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Arthur miller the crucible characters essay
The crucible arthur miller analysis
The crucible arthur miller analysis
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In act two of The Crucible, a poppet with a needle in it’s stomach is how Elizabeth is accused of stabbing Abigail. Abigail cannot let the affair she had with John Proctor seven months ago. She will do anything she can to get John Proctor for herself, even accusing Elizabeth of witchcraft. While Abigail Williams isn’t physically in act two, her dark shadow is noticed throughout the act causing trouble for the characters, especially Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail and John’s affair seven months ago is still causing problems between Elizabeth and him. There’s a lot of tension in one of the beginning exchanges between Elizabeth and John. “Elizabeth: ‘Then go and tell her she’s a whore. Whatever promise she may sense- break it, John, break it.’ John:
‘ Good, then. I’ll go.’ Elizabeth: ‘Oh, how unwillingly’”(Miller 1054). This exchange between John and Elizabeth signifies the worry she has about John not wanting to break off the affair because he still has feelings for Abigail. John doesn’t have eyes only for Elizabeth anymore. “Mary Warren: ‘Abby’ll charge lechery on you, Mr. Proctor” (Miller 1065). Even though John ended his affair with Abigail seven months ago, John still blushes when he sees Abigail in town. If John goes to court blaming Abigal for his wife’s arrest, Abigail could tell the court that John is lusting after her and they would believe every word Abigail says. Abigail doesn’t just want John to herself by simply ending his relationship with Elizabeth, she also wants Elizabeth to go to jail. One of the easiest ways to blame someone is to accuse them of being a witch and so Abigail does just that. She accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft which leads to her arrest. “ John: ‘Who charged her?’ Cheever: ‘Why Abigail Williams charge her’” (Miller 1060). Abigail blames Elizabeth for her injury and being accused of a witch is getting arrested. Abigail knows that if Elizabeth is arrested, then John will be all alone and she can make her move on him. Abigail self harms herself just so Elizabeth can be taken away. “Cheever: ‘ And demandin’ of her how she came to be so stabbed, she testify it were your wife’s familiar spirit pushed it in’” (Miller 1061). Abigail goes as far as stabbing herself with a needle just to accuse Elizabeth of being a witch. Since the victim's’ words are law, Abigail can say that anything happened and the court believes her so even though Elizabeth says that she would never stab Abigail, it doesn’t matter. Abigail’s hostility is felt throughout act two. There were no limits to Abigail's dark presence in act two. Throughout the act, she continuously causes trouble for Elizabeth. Abigail makes John untruthful and a liar in Elizabeth’s eyes. Regardless and ignorant of Elizabeth being innocent and not a witch, Abigail accuses her of witchcraft, just to get closer to John Proctor which gets Elizabeth arrested. Abigail is the real menace and she should have been arrested instead of Elizabeth for lying to the court.
Among these are the adulterous relationship between Abigail Adams and John Proctor, Abigail’s intense hatred of Elizabeth, numerous accusations towards Salem citizens, and the pressing of Giles Corey‒ only to name a few. Abigail and Proctor’s relationship has a major influence on the play as a whole. This conflict is the driving force of the plot. Abigail’s loathing of Elizabeth is also portrayed in the film. Abigail claims that Elizabeth’s possessed spirit stabbed her with a needle; this needle was found in the poppet gifted to Elizabeth by Mary Warren. Abigail forms a devious plot in hopes that Elizabeth will either be arrested or killed, so she can take her place as the wife of John Proctor. What Abigail does not intend is for John to be the one hanged. Giles Corey is pressed to death for his refusal to give a name. Without these events, the themes of injustice and selfishness would no longer be important to the
In the Crucible there was three characters that stood out from all the other ones in this wicked story. Abigail Williams was a big influence in this story she would lie and lie to get out of things and she was also the leader of the girls in the woods. Furthermore she also had an affair with John Proctor which made John and Elizabeth relationship unstable. Also John Proctor runs into a situation at the end of the story where he is put in the position if he wants his pride of not signing that paper full of lies or die knowing he did the right thing of not lying. Additionally, Elizabeth Proctor has never lied ever until the day John was being prosecuted for his witchcraft and possibly adultery and Elizabeth lied so that his name wouldn't be ruined.
In the play “The Crucible” Abigail Williams, Mary Warren, and Elizabeth Proctor are all concerned with their reputation. Even though, Abigail Williams started the whole thing all together she is still concerned about her reputation only. Elizabeth Proctor cares about her and John her husband's reputation. Mary Warren cares about how people look at her and her personal reputation of what others think about her.
In the beginning of act two of The Crucible, Elizabeth confronts John Proctor, her husband, about him seeing what looks like his mistress, Abigail. Elizabeth knew he had an affair with Abigail while she was sick. She knew John would go into town to see Abigail while she was at home and ever since then, she’s had suspicion of what John is doing when he goes to town. “John, if it were not Abigail that you must go to hurt, would you falter now? I think not.”(pg.163) While John is trying to put in effort into their marriage, Elizabeth ignores him because she is hurt that her husband would betray her with another girl. John trys to show her that he is not longer interested in Abigail says, “Let you look to your own improvement before you go to judge your husband any more. I have forgot Abigail…”(pg.163)
Elizabeth is angry that John was having an affair with Abigail. John feels that he has endured enough. He knows what he did was not right, but he demands to Elizabeth that he needed a passion that she was not giving him. John uses emotional appeal to enforce his claim. She is offended at his suggestion that it was her fault that he was cheating on her. John says that he is only
John realizes that his good name was at risk of being destroyed due to his edgy marriage. After his wife is accused against, he sacrifices his good name himself to get his wife to be released. Elizabeth has the reputation to never tell a lie, and John knows this so he decides to confess to the court about his affair with Abigail while Elizabeth isn’t in the room because he thinks that she will tell the truth about the affair and not lie to keep his name. But when Elizabeth came in she lied to save his name, because she did not know what he did. Having this occur, shows that John And Elizabeth may be lying about the whole situation which makes them look
to dancing round a fire in the woods but she says that it was not
Elizabeth Proctor is being judged unfairly in the book The Crucible. She's being treated unfair while at her home, because she is being blamed for witchcraft. Abigail williams had accused her of being a witch, because she wants her out the picture, so she being with John Proctor. She is also being accused of stabbing Abigail with a needle with her spirits while Abigail was eating dinner at her house with Rev. Parris, & Gov. Danforth, and Judge Hathorne. Abigail had gotten stabbed in stomach two inches deep, and when Ezekiel Cheever and Marshal Herrick showed up at the Proctor house they had a warrant for Elizabeth. While Cheever and Herrick were at the Proctor house, Cheever had asked for any poppets she may have, and she says that she hasn't
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.
Elizabeth is often cold and not open towards people yet she changes as the novel progresses. Abigail accuses her friends and the townspeople of witchcraft; her motivations for turning against her friends are mainly because of Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail had an affair with Elizabeth's husband, which made Elizabeth fire Abigail. Abigail is in love with John and while talking to him she says, "I wake and walk about the house as though I'd find you comin' through some door" (Act I). This illustrates her love towards John and that she will never forget their affair and how Elizabeth broke them up.
Abigail in the Crucible Act 1 Within the Crucible, there lies a complex story involving the accounts and happenings surrounding the 1692 Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Act 1 of the Crucible sets up the unfolding of events which lead to witch accusations and increasing superstition among the puritan community. The Crucible reveals the intriguing and malicious character of Abigail Williams to be a manipulative and unabashed liar, who possesses the remarkable quality of self preservation even among what seem to be insurmountable odds. The character of Abigail Williams demonstrates domineering behavior throughout the act in such events as Abigail’s threatening the girls to remain silent regarding events in the forest, Abigail’s attempts of seducing John Proctor,
Throughout the entire play, Abigail is angry at John for not loving her back after the affair which preceded the play. Abigail is speaking to John, and she claims that he is still in love with her. As John rejects this idea, Abigail stills desires love from John. In Act I, Abigail says,“It’s she that 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 I).” She is using her words to manipulate John into loving her. Later in the play, she accuses John’s wife of witchcraft to get back at John. This backfires on her when John dies at the end of the play. Abigail quickly becomes an adversary of John after she harasses his family and his life. Abigail shows her anger towards John Proctor by accusing his wife and eventually hanging
Abigail would tell John about his wife and say “she is blackening my name in the village; she is a cold sniveling woman”. (Miller 23-24) John tries to end the affair but Abigail will not let him go because she is in love with
Abigail Williams is the troubled niece of Reverend Parris of Salem. She is an orphan; made so by brutal natives who killed her parents before her very eyes. The witch-hunt begins when Abigail is at the age of seventeen. She has a large role in this novel, especially on these dark events and also her relationship with John Proctor.
Love is a simple and fundamental concept of life and emotions. In The Crucible, John and Elizabeth Proctor struggle with this innate emotion, but as time goes on, they learn to share this feeling once more and use it as a solution to their relationship. Furthermore, the incorporation of the Proctor’s changing marriage displays how even in a world of dishonesty and distress love will always prevail.