How Does Abigail Williams Change Throughout The Crucible

In The Crucible, there are many different character developments. Some characters underwent changes throughout the story and others stayed the same. One of the characters that seemed to stay the same all through this play was Abigail Williams. In the beginning, she was a jealous, selfish, and manipulative liar, and in the end, she remained the same. Abigail Williams is the antagonist in this play and she doesn't get that title by being a kind truthful person. Her controlling and vengeful manner all starts when she has an affair with John Proctor. Her desire to be with him after the fact led to what would become the Salem Witch trials. Abigails rancor towards Johns wife leads her to wish Elizabeth dead during a ritual performed by her, other

Arthur Miller continues to show how Abigail manipulates the court to create a sense of disbelief towards what Mary Warren is confessing about the accusations against Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail does this by accusing Judge Danforth of not trusting her: “...I done my duty pointing out the Devil’s people–and this is my reward? To be mistrusted, denied, questioned like a –”. (Miller 1307) She uses the good things she has supposedly done to make it seem like he is questioning an honest and trustworthy person when in reality it is the opposite. She tries to turn the blame on Judge Danforth as if he is in the wrong for besieging her with skepticism on the subject. Arthur Miller uses this to show how Abigail can be a convincing liar because she almost seems to believe what she is saying. As soon as Abigail realizes that Judge Danforth may not believe her story she pushes her manipulation tactics further by acting as if the devil is present in the court. To continue to show the power that Abigail demonstrated earlier in the story when threatening the girls, Arthur Miller shows how Abigail still has the girls in thrall. When Mary is trying to confess the truth in the courthouse, Abigail claims to see Mary as a yellow bird. She starts to yell and panic and the girls follow in her lead: “Abby, stop it! (Miller 1313) This shows the power that Abigail has in these situations. If the girls are willing to stay loyal to Abigail through everything that is going on she still has the same power over them that she had at the beginning of the play. Abigail knows that the girls are already anxious about being caught and she uses that to her advantage. Arthur Miller paints Abigail Williams as a vindictive and manipulative girl all the way to Acts 3 and