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Character analysis essay the crucible
The Crucible Essay character analysis
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The Crucible, a play about the persecution of individuals falsely accused of being involved in witchcraft. Many people suffered an unreasonable death caused by a cycle of lies. Abigail Williams , after being involved with John Proctor, begins this cycle of lies to make her feel better about herself and to be more important. Abigail defends her name and her life through evil means. Evil in The Crucible is most best portrayed by Abigail, as seen through her encounters with other characters in which she displays manipulative, selfish and vengeful traits. Abigail is extremely manipulative.She put her manipulation skills on full display in Act 1. Abigail was on the brink of getting busted for witchcraft when she was accused by Parris, but she manages …show more content…
First, in her attempt to save herself from embarrassment, Abigail starts the awful witch-hunt by lying about what she was doing in the forest around evening time with other girls. In conversation Mary Warren pleads with Abigail to “tell the truth…you will only get whipped for dancin”(Miller 39). Abigail will stop at nothing to keep her reputation and she even threatened the girls to keep their mouths shut .Later, Abigail continuously demonstrates that she will stop at nothing to get what she wants and one of her real desire is John Proctor. With her newfound power, Abigail takes the chance and names Elizabeth Proctor, wife of John Proctor, as a witch. Elizabeth is stunned upon discovering she was named in the court. She knew that Abigail would “Dare not call out such a farmer’s wife but there be monstrous profit in it.”(Miller 104). Finally, Abigail demonstrates her selfishness by exploiting the power the community has given to her. She names a few individuals just in light of the fact that she disdains them or on the grounds that they are a risk to her. Abigail emphatically shows her quality of self-centeredness all through the story and uncovers that she will do anything as long as it is in her best
Abigail asks Tituba to help her cast a love spell on John Proctor. Abigail tells the girls who were also involved to keep quiet. Mary Warren begins to feel guilty and tries to persuade the girls to tell the truth. Abigail disagrees with Mary and browbeats the girls “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things… I will bring a pointy reckoning and shutter you”. (Miller 1137) Abigail is threatening the girls that if they say anything about her drinking blood she will harm them. Abigail threatens the girls for her own selfish reasons, Abigail Williams is a villain because she would rather lie and hurt people than tell the truth.
Abigail Williams is motivated to lie about her affair with John Proctor. What motivates her to lie is the thought of getting hung. Another big reason that she could be lying is for vengeance. Abigail loves John Proctor and one night they had an affair and touched. Since then, Abigail has been jealous towards John’s wife, Elizabeth. Abigail goes into the forest with some other young girls and Tituba, who makes a potion to have boys fall in love with them. This is a great example, “ABIGAIL, pulling her away from the window: I told him everything; he knows now, he knows everything we—BETTY: You drank blood, Abby! You didn't tell him that! ABIGAIL: Betty, you never say that
In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Miller demonstrated that it was Abigail William’s flaws – mendacity, lust, and arrogance – that led her to be responsible the most for the tragedy of the witch hunt in Salem, Massachusetts. Driven by lust, Abigail was able to lie to the Salem community in hopes of covering her and her friends’ deeds and gaining the attention of John Proctor. Her arrogance enabled her t0 advance her deceit.
Abigail was able to easily deceive and manipulate the court to try and get what she had set her eyes on, being John Proctor; a much older, married man who had had an affair with Abigail once when she was a sort of servant in his household. After finding of this, his wife Elizabeth had banished Abigail from their house. Abigail sought revenge...
Abigail Williams is manipulative and wants everything to go her way. She is the main character and causes trouble everywhere she goes. The Salem Witch Trials is about hearings and prosecutions of people who were accused of witchcraft. In The Crucible Abigail is a no good villain. Abigail first commits adultery with Elizabeth’s husband. Later on Abigail begins to accuse innocent people of doing witchcraft which causes them to die. Abigail Williams uses the Salem Witch Trials to put out all the resentment she has toward everyone.
Abigail is wicked and confident and is not afraid to take control of situations. This is shown when she is with Parris, Abigail is respectful on the surface but she hides her resentment and disrespect. She talks back to defend her name and in Act One, she suggests to Parris," Uncle, the rumour of witchcraft is all about; I think you'd best go down and deny it yourself." She is also aggressive and forceful, the other girls are afraid of her. When Mary Warren suggested that they should confess to dancing in the woods. Abigail threatens them,."..I have seen some reddish work done at night and i can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!"
Abigail and the girls were in the woods performing witchcraft for their own purpose. Abigail’s goal was to place a spell on Elizabeth, wife of John Proctor, and Abigail and John Proctor recently had an affair. Now, Salem is spreading the rumor of witchcraft, Abigail takes the opportunity to accuse Elizabeth of witchcraft so she and John can be together. Abigail has a perfect opening to implement her plan when she saw Mary Warren, one of the girls in the woods dancing, making a doll and stabbing the needle in the doll’s stomach two inches deep; therefore, Abigail employs this exact same thing. “She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris’s house tonight, and without wor...
When Proctor sleeps with Abigail, it “put knowledge in [her] heart,” (22) and makes her envious of Proctor 's wife, Elizabeth. Trying to find a way to get rid of Elizabeth Proctor, Abigail went into the forest with Tituba and a lot of other girls and “drank a charm to kill John Proctor 's wife!” (18). As the play progresses, Abigail gets power from the role she plays in court. Once Abigail gets this power she accuses Elizabeth Proctor of being a witch and Elizabeth gets thrown in jail. He realized that what happened between him and Abigail had a direct connection with Elizabeth getting arrested. Proctor finally understands that it was his fault and that “vengeance is walkin Salem”.(73) He realizes that because of him “crazy little children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law.”(73) This shows how John Proctor
For example, she manipulates the girls by lying about what they were doing in the forest. Abigail really uses manipulation to intimidate these girls into following her plan of not saying the truth. Abigail bullies these girls. She verbally and physically attacks them. Abigail manipulates them by saying "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 and bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it" (175). It means that Abigail can do really bad things to these girls. She can smack them or even kill them. Abigail is so mean, and she is willing to do anything to the girls because she doesn't want to get caught of what she does. Abigail makes the girls to get scared, and they don't tell anything. She is very intelligent to manipulate
The play, The Crucible, is a fireball of guilt, evil, and good compiled into one magnification. It is a play with tremendous feelings, with many inside twists hidden in the archives of the true story. It is a play with emotional feelings; feelings of anger, hate, and evil, yet also feelings of goodness, and pureness. Undeniably, The Crucible is a play illustrating good versus evil. The principal characters, Abigail Williams, John Proctor, Ann Putnam and Marry Warren all contain within them elements of good and evil.
In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, the main character Abigail Williams is to blame for the 1692 witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Abigail is a mean and vindictive person who always wants her way, no matter who she hurts. Through out the play her accusations and lies cause many people pain and suffering, but she seemed to never care for any of them except John Proctor, whom she had an affair with seven months prior to the beginning of the play. John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth used to employ Abigail, until Elizabeth found out the affair and threw Abigail out. Although John told Abigail that the affair was over and he would never touch her again, she tried desperately to rekindle their romance. "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." (Page 23) She claimed that she loved John and that he loved her. Before the play began, Abigail tried to kill Elizabeth with a curse. She thought that if Elizabeth were dead John would marry her. Further into the play, Abigail accused Elizabeth of witchcraft. She saw Marry Warren, the Proctor's servant, making a poppet. Mary put a needle into the doll, and Abigail used that for her accusation. She stabbed herself with a needle and claimed that Elizabeth's soul had done it. Although Abigail claimed she loved John, she may have just loved the care and attention he gave her. John cared for her like no one else had. In a way he could be described as somewhat of a father figure to her. When Abigail was just a child, she witnessed her parents' brutal murders. "I saw Indians smash my dear parent's heads on the pillow next to mine..." (page 20) After her traumatic experience, she was raised by her uncle, Reverend Parris, who is somewhat of a villain. In the play it was written, "He (Parris) was a widower with no interest in children, or talent with them." (Page 3) Parris regarded children as young adults who should be "thankful for being permitted to walk straight, eyes slightly lowered, arms at the sides, and mouths shut until bidden to speak." (Page 4) Therefore, it is obvious to see that Abigail grew up without any love or nurturing.
From the beginning, she established a licentious and conniving character by having intercourse with John Proctor, while she was out of wedlock, and while he was married to Elizabeth. While ranting, Abigail says, “ She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! .She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a -” (23-24). One of the only things Abigail ever cared about was her “name” within the village. Williams went to extreme lengths to protect her “name” and she was fine with destroying other people's’ lives, reputation, and dignity. Abigail also says, “You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet! John, pity me, pity me” (24)! By blinding herself with the false idea of someone loving her, Abigail she destroys her self value by asking for the pity of the man who fails to love her back. She would rather have her name pure than admit she danced in the woods, and receive a light whipping. Instead, she seeks revenge on a legitimate housewife, and takes the entire village with her to the
Elizabeth tries to convince John to expose Abigail as a fraud; he refuses, and she becomes jealous, then accusing him of still suppressing feelings for her. Their servant and one of Abigail’s circle, Mary Warren returns from Salem with the news that Elizabeth has been accused of witchcraft, but the court didn't pursue the claim. John and Elizabeth continue their argument once they sent Mary to bed, only to be interrupted by Reverend Hale. Giles Corey and Francis Nurse come to the Proctor home with the news that their wives have been arrested. Officers of the court suddenly arrive and arrest Elizabeth. After they have taken her, Proctor threatens Mary, telling her that she must go to Salem and expose Abigail and the other girls as frauds. The next day, Proctor brings Mary to court to testify that the girls are lying. Judge Danforth is suspicious of Proctor’s motives. Proctor insists in his charge, convincing Danforth to allow Mary to testify. Mary tells the court that the girls are lying. When the girls are brought in, they turn the tables by accusing Mary of bewitching them. Proctor, furious, confesses his affair with Abigail and accuses her of being motivated by jealousy. To test Proctor’s claim, Danforth summons Elizabeth and asks her if Proctor has been unfaithful to her. Despite her usually being honest, she lies to
When we are first introduced to John Proctor, we learn of his affair with Abigail Williams, Abigail's involvement in the accusations of witchcraft, and of John's desire to do what is honorable. Because of John's desire to do what is honorable, he ends the affair with Abigail and begins to attempt to repair his broken marriage. Abigail's jealously of Elizabeth and desire to be John's wife leads to Elizabeth's name being mentioned in court. Abigail's mention of Elizabeth's name in court reveals her attempt to get rid of Elizabeth for she knows Elizabeth will claim innocence and be hung if she does. When word reaches the Proctors, about Abigail's mentioning of Elizabeth's name in court, John concludes that Abigail's motive is to kill Elizabeth. Knowing this information, John is faced with his first difficult decision, save his reputation, keep his affair a secret, and let the accusations continue, or ruin his reputation, tell of his affair, and end the girls' accusations. Not wanting to ruin his good name, John decides to hold his tongue and because of this the trials continue and more accusations are made, some of which lead to his wife's and his friends arrest for witchcraft and bewitchment.
How can a girl who condemned seventy two to a death sentence and drank a charm to kill a man’s wife, a man she has slept with on more than one occasion be the victim? It’s possible when the town she lives in is worse than her. Although Abigail Williams is typically thought of as the antagonist of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, she is in fact a victim as much as any other tragic character in the play.