How Is Abigail Presented In The Crucible

Abigail Williams is depicted as a seventeen year old trouble-maker in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible. She is a manipulative, deceitful, and selfish character in many ways. She explains in the beginning of the play that she watched her own parents be murdered in front of her by Native Americans. She also felt the stinging rejection of a man who did not want her, after she had fallen in love with him. Her painful past experiences have molded her into the hate-filled character she was during the Salem Witch Trials. She is channeling the anger she feels toward her life and her past traumatic experiences through her reckless actions and false accusations. The pains she is feeling due to rejection and losing family are things no one can easily deal with; Abigail Williams is no exception.

There is no doubt that Abigail has emotional damage from this experience, as anyone would. Not only were both her parents murdered, but they were murdered right in front of her. She also had a secret relationship with an older and married man, John Proctor. As the trials begin, it is apparent that he wants nothing to do with her anymore and that he is attempting to salvage his marriage. Whether the affair was an acceptable action or not, Abigail must have some damage from the sting that rejection leaves in a young girl’s heart when a man they love simply no longer wants them. Some of her spite towards people throughout the play could very well stem from any of these two traumatic memories of her