ipl-logo

Salem Witch Trials In The Crucible By Abigail Miller

1724 Words7 Pages

Everyone has lied during their life for different reasons. A four-year-old will lie about the cookie they stole, or the haircut they obviously just gave themselves. A teenager will say they gave their best effort on their homework when they were really watching Netflix. Both people want to avoid trouble, yet the consequences of getting caught are not life threatening. However, there are periods in history during which people needed to lie to save their lives. The Crucible, a play focusing on the events of the Salem Witch Trials during the 1600s, highlights the mass hysteria which plagued the people. In this play, a group of girls led by Abigail Williams claim to be the victims of witchcraft. Abby repeatedly puts blame upon others to better …show more content…

Mary Warren, the Proctor’s servant girl, gives a glimpse of how quickly the number of witch accusations have grown when she proclaims the number of people arrested jumped from fourteen to thirty-nine (Miller 1117). Abigail, being the prime perpetrator, has no desire to stop and think about her actions. Besides, she has a story to keep up, and morals would be a distraction for her. Abby even goes to the extreme length of self-harm to accuse Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft. She stabbed herself in the stomach with a needle after seeing Mary make a doll for Elizabeth (Miller 1126). Abby is going to crazy lengths to defend her story, yet is unfortunately heading further away from a chance of redemption. The more she lies, the harder it will be to tell the truth. Later, in the courtroom, she lashes out against Reverend Danforth, questioning why her reward for doing her duty is to be mistrusted, denied, and questioned (Miller 1145). Even though Abby has abandoned her integrity, she now questions the integrity of others. This is a hypocritical phenomenon which resulted from Abby having so much power in the community. Abigail is enjoying her freedom to speak her mind and not face repercussions for her actions, revealing her character to be egocentric and

Show More
Related
415 Words | 2 Pages

She says ,"I have been hurt Mr. Danforth; I have seen my blood runnin' out! I have been near to murdered every day because I did my duty pointing out the Devil's people- and this is my reward? To be mistrusted, denied and questioned like a-"(Act 3, Pg. 108). This statement shows her that Abby likes her newfound power and will let no one take it away and power-hungriness is a villainous trait. The scene that truly shows Abigail as the villain, is the scene where she leads accusations against former accuser Mary Warren when she tries to admit to faking the fits, driving her insane to the point that she rejoins the accusers.

Read More
262 Words | 2 Pages

“The Crucible” took place in Salem Massachusetts. The crucible is also known as the salem witch trials. This play was written by an author named Authur Miller, this story took place in the spring of the year 1692. It all started when Reverend Parris discovered by his bed in prayer his daughter Betty Parris, who is ten years old was lying on the bed inert. The whole town believed her illness was due to witchcraft.

Read More
1055 Words | 5 Pages

Proctor and Abigail have a conversation, and John tells her how he sometimes thinks of her but he can’t ever have a relationship with her. “Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again” (Miller 177). This shows how Proctor regrets what he has done and cuts all ties with Abby, but is still too afraid to let the truth be known.

Read More
1257 Words | 6 Pages

The Salem witch trials proved to be one of the most cruel and fear driven events to ever occur in history. Many innocent people were accused of witchcraft, and while some got out of the situation alive not everyone was as lucky. Arthur Miller the author of The Crucible conveys this horrific event in his book and demonstrates what fear can lead people to do. But the reason as to why Arthur Miller felt the need to write The Crucible in the first place was because the unfortunate reality that history seemed to have repeated itself again. In the article “Are You Now or Were You Ever”, Arthur Miller claims that the McCarthy era and the Salem witch trials were similar and he does this through his choice of diction, figurative language, and rhetorical questions.

Read More
337 Words | 2 Pages

At that moment Abby realizes “Hey, it’s really easy to get people in trouble over this.”, and with her friends she frames several other women. This starts the witch trials, which Abby and other townsfolk exploit to damage people they’ve got any hard feelings with. Particularly, Abby uses the witch trials to accuse John's Wife, Elizabeth,

Read More
756 Words | 4 Pages

Abigail uses her own personal desires to get to what she wants even though many people died in the

Read More
601 Words | 3 Pages

Abby was a malicious person who wanted to do everything in her power to break up the happy home of her married lover John Proctor. This is where Elizabeth Proctor was accused of witchcraft. John takes Mary to court to testify against Abigail and her crew of the false accusations of witchcraft against Elizabeth. The judge was very suspicious of John’s

Read More
867 Words | 4 Pages

“Long-held hatred of neighbors could now be openly expressed and vengeance taken, despite the Bible’s charitable injunctions” (Miller, pg 1129). This quote perfectly explains the Salem Witch Trials and what went through Abigail and the girls heads when they accused innocent people of bewitching them. The Crucible by Arthur Miller is about the small village of Salem and the mass hysteria that was caused by young girls. Innocent people were hung and thrown in jail because they accused these people of bewitching them. The judges, Abigail, Tituba, and the girls are to blame for the Salem Witch Trials because the girls lied and the judges only relied on what these girls said for their evidence but Hale, a minister, was obligated to believe the girls

Read More
652 Words | 3 Pages

Abigail only thinks about herself throughout the play and she doesn’t care who it hurts. By looking at The Crucible, one can see that Abigail Williams develops the theme of reputation, which is important because people who fear of losing their reputation spread hysteria. Abigail Williams is a evil person and cares more about her reputation than anything. She does not care about anyone but herself.

Read More
1580 Words | 7 Pages

(Miller 12). This quote shows how Abigail has changed and what she’d do if she was confronted with such a situation. She made the decision quickly and opted to only save herself. Over the course of the book it gets represented pretty well that she is capable of doing everything to hold up her reputation: she wants to be a saint. Every decision she makes is like a little test that shows what kind of person and friend she is.

Read More
526 Words | 3 Pages

The Salem Witch Trials The Salem witch trials affected many people. Salem Massachusetts has a deep history. It is known for witchcraft. Some were plead guilty and some were falsely accused.

Read More
527 Words | 3 Pages

In the tragic historical play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller portrays a more intensified version of the Salem witch trials in the 1600s. In the beginning of the play, Betty Parris pretends to be under the influence of Satan, which by the temptation of Abigail Williams, the niece of Samuel Parris, the other children accuse innocent lives. One such life is John Proctor, a farmer who pleads to save his wife's life using the evidence that the girls are lying. In all this trauma, many citizens have an internal conflict, which destroys their reputation. Miller develops this idea by how Parris seeks his family to be righteous, how Abigail wants to have the feeling of love and trustworthiness, and how Proctor prohibits the viewing of himself as a saint during his hanging.

Read More
931 Words | 4 Pages

She realized that the new “faction” fighting for power is seeking retribution against those who had provoked the widespread panic (pg 127). She knows that as an ally of the court and as the first to accuse others she will be the primary suspect in the inciting of the chaos in Salem. Abigail, “[fearful]” for her own life once again, decides to “run” from the town of Salem in search for another life (pg 127) (pg 127). Her original decision to pin her wrongdoing on another had set into motion a chain reaction that would destroy her reputation and force her to leave

Read More
841 Words | 4 Pages

She is a self-revolving character who does not notice her own wrongdoings. She puts herself first when she is risking the lives of her family and close friends. This is evident when Abigail says, "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 with a pointy reckoning that will shudder you..."I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!" (Miller 1.2.160) Instead of admitting everything that had been done and receiving minimal punishment, she continued to lie. which forces everyone to hide the truth.

Read More
655 Words | 3 Pages

The fact that Abigail has this much power, not just in the court, but over other people as well helps her to essentially control the whole

Read More

More about Salem Witch Trials In The Crucible By Abigail Miller

Related Topics

Open Document