Character Analysis Of Abigail Williams In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, some of the main characters seem to have a change in behavior throughout the play. One of the main characters in my opinion was Abigail Williams because she transforms from an innocent girl that is in love to a feared obstacle by others. As she has to pretend she has no affairs or feelings toward John Proctor she faces even bigger troubles being accused of witchcraft making her more vulnerable towards exposing the truth about what happened in the woods and her feelings toward John. Abigail begins to change as John says he has no interests in her. Even though she knows what John has said to her she still tries to follow up her dream on trying to have John for herself. When that all goes to waste she gives up and just flees after all her effort.

Abigail and a group of girls get discovered dancing in the woods by her uncle Parris and is questioned for what was going on but she lies in order to stay out of trouble.

For example, Abigail responds, “There is nothin’ more. I swear it, uncle.”(Miller 1, 145). This shows that Abigail lied in order to make her story believable about it just being a dance. This also shows how she tries to remain the innocent girl people know her by. Additionally, Abigail lies in order to avoid being charged from witchcraft and says, “I want to open myself! I want the light the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus. I danced for the devil.”(Miller 1, 1050). This shows that she wanted to avoid being accused of witchcraft and tricked everyone else. This also reveals that she did not want to confess about casting a spell because she will ruin her own secret about

John.
The behavior and character of Abigail starts to change as John says what he truly feels about her and as the situation of witchcraft gets more serious. At first she was the innocent girl and now she slowly starts becoming aggressive. For example, John refuses Abigail, “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. Wipe it out of my mind. We never touched, Abby.”(Miller 1, 450). This implies that John wants no memory of the past with Abigail and wants her to forget as well. It also suggests that he realizes he really wants his wife Elizabeth. As the situation of witchcraft got more serious so did Abigail and a little violent to go along with it. She says, “Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. 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 I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it; I saw Indians smash my dear parents heads on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen to sun go down!”(Miller 1, 360). This shows that Abigail is willing to threaten in order to get the girls to go along with her story. It also shows that Abigail will backstab anybody that will try to turn their back on her.
Towards the end of the play after a wild ride of violence and lying Abigail decides to help Danforth to accuse people to keep Proctor to herself but she fails and just leaves. For example, she is speaking to Danforth, “I have been hurt, Mr. Danforth; I have seen my blood runnin’ out! I have been near to murdered every day because I done my duty pointing out the Devils people, and this is my reward? To be mistreated, denied, questioned”(Miller 3, 790). This shows that Abigail was helping out the court by accusing people but she got nothing out of it. It also indicates that she still wanted Proctor to be saved so she can have him. As Abagail tried to convince Proctor not to confess she couldn’t help but feel disappointed after he does. Additionally Proctor says, “A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it.”(Miller 3, 854). This shows that Proctor really valued his wife by not wanting to stay for Abigail. After this Abigail decides to vanish from Salem because she realizes her plan did not work out.
In conclusion, Abigail does reveal different changes throughout the play. In the beginning she acts like the innocent girl but lies her way out of the witchcraft situation. Later, towards the middle she gets more aggressive by threatening girls to follow her plan so she won’t be accused. Toward the end is when it seems she is sad and has given up which results in her fleeing from Salem because of John. Abigail mainly changed three times throughout the play and all mostly were because of John.