The Crucible Abigail Williams Manipulation Essay

Abigail Williams is historically known for her selfish and vengeful actions during the Salem Witch Trials. During The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, Abigail does nothing to help the trials move along, nor does she do anything to help the accused. She instigates and falsely accuses the town members of crimes they didn't do in order to push the original blame away from her. Abby even goes as far as planting lies and blaming her own friends for the sake of gaining power over others. She would be considered an instigator, or a person who provokes and brings up trouble. Abigail is an instigator in the play and she uses the power she gains from it. She lies, manipulates, and abuses the people of Salem with the power they give her. At the beginning

She also gains a higher social ranking as the acts go by and Abby uses the power of her status to get her way. Abby is known for being able to lie very easily, and because of that she can twist and control people to join her side. During the trials of Act 3, she ends up going as far as manipulating her own friend, Mary Warren, in order to make her side of the story more convincing to the judge. At the trials, Abigail knows that Mary is easy to manipulate and that she is very easy to convince, so she makes a lie about Mary and says “... in a genuine conversation with the ‘bird’, as though trying to talk it out of attacking her: But her God made my face; you cannot want to tear my face. Envy is a deadly sin, Mary” (Miller 652). In this scene, Abby is lying to the court to make them turn against Mary Warren and her deposition, as well as to convince Mary to come back to her side. The “bird” the girls see is just a trick of manipulation to make Mary feel guilty for trying to side against Abigail in court. Social status is an important value to the Puritans in The Crucible. With a higher social status comes more power over others. Abigail works her way up the Puritan social ladder and manages to almost come to the top. She works for the court and has the ability to speak her mind to anyone regardless of their status. From the beginning

Throughout the play, she lies and is quick to accuse others. In the beginning, she is told to be known for finding it easy to lie and she lies to get the attention away from herself. She accuses others during Act 1 to push the blame away from herself and the girls to other victims in the town. Abigail also manipulates the story and other people, and abuses her authority and power to get her way. In Act 3, she is found manipulating her own friend to get her way in court,. aAnd she uses her authority to threaten others to keep their secrets quiet. To bring all the stated information together, Abigail is an instigator in The Crucible. She lies, accuses, manipulates, and abuses to take the attention away from herself and make others seem as the victims of the Salem Witch