady who will successfully get her direction and keep herself out of inconvenience. Thus, Abigail Williams is to be faulted for the deaths of those honest Puritans who died at some stage in the witch hunt. The main cause Abigail Williams is to be faulted is desire. Abigail is indecent of John Proctor, which at last starts the craziness in this play. In spite of the fact that John made an endeavor to disclose to Abigail that
The Crucible: A Recipe for Disaster It is spring of 1692, and mass hysteria is flying in the air all around the town of Salem. Accusations are being thrown everywhere, and trials are being put into action. Many of the townspeople are being accused of bewitching children. This is notoriously known as the Salem Witch Trials.
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.
Abigail Williams and the girls is responsible for the deaths of the people who were wrongly convicted and hanged. Also Danforth has some of the blame for this situation as well. However, the girls are the ones who started this situation because the book explains, “Mr. Parris said, “That my daughter and my niece I discovered dancing like heathen in the forest,” (6). In Salem, the rules are to not go through the woods and dances. Now people think that they are doing witchcraft.
Bearing in mind the facts about her distressing childhood life, her love for John and terror for her life it is possible to deduce that it was the fault of Abigail for the tragedy to occur in the town of the Salem. Her deceitfulness almost makes her impractical because she practices witchcraft in order to win back her lover, Proctor, she laid false evidence of witchcraft in Elizabeth’s home with a hope to direct her to the scaffolds and she persuades young women to dance in the woods which was an illegal act. The writer progresses from sightseeing the unconscious to exploring the unconditioned and raw responses that go deeper than basic desires and ambitions, particularly when challenged with ones’ mortality. A deduction can also be made that the more Abigail Williams learnt how to use her interim capabilities to upset the townspeople, the more she appreciated the power she had. Abigail Williams collects the information necessary to style the position of supremacy for herself.
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.
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.
A dynamic character like Abigail has lied before in the past and now has experiences something more sinister which is unique for a character in the story and makes the plot better with Abigail’s wickedness. Through the Trials of the Salem, the story will always have a person that will stand out when it is mentioned, and Abigail Williams takes the cake of being the most horrific, yet a great character in the story because it isn’t The Crucible without Abigail as being the antagonist and the tension builder. The Village will never forgive of what she did to all the innocent women she has killed. Abigail has shown that she is a very Dynamic character from her emotions, to her actions, and to her experiences she has made in
