Abigail williams was In the crucible the main character that was blame for the salem witch trials and dreadful hangings. Abigail is a girl who don’t care about hurting others. She will hurt anyone who is in her way, no matter who you are . In the beginning of the play she was dancing in the forest with other 6 other girls , tituba and her cousin betty , her uncle parris had saw them dancing around naked in the forest, he thought that they made a pact or had spoken with the devil. In act one lines 57-62 it says “ abigail- uncle, the rumor of witchcraft is all about; i think you’d best go down and deny it yourself...” parris- and what shall i say to them? That my daughter and my niece i discovered dancing like heathen in the forest?” He was afraid of what would happen to his moroles. Abby was afraid of getting hang therefore she lied and denied everything about witchcraft. Even Though Abigail is the …show more content…
I never knew what pretense salem was, i never knew the lying lessons i was taught by all these christian women and their covenanted men and now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, sin it is, you loved me yet!”. Which means she never had sin, but yet she did for John and she would do anything for john. She did all that just to have him and at the end she got him killed and she didn’t get anything but hurting or getting others killed that got in her way. Abigail is vengeful, selfish, manipulative, and a magnificent liar. She seems to be uniquely gifted at spreading death and destruction wherever she goes. She has an eerie sense of how to manipulate others and gain control over them. This is why Abigail is the most to blame for the salem witch trials and dreadful hangings. All the lies she made up she dragged every single one of the people that got in her way that was her goal but yet she didn't get what she wanted the most
Because of Abigail’s deleterious behavior, many innocent victims were brutally murdered. All of her actions were selfish and pretentious. Abigail may not have intended to cause the witch trials, but she certainly did nothing to end them once they began. Abigail’s lustful behavior, her unhealthy habit of lying, and her obsessive desire for power makes her responsible for the Salem witch trials.
Abigail Williams tried very hard to keep her pride together. She kept secrets in order to keep her name good to people in Salem Village, but after a while she failed. After she accused so many victims, people stopped believing there were ever really witches in Salem. When John admitted to adultery with Abigail, she didn't deny it, yet she didn't say she did not know him. She wouldn't lie to the court yet she refused to admit to this. She told John her name was good in the town in the beginning , but she didn't seem to know what was in store for her reputation, especially when she fled
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's necessity for revenge makes her threaten the young ladies into following her idea of deception. “Let either of you breathe a word,” Abigail threatens, “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”(835). Abigail knows that all the girls in the woods fear her to death. Which made the witch trials easier for her to get by. Another thing is that Abigail ends her affair with John Proctor to try to get revenge on him. “A man may think God
Throughout the many acts of the play, we sense the anger rolling off Abigail’s words. “I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian 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!” By these words, we know that Abigail Williams is angry. She’s angry at John Proctor for trying to hide the crime he committed with her, and for the lack of closure she
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.
A motivation can be described as a character having a reason to behave or act in a particular way. Someone or something can be someone's motivation. A child obeys its parents to avoid punishment or a clerk works overtime so that he can afford a better car are examples of motivation. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, characters illustrate several types of motivations. Throughout the play, Abigail is motivated by jealousy, power, and attention.
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!"
Do you believe in witchcraft? In Salem, a petite town in Massachusetts, villagers were being accused of performing acts of witchcraft which carried a stiff penalty of death by hanging. Abigail Williams, to many, seemed to be an honest middle-aged teen, however underneath this façade, lay deception and lies. Many citizens of Salem were being charged with carrying out acts of witchcraft by Abigail and her entourage. How would you feel being falsely accused of witchcraft?
Her selfishness is evident when Abigail and her friends accuse the innocent people of Salem of witchcraft. She puts the blame on others, so she does not get punished for dancing in the woods. Abigail shows her anger towards John Proctor when she tries to accuse his wife and ultimately gets John killed. Her anger leads her to make the poor decisions of getting John killed, even though he did nothing wrong. She is a coward when she puts the blame on innocent people and runs away before John gets hung. Her craven attitude is the last flaw that ultimately leads her to run away from Salem. Abigail’s flaws eventually bring her to her downfall by the end of the
Abigail is one of the least complex characters in the Crucible, her role is that of a Jezebel figure; she is driven by her lust and controlled by her desire for power. She is the main antagonist of the story, she lies and manipulates the whole town, sending Salem into a state of hysteria that would eventually result in the death of nineteen people. Her motivations never seem to go deeper than desire for John and a hatred for Elizabeth. However, there is reasoning behind her desires. Abigail is an unmarried female, meaning her place in the hierarchy of Salem is low. Her uncle, Parris, has just informed her that the town has been gossiping about her affair with Proctor. Knowing her reputation is at risk makes her more desperate for a way to climb the social ladder and one way to do so was to marry into it, making her more desperate for John’s love to save her reputation.
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.
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...
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.
One night the girls were caught dancing in the woods naked by Reverend Parris. Abigail threatened the other girls she would kill them if they ever said what they were actually doing, which was conjuring spirits. Abigail was the one who had done most of the wrong dong including drinking blood. Because of this event the start of the whole witch hunt and hysteria can be accredited to Abigail. Whenever she would be accused she would make up a lie, and threaten the other girls to say it was the truth.