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How Is Abigail Corrupt In The Crucible

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Society as a whole seeks to satisfy themselves. This may be at the expense of their peers or individuals they are associated with. Arthur Miller brilliantly displays this dark side of humanity’s side in his play The Crucible. This play is based on the Salem witch trials in the early 1690s. During the Salem witch trials over two hundred people were accused of witchcraft and twenty were executed. 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. She …show more content…

This is the most defining characteristic that shows her malice. All cultures have definite laws to punish those who take the life of someone else. It is abhorred by everyone, especially in a culture of piety. Murder is so abominable because it ends life, the God given right of life. Even the malicious Abigail knew this, whether or not if she did respect her Puritan religion. The more people she killed, the less it meant to her. The town started to realize the horror taking place--even some of the girls. But Abigail no longer had any consideration for her sins and continued to persecute more and more innocent people. Abigail Williams proved to be the most heinous character throughout the entirety of the play. Her actions were not justifiable in any way. She was the epitome of an immoral, self-centered person. Many people were executed on her behalf and even more were damned. Everything she did agonized someone else. Through tyranny, she forced her friends to protect her. In the end, though, Abigail had no choice but to run away from where she had previously

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It becomes apparent in the very first Act that Abigail is not a trustworthy character. She is willing to throw blame at anyone to deflect the suspicion from herself, or even to gain something she wants. I suppose in some ways Abigail could be seen as a tragic character, but her manipulative nature sure makes it difficult to sympathize with her. She is willing to hang an innocent woman in her delusion that this will somehow result in John Proctor realizing his love for her. He has made it clear multiple times he has moved on and wishes to not see her but - of course - Abigail only persists.

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650 Words | 3 Pages

As we witness the play unfold, we are able to see Abigail’s true character, and though she tries to conceal her true personality, the reader is able to identify it through her actions and most interestingly her beliefs. Abigail Williams varies far from traditional Puritan society. Instead of abiding by the general rules of Puritans, Abigail decides that she is above the laws. This fact becomes evident when she pursues, then successfully seduces John Proctor, and when she

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875 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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927 Words | 4 Pages

In Arthur millers play "The Crucible" three characters that stand out the most who were leaders of the mob Abigail,Mr Putnam,Revered Parris Abigail is one of the main leaders of the salem witch trials mob because, she led a crusade of girls to lie and deceive people using fear. abigail was in a room alone with all of the girls

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540 Words | 3 Pages

Abigail Williams In the play "The Crucibles" by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams was not such a good Puritan woman. She was a very young and gorgeous women but had sinned a lot against her Puritan religion. Abigail definitely did not make the right decisions for herself. She is an magnificent liar and tends to get others in trouble to save herself from getting caught.

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582 Words | 3 Pages

Abigail defies all judgements against innocence as she is the driven evil force in The Crucible. Arthur Miller shows Abigail Williams to instinctively defend herself, as it is the humane reaction when accused of wrongdoing. It is common to tell a lie but, the intention of sabotage is a different story. Abigail had many tricks up her sleeve to manipulate the court. Her purpose to convince the town of her innocence was one of many.

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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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196 Words | 1 Pages

Abigail, in my eyes, is the most upsetting character to read or watch in The Crucible. Abby is extremely jealous of Elizabeth Proctor. She is so jealous that she decided to make a potion to make Elizabeth die, so she can be with John Proctor. She also is accusing innocent women of witchcraft, just because she isn’t fond of them or wants to get revenge on them.

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1580 Words | 7 Pages

The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play about what happened during the Salem Witch Trials. It gives insight about what people had to deal with in this situation and how they handled it. The trials were basically a big test which helped figuring out whether or not people were guilty of witchcraft. This is an example of what a crucible is. In our world today we still have crucibles and even though they are different than back then, they all relate to each other because of what influence they have on people.

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1772 Words | 8 Pages

The devastating past event of having her parents killed proves that Abigail is a victim of her society as she is an orphan. Parents play a key role for their children while they are growing up, they can teach them right from wrong and Abigail did not have these privileges. She was instead raised by her uncle Parris, who only cares about his own reputation. However, on the other hand, the grieving events of Abigail’s past can only act as an excuse for her decisions to a certain extent as she cannot be considered a victim on

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401 Words | 2 Pages

One of the main characters who is also a prevalent villain in The Crucible is that of Abigail Williams. Abigail Williams is the obvious villain in the play mainly due to the fact that she sends nineteen people to their death with no incentive to but rather that of self-pleasure. In Act I this manipulation is the most prevalent while Abigail is getting hit hard by assumptions of witchcraft by mainly Reverend Parris due to Betty’s comatose state. When, to slip out of the spotlight, says (Abigail 481) “I never called him!

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1353 Words | 6 Pages

Abigail and the society itself are to blame for the events in Salem causing murder and outrage in this town. Abigail is the character mainly to blame for the outrage in Salem. She is a liar, double faced hypocrite that will stop at nothing to get herself out of the mess that she created. Making her one of the main killers of these innocent puritan people.

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705 Words | 3 Pages

One of the main elements that eventually build up to the main plot in the play is power. Many of the characters in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible have a strong desire for power. The Salem witch trials empowered several characters in the play who were previously marginalized in Salem society. It gave them the chance to misuse it leading to horrible suffering and even deaths of some innocent people in the town. Some of these characters are Abigail Williams, Deputy Governor Danforth and Reverend Parris.

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673 Words | 3 Pages

One common question about The Crucible is how Abigail Williams is the most evil force in the play. It is shocking when a girl talks back to authority out of disagreement, but few go as far as Abigail Williams. While she may only be 11 years old, her manipulative and vengeful personality allows her fool her Uncle and later turns a whole town against each other. She is really a master of manipulation and trickery, and she gets herself into affairs without punishment and has threaten all who oppose here. Abigail really is the devil in human form.

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818 Words | 4 Pages

She’s the woman who holds grudges, is selfish, and a great liar. Abigail seems to be especially gifted at spreading destruction and chaos wherever she goes. She is able to manipulate others, for example, all her friends and the whole town. In addition, she obtains control over all of them and sends nineteen uninvolved people to their deaths. All these things add up.

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