Abigail A Sociopath In The Crucible

Is It Really Her Fault?

What is a sociopath? It is define in The American Heritage College dictionary as, “One who is affected by antisocial behavior.” Abigail Williams is 17 year girl in the town of Salem in 1692 and a fictional character from the story The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, so signs of sociopathic behavior, so in this study I will analyze both sociopathic characterizes and Abigail herself and will decide if she is quote on quote “insane.”

Now in order to determine if Abigail is a Sociopath, we need to find out what a Sociopath is and signs of their behaviors. Early I gave you a definition of Sociopath, but that was a condense version of it. The extended version is “as a person who has an antisocial disorder. This disorder

is characterized by a disregard for the feelings of others, a lack of remorse or shame, manipulative behavior, unchecked egocentricity, and the ability to lie in order to achieve one's goals.” Now throughout my research I’ve found that there are four common signs to spotting a sociopath.

The first is a lack of shame. A sociopath can and will do whatever it take to achieve their and fell little to no remorse for what they have done or will do. Not caring if having to restore to violent. Continuing with the signs this is the second sign. Seeing if the person is constantly lying, so Sociopath have no problem lying to the point where lying become a second language to them and is uncomforted telling the truth in some cases. In other case the person will start lying so much that the person in question will start believing their own lies. Other will conjure up these types of stories about their past or even get every day and say “I’m going to work,” even thought that person is unemployed. The next sign and the third sign is to see if they are able to stay eerily calm in spite of circumstances. Sociopaths can experience highly emotional events without displaying the least bit of emotion, at least on the surface. Studies show that people who are

sociopaths do not demonstrate anxiety when shown disturbing images or when given small electrical shocks. The final sign of a sociopath is if they are extremely charming--- at first. Sociopaths are great charmers since they know what they want and know how to ask all the right questions. A Sociopath is like a con artist in being charming, but also having a secret agenda. They need to charm people in order to get what they want and get closer to achieving their main goal. They also learn how to blend into their community putting up a false attitude and an even faker smile. Even though sociopath seem to be extremely social they can, in a blink of an eye, become extremely isolated (without felling deprived) for weeks on end. Some are charming in the way that they have a glow to them and often times radiated sexuality. These are four signs that are the easiest and most common signs spotted but other are exceptionally, intelligent, is manipulative, violent, behavior, huge ego, uninterrupted makes eye contact, face reading, and has few friend. These are just other signs of a sociopath and yes some people can and will show this behavior does not mean that, that person is a sociopath, but at the same time you may never know so watch out for these signs in your friends, parents, teacher, or even you boy/girl friend
Now that we know what a sociopath is and how to spot them it’s time to move to the character in question 17 year old Abigail Williams.

In order to see if she is a sociopath and not just showing sociopathic behavior is learning more about her. In The Crucible Ms. William was orphan as a child and is still unmarried in a strict Puritan community in the year of 1692 (where women were thought of as property and should be married by the age of 16). In a social quote on quote “food chain” she ranks very low only above the slaves and social outcast. In Salem young women are to see men and minster as men of god and their rules are the rules of god. Now thought out the play Ms. William is portrayed as the villain who well tell lies, manipulates her friend and the town of Salem and later in the play seen nineteen innocent people to their death. She also has a jealousy towards Elizabeth Proctor since when she was working as a maid in the Proctor eventually leads to rumors popping up about her having an affair with the man of the house John Proctor and later falling madly in love with the Proctor, but John swears that he had never touch her. Early in the play Ms. Williams is accused of witchcraft since she has been revealed dancing in the woods late at night with her uncle’s slave (Tituba) and voodoo ritual, and is asked to point out the rest of the “witches” in the

town.

From the research I’ve done on both sociopaths and Abigail Williams I could without of doubt say that Ms. Abigail is a sociopath. From the signs I state back in my first paragraph about the 4 most common sign of a sociopath fits in to the character’s profile. The first one being a lack of shame or remorse and in the second paragraph I also state that she eventually sends nineteen people to their death and she so no remorse what so ever to people have die as well showing the third sign which is being eerily calm during their death. So I conclude that the character of Ms. Abigail William is a sociopath due to my research. If you think I’m wrong that find me proof and then we’ll talk but due to my research and study Ms Williams is quote on quote “insane.”