Who Is Abigail Selfish In The Crucible

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Throughout the entire play of the Crucible, Abigail Williams portrayed the characteristic of a selfish teenager whose actions were only to help herself. She accused many innocent people of committing the crime of witchcraft, which nineteen were later hung. Her entire motive was to get revenge on Elizabeth Proctor so she could have Elizabeth’s husband, John Proctor, all to herself. “She blacken my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her!” Abigail said about Elizabeth to John because, in the past, Abigail used to work for the Proctor’s, until Elizabeth dismissed her from their service because she walked in on John and Abigail committing adultery. After Abigail went back to living with her uncle, John realized that he made a terrible mistake and wanted nothing to do with Abigail, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. When John had finally told her how he truly felt, this was the starting point of Abigail 's selfish ways. She didn’t care about anyone else in the town or how they would be affected if they were accused of witchcraft, she only cared about her feelings and how she was going to get John all to …show more content…

Abigail was willing to hurt anyone in her way to get what she wanted; to have Elizabeth Proctor dead and John Proctor all to herself. Dimmesdale was only thinking of what was best for him, which was to keep his secret to himself and not get a public punishment for his crime. Both characters first thought in any situation was himself/herself. They were willing to hurt the people the loved in order to save themselves and get what they wanted; a man she loved and to save himself from being publicly humiliated. These two characters both portrayed the characteristic of selfish, and in the end it hurt both of them even