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Revenge and its consequences
Pros and cons of revenge
Revenge and its consequences
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Revenge is a common theme across all types of literature. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible both heavily deal with revenge. Abigail Williams and Rodger Chillingworth both focused on revenge towards those who wronged them; however Chillingworth was cheated on while Abigail was cheated with. Rodger Chillingworth travels to meet with his wife after being delayed by a ship wreck and being taken captive by Indians. Upon arrival he sees his wife on the scaffold in the town’s market place where he learns of his wife’s sin. He speaks with a man in the crowd who informs him that Hester refuses to say who the father is, “Madam Hester absolutely refuseth to speak, and the magistrates have laid their heads together …show more content…
Abigail is attracted to Proctor and instead of suppressing her attraction, she pursues and seduces him. Once Goody Proctor learns of the affair Abigail is quickly removed from the home. She resents Goody Proctor because she prevents her from being with Proctor. Proctor goes to the home of Reverend Paris one night after rumors spread around town of witchcraft. Abigail confronts him, “I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I come near! Or did I dream that? It’s she who put me out, you cannot pretend it were you. I saw your face when she put me out, and you loved me then and you do now!” (Miller 145). Abigail resents Goody Proctor for kicking her out and claims that she is spreading rumors around town about her. To prove that Abigail is not being truthful with her claims about the witch trials, Proctor goes to the courts to tell of their affair. Looking for validation Governor Danforth calls forth Goody Proctor to confirm her husband’s accusations. The judge does not allow her to look at her husband when she is called in and in hopes to save him, she denies the claim when questioned (Miller 194). Proctor is then also taken into custody and later hung. Proctor’s sinful choices with Abigail cost the lives of countless men and women in the Salem witch …show more content…
With no proof of Chillingworth having any knowledge of medicine, it is easy to presume his actions were worsening Dimmesdale’s health. Chillingworth lets his hopes of revenge consume his life. At the end of the novel Dimmesdale publicly admits his sin and Chillingworth dies within the year because his hope of revenge was the only thing keeping him alive, “Nothing was more remarkable than the change which took place, almost immediately after Mr. Dimmesdale’s death, in the appearance and demeanor of the old man known as Rodger Chillingworth. All his strength and energy- all his vital and intellectual force- seemed to at once desert him; insomuch that he positively withered up, shriveled away, and almost vanished from mortal sight, like an uprooted weed that lies in the wilting in the sun,” (Hawthorne 200). Likewise, during the witch trials Abigail lies and accuses Goody Proctor of being a witch to seek revenge. Proctor speaks to the court to tell them that Abigail’s claims are out of spite, “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; I set myself entirely in your hands. I know you must see it now,” (Miller 189). Abigail holds up her lies and does not respond to the claims. Goody Proctor is saved for some time because she bears
The first reason Abigail is to blame for the deaths of the innocent Puritans is her lustful personal ambition to be John Proctor’s wife. John and Abigail previously had an affair, which basically began the hysteria. An exasperated John attempted to tell Abigail the affair is a thing of the past, by saying, “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.” Abigail, however, relentlessly strives to keep their “romance” alive. Because of this intense jealousy of John’s wife, there is an enormous amount of tension between Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail even goes as far as to consume a potion with the intent to murder Elizabeth, which Betty confronts her about by saying, “You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!” Abigail is so envious of Elizabeth, she does the unthinkable by accusing her of witchcraft. She claims that Goody Proctor’s spirit came to her and stabbed her with a needle. She felt that if she could dispose of Elizabeth Proctor, she could take her rightful position as John’s wife.
Firstly, John Proctor is not seen to be a good man because in chapter one is affair with Abigail is exposed. “Give me a word, John. A soft word. (Her concentrated desire destroys his smile.) From this it can be seen that before they did have an affair but now it is over. The personal pronoun ‘me’ shows how she wants him all to herself and that the meeting is held in secret. The word ‘desire destroy’ in the stage directions is then used to contradict her feelings as Miller suggests how their affair is now over but Abigail doesn’t want it to be and that she still loves Proctor. From this quote it is then shown that John Proctor can’t be a good man if he committed adultery. However, John Proctor also speaks to Abigail to mention how their affair is mentioned and how their affair to him was at his moment of weakness when his wife, Elizabeth was ill. As it was a mistake Proctor mentions how Abigail should, “Wipe it out of mind.” This shows that he wants to forget it ever happened and that he also doesn’t want anybody to find out about this. From this it shows that John Proctor is not a good and as when his wife was ill and when he was at his weakest he committed a sin. If the people of Salem were to hear...
Abigail meets with the other girls and tells them to keep quiet and to not admit to anything. A crowd gathers at Reverend Paris 's house to discover what had happened and Reverend Pars tries to calm them down. During this commotion John Proctor, a farmer who lives outside of the town, speaks with Abigail. Abigail had worked for Proctor but was fired when his wife suspected that they had engaged in an affair. Abigail still desires to be with Proctor and tells him so but Proctor shoots the idea down telling her to stop fooling around with the
John Proctor a well-respected man in the city of Salem has a deep secret that plays a major role later on in the story. He had an intimate affair with a younger single girl named Abigail which he regrets greatly. Proctor shows his disgust when he argues with Abigail by insisting, “Abby I never give you hope to wait for me” (page168). Proctor exclaims that he surely regrets his sin and doesn’t want Abigail to think that he loves her and not his own wife. Although Proctor may still have feelings about Abigail he reassures her that he will never have emotional relationships with her ever again. He had the ultimate opportunity to get back at Abigail and stop the witch trials from happening when he meets Abigail alone in the woods; upon their encounter she confesses to John, “We were dancing in the woods last night and my uncle leaped in ...
Despite these good qualities, John Proctor had many flaws as well. Lust was a constant struggle for Proctor in many forms. For instance, when Abigail was working for him and his wife, he lusted after her and committed adultery by having an affair. Afterwards, Proctor was extremely repentant and stopped seeing her. “Abby, you’ll put it out of mind. I’ll not be comin’ for you more” (Miller 21). This essentially lead to his demise because of the affair, Abigail became infatuated over Proctor to the point where she went into the woods with her friends and Tituba and practiced “witchcraft” to kill Proctor’s wife. “You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife!” (Miller18). When the girls were caught and the whole “witch” hysteria broke out, people were getting accused and executed, including Proctor, who wouldn’t confess to witchcraft and died because of it. If Proctor never lusted after Abigail and had an affair with her in the first place, accusations of “witchcraft” would have never happened and his death. Throughout the book unlike many other characters, Proctor never accepted the girl's story about witchcraft to be true. He on the other hand knew
Arthur Miller shows us Proctor as a common farmer, who is honest, and respectable, who only cares for his family. Proctor lives in the town with his wife and their children. Nevertheless, as the play goes, Miller lets us know that Proctor has a significant secret, an extramarital relation with Abigail Williams, relation that was over for Proctor, but not for Abigail. In the following passage Abigail tells Proctor, why she loves him: “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart! I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was thought by all these christians women and their covenanted men! and now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet.”(page 177) Abigail does not want to believe that everything is over between her and Proctor. For Proctor everything is something of the past, while there is
The absence of a healthy mind also can make a person evil, or do evil acts.Throughout the play, Abigail’s main objective is to replace Elizabeth Proctor and to save herself. She turns to extreme plans to do accomplish this. Convinced that she is doing the right thing, Abigail attempts to call upon the Devil to kill Goody Proctor. This delusion and ignorance to the severity of the situation is evil. Williams does not realize that calling the death upon another is a sinful act of harming one's neighbor. Instead she believes it is for the greater good. In Arthur Miller’s deleted scene, he touches upon Abigail's possible mental issue in another encounter with John Proctor. Displaying both a vulnerable side of Abigail and a violent one was deleted in hopes of stopping the reader to view her as innocent. However her mental state helps give reason to her actions. Abigail grabs and shouts at John, yelling, “Never in this world! I know you John-- you are this moment singing secret hallelujahs that your wife will hang!” (Miller 143). She manipulates her own mind to believe that the arrest of Elizabeth will be good for the two of them. With these thoughts Abigail continues with the evil acts of manipulation. The story sways her goals of killing a woman for her own advantage to killing others in order to save herself. Due to her feelings toward John, she not only schemes a plan to accuse Elizabeth of
For instance, Parris, Abigail’s uncle and the main reverend of Salem, feels great at first when people started to get accused of being witches. He knows that witchery is unlikely in Salem because the girls admitted to just playing. However, when Parris claims that Abigail can see spirits, he saves his position in the church. It is only when he sees that he may lose his life due to this lie, that he wants to stop. Parris expresses this to the judges, “Tonight, when I open my door to leave my house—a dagger clattered down” (200). Parris starts to care when his life is at stake, but he was stress-free for a while. He foresaw positive effects of this lie, but he understands his mistake of letting the executions continue. Lastly, Proctor admits to the judge that he had an affair with Abigail because he wants this injustice to end. The judge takes Abigail’s side, but they still ask Elizabeth to confirm or deny Proctor’s confession because she is known for only telling the truth. The judge demands an
Her relationship with John Proctor and her animosity to Goody Proctor also interest is as they are reasons why Elizabeth Proctor was accused as a witch and later the death of John. Abigail loved John but John only lusted because of strains in his marriage. When Elizabeth expelled Abigail, John gave up. This is shown when Abigail asked John."Give me a word,John. A soft word." John replies,"I will cut of my hand before I'll ever reach for you again." Abigail cannot have John, this caused bitterness and hatred towards Elizabeth. She says," She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me, She is a cold, snivelling woman..."
Not only does Abigail Williams accuse the town of Salem to be full of witches, but also accuses Elizabeth Proctor of being a witch. Abigail has everyone in fear of being accused of witchcraft since she has the power over the town of Salem. For instance, Abigail accuses Elizabeth of being a witch: “She wants me dead. I knew all week it would come to this!...and what of tomorrow? She will cry me out until they take me!” (Miller 1274). It did not surprise Elizabeth that Abigail accused her of being a witch after Elizabeth fired her seven months prier for committing adultery with her husband John. Abigail will go to any extent to have John Proctor to her self. Abigail rules Elizabeth as well as the town of Salem since no one can prove her wrong.
... Chillingworth is the representation of the punishment that falls on all sinners. Hester, whose daughter and Scarlet Letter are always reminding everyone of her adultery, is always in the open, and has no chance to hide her shame. Dimmesdale, who calls himself a pollution and is so tormented on the inside that he feels the need to physically harm himself by scourging, is eaten from the inside out, and Roger Chillingworth, whom one just saw is a vengeful monster, who swears revenge on the father, and who lives for that single purpose, truly is retribution. These people are tormented by the type of sin they portray, and their punishments last so long, and are so painful (especially in Hester and Dimmesdale’s cases) that anyone could easily make the argument that the literal flames, and the stake that accompanies them, would be preferable punishments for these sinners.
John Proctor and Reverend Hale are similar as they have both detected the corruption beneath the witchcraft accusations and attempt to prevent false testimonies and innocent people being hanged. John Proctor easily realizes the truth of the witchcraft trials because of his affair with Abigail Williams, one of the leading culprits of the hysteria in Salem. Abby exclaims that “Elizabeth hates me, uncle, she must, for I would not be her slave. It’s a bitter woman, a lying, cold, sniveling woman, and I will not work for such a woman” (Miller 12). Abigail feels this way, not because Elizabeth has mistreated her, but instead because Elizabeth is Proctor’s wife, a nuisance to Abigail and Proctor’s relationship. Additionally, after Elizabeth found out about the affair, she fired Abigail, thus ridding Abigail
As the play advances, we realize the protagonist, Abigail, is lying to the court room. She has committed multiple unforgivable crimes such as adultery, and wishing bad on others in order to achieve something herself. She wishes that Goody Proctor be put to death in hopes John will accept her into Elizabeth’s place. Abigail’s opinion of Goody Proctor is that she is a “gossiping liar” however it is clear that she is actually a truthful person, not worthy of death (Miller 145) . Abigail is facing an internal conflict because while she knows that confessing to adultery and possibly which craft is the right thing to do yet she still threatens everyone to not give away the real story of what happened that
The true antagonist of the play is the town of Salem itself, because of the judgemental and self concerned peoples, and its oppressive views. Abigail;s outrageous actions are due to her desensitized views on death and actions otherwise viewed as unethical. From her youth ABigail recalls: “ I saw indians smash my dear parents’ head on the pillow next to mine and i have seen some reddish work at night” (Miller 20), because of this Abigail is numb to death and suffering and is in fact quite morbid. There is no problem in condemning other to death in Abigail’s eyes because she doesn’t see the issue with it. Abigail does not seem to comprehend that it is unethical to let people be hanged and stoned to death and has no issue telling others that she “ can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down” (Miller 20). Not only is Abigail desensitized to murder and death, she is also numb to other unethical dilemmas. Abigail is desensitized to corrupting the Proctor’s marriage because of her childish lust and obsession for John Proctor. Such desires can be seen through her encounters with Proctor. In regards to their so called “relationship” she says: “it’s she put me out, you cannot pretend it were you. I saw your face when she put me out, and you loved me then and you love me now!” (Miller 22). Abigail does not view her behavior t...
This was also suspicious and of course she didn’t say it was true. The only reason why she did this is because she didn’t like his wife. Later on in the play it specifies that Proctor and Abigail had an affair. This is wrong on both parts. Abigail is an underage individual and Proctor is married. By doing this activity, Proctor committed adultery which is a sin. He could go to court and be hanged for this. Not only he has to live with this forever, he also hurt his wife and put his relationship in a bad condition. Abigail was there maid in their house, this is how they got to hookup. She was always jealous of Goody Proctors and John Proctors relationship. This could have influenced her to commit this act. When Goody Proctor found out, she was hurt but she still managed to stay with Proctor. One reason is because they had children and she loved him. They didn’t have the same relationship that they used to have but they still managed to stay with him. Goody Proctor also fired Abigail from her job. This made Abigail even more fired