Abigail's Accusations In The Crucible

In The Crucible, the people of a small, Puritan community are being plagued by a rash of witch accusations. The story takes place in the small Massachusetts town of Salem. In the story, there is a man by the name of John Proctor who makes his living by farming. He and his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, are having difficulties within their marriage. Along with his marriage problems, John is also faced with the startling accusation against his wife. His wife is accused of being a witch. Many people in the town of Salem were responsible for, or at least had something to do with, the witchcraft accusations. But I believe that the individual that is most responsible for the witchcraft accusations is a young woman by the name of Abigail Williams. Abigail

The only thing Abigail could think about was how to get back at Elizabeth Proctor. She wanted John as her husband and wanted Elizabeth dead. Abigail got her opportunity soon enough. One night, Abigail was caught dancing naked in the woods with Tituba chanting strange songs in her native language around a pot over a fire. She was brought to court to be confronted about it. When the court began to suggest that Abigail was a witch, she panicked and accused Tituba of being a witch and of controlling her. When Abigail saw that the court believed her, she began to accuse others of witchcraft, including Elizabeth Proctor. There is other evidence showing that Abigail is vengeful though. One quote that demonstrates this is when Abigail is speaking with John and she says, “She is a cold, sniveling woman!” This shows the actual hatred she has for Elizabeth. Another quote is when Mary Warren came over to the Proctor’s house after being in the court with Abigail all day and she told them that people were being accused of being witches. Mary Warren said, “Somewhat mentioned” when John asked if Elizabeth had been accused. It is clearly obvious at this point that Abigail is trying to get Elizabeth Proctor killed as revenge. This shows us that Abigail will stop at nothing to get her revenge on Elizabeth Proctor for kicking her out, not to mention that Abigail wants John Proctor to be her husband. So