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Jealousy And Greed In The Crucible

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Have you ever been blinded by the emotions jealousy and greed? Jealousy and greed can confuse you and act as if they are love. In the book The Crucible, one of the main characters surrendered to the lust of her “love” and ended up being the reason for many innocent killings, even the one of her love. For this reason I strongly believe jealousy and greed had the biggest impact on the book. Though I can see how some readers may think vengeance had the biggest impact on this book, Abigail's jealousy of Elizabeth Proctor led her to tell lies and her greed of wanting John Proctor’s love all to herself, drove her to start the killings of innocent people. As I mentioned before, jealousy and greed can confuse you and act as if they are love which …show more content…

“Elizabeth: She wants me dead. I knew all week it would come to this!
Proctor, without conviction: They dismissed it. You heard her say-
Elizabeth: And what of tomorrow? She will cry me out until they take me!
Proctor: Sit you down.
Elizabeth: She wants me dead, John, you know it!” (Miller 60) In my previous paragraph I showed how Abigail portrayed jealousy and greed. Then with my recent quote, this evidence shows the effects of her emotions. Abigail had accused Elizabeth of attempted murder, “ The girl, the Williams girl, Abigail Williams, sir. She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris’s house tonight, and without word nor warnin’ she falls to the floor. Like a struck beast, he says, and screamned a scream that a bull would weep to hear. And he goes to save her, and stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out. And demandin’ of her how she come to be so stabbed, she--to Proctor now-- testify it were your wife’s familiar spirit pushed it in.”, says Cheever.(74) This piece of evidence helps show that Abigail stops at nothing to remove Elizabeth from the picture. She accuses Goody Proctor so she can then take her place as the farmer's …show more content…

Abigail ruined many innocent lives for her own selfish leisure. For this reason I strongly believe jealousy and greed had the biggest impact on the book. Some readers might have been confused and believed that it is actually vengeance but in my opinion, they're clearly mistaken. Abigail felt as though she was in love with John and let her lust and desires take her down the road of jealousy and greed. This topic is seriously important so people know they are not alone when feeling these emotions. We are all humans and will have moments where we are selfish, and let our jealousy/greed take over. With reading this book we just need to understand how bad things can get if we do not have the right state of mind and not clouded by these emotions. In the book after all the harm is done, it is said that Abigail Williams became a prostitute...my advice to all my readers, don’t follow the path Abigail set for

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Then, Abigail and her friends start to blame others for making them participate in witchery. Eventually, Elizabeth Proctor (John Proctor’s wife) becomes one of the suspects. John Proctor attempts to save his wife, but in the end he had to be hanged in order to save her and his family’s name. Comparison &

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In the play along with the movie The Crucible, John Proctor and Abigail Williams have interesting relationship bound by adultery and lies. Abigail becomes obsessed with John and will do anything to be with him. John quickly shuts down her fantasy ideas and tells her that what happened between them was a one-time thing that will never take place again and a mistake on his part. With this knowledge, she soon spends all her time plotting to get John all to herself and to make him fall in love with her, even if that means taking out John’s wife, Elizabeth. We see many examples of this forbidden relationship through their secret encounters and arguments in both examples of the story, still, there were more scenes of John and Abby alone in the movie than in the play.

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In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the setting is Salem, Massachusetts during the late 1600s where the town’s pious Puritan beliefs directly influence their government. A 17-year-old girl named Abigail Williams had an affair with John Proctor, a wealthy, married man. Abigail is told by John to move on but instead, Abigail starts accusing the townspeople of witchcraft, including John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth. As this hysteria begins to rise, other people such as Thomas Putnam, a rich landowner, start to also allege Salem villagers. In this play, the author illustrates the central idea that people should not allow jealousy to control their actions.

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Despite how tense their relationship has been after Elizabeth found out about the affair, Proctor and Elizabeth still hold strong mutual feelings for each other. When Hale came to arrest Elizabeth under the charge that she had assaulted Abigail through the poppet that Mary had brought home with her, Proctor defended her vigorously by declaring the statement: “I will not give my wife to vengeance!” (Miller, 77). The vengeance that Proctor refers to in this statement is Abigail and her determination to replace Elizabeth as Proctor’s lover. This statement is evidence that Proctor is trying to protect Elizabeth from Abigail’s clutches and prove that he is loyal to his wife.

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This affair was never fully proven, but Proctor did say, “Abby, I may think of you from time to time but I will cut off my hand before I’ll reach for you again” (Miller 1140). Abigail was madly in love with Proctor and wanted Elizabeth out of the picture so she could have Proctor all to her self. Abigail was very jealous of Elizabeth. She thought that if Elizabeth would die, she would get Proctor all to her self. She accused Elizabeth of being a “cold, sniveling woman”(Miller 1140).

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(Miller 77). Proctor shows that just because Abigail is the accuser, doesn’t mean she is innocent and that she is lying so she can gain revenge. Once again, the court ignores all of the reasonable answers that Proctor provides and agrees with Abigail’s theory of witchcraft. After further disagreement with the court, Proctor finally decides to confess his affair with Abigail to prove that she isn’t as innocent as she seems. This action sacrifices Proctor’s good name; which is sacred in the Puritan society.

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As a French Proverb states, “greedy eaters dig their graves with their teeth”. People are consumed with wanting more and more rather than knowing what they need in life. The human race constantly carries on this pattern of greed. A theme of greed is shown in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.

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Proctor realized the truth behind everything and decided it was time to come forward and tell Danforth, “She thinks to dance with me on my wife's grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore's vengeance, and you must see it now” (Miller ). John tries to reveal who Abigail really is but it does not help the lives of those who are to be hanged.

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John Proctor’s words towards Elizabeth signal irritation and annoyance. John Proctor, the main character of The Crucible, has an affair with a much younger girl, Abigail Williams, breaking his wife, Elizabeth’s trust in him. Her suspicion of him rises when he tells her he was in a room alone with Abigail. Elizabeth’s growing mistrust begins to aggravate John, which is revealed when he says, “I’ll not have your suspicion any more” (489). Elizabeth is doubtful after learning about John’s affair with Abigail and her lack of trust in her husband begins to anger him.

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She managed to infiltrate herself into the justice system and convince the court of her lies, and then the court forces the people to either accuse neighbours or friends or to risk being hanged. Mass hysteria takes on the village, changing the social landscape completely, destroying friendships, families and taking human lives. Abigail just sits by through all of that, being more motivated by seeing her plans succeed and she enjoys the power her lies obtain her. This exemplifies that Abigail does not have love or simple lust, she is not just a bad person, but that she has pathological obsession and is living in her own mind, still thinking that John will come back to her and that would be the ultimate fulfillment of her

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In the play The Crucible, character such as Abigail and Thomas Putnam seek revenge from others, so much so that it becomes and recurring theme throughout the play. The theme of revenge can best be shown through the characters Abigail Williams, Thomas Putnam, and Giles Corey. Abigail Williams, one of the main characters in the play, becomes one to the biggest contenders for the theme of revenge. It is revealed in the beginning of the play that Abigail has committed adultery with John Proctor. This becomes the root of the revenge because Abigail now thinks that “there is promise in such sweat.”

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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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Abigail seeks vengeance after her affair with John Proctor. She is still madly obsessed with him. After John rejected her, she makes up lies in court in desperate attempt to get Goody Proctor hanged. She thinks if she gets rid of Goody Proctor she will be able to have John all to herself. One quote that supports this is “I do sir.

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Proctor’s guilt is present when he, attempts to pay for his sins by giving his wife materialistic objects, hesitates to obey his wife's suggestion to accuse Abigail of false bewitchment, and breaks out in anger for not wanting to be judged any longer. The romantic relationship between the Proctor’s is undoubtedly extinguished, but even casual engagement cannot exist without tension since everything John Proctor says to Elizabeth is a symbol of repentance. He offers Elizabeth the possession of a cow and expresses “with a grin” that all he

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Abigail being one of the youngest characters in the book, she’s a little immature. For example, she mocked Mary Warren in the courthouse as if her spirit were sent out on Abigail on the girls and where harming them. During this part of the story, Mary was yelling at them to stop, but the girls insisted with the childish behavior and say “Mary please stop” (Miller 121). When John was jailed later on the story, Abigail tried to bail him out by paying the guards and she wanted him to run away with her. Ohn refused and Abigail ended up stealing Rev. Parris’ money and running away with her

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