Foils In The Crucible

Dynamic Foil

“Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion.” This quote by Daniel Goleman relates to a lot of great works in literature that have characters who are selfish or self absorbed and cause great havoc in their society. For example, in the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams’ utter selfishness ends the lives of many while in contrast Elizabeth Proctor’s selflessness helps to heal and takes the pain out of other people.

When is comes to self- absorption Abigail Williams is the definition of it. She does anything to help herself. She only thinks about herself and how she will benefit. This causes larger problems like lying and accusations that lead to 19 deaths. Abby’s selfishness also includes

Basically there is not an evil bone in her body. Elizabeth lied about John’s adultery to protect him, saying he’s a “goodly man” (113). Yes, that does not sound like that big of a deal, but for Elizabeth this is a monumental thing. She's going against everything she believes in, even her own morals of being a good christian morals and following the ten commandments to protect John. This is shows her selflessness on a higher level because she such a strong will women. Another example of her selflessness is when she asks John to “forgive” (137) her for being “cold wife” (137). Elizabeth does this because she begins to believe that she is the reason John committed adultery. Elizabeth said “ it were a cold house I kept” (137), which goes to show she believed she was the reactant which led to the product of Johns mistake. Selflessness is shown because first, she is taking on the responsibility so John does not worry and blame himself. In the movie she saved his life for a little longer because she gave him some self worth and made him feel like a better person. If she would not have told John it was her fault he would of died with the burden of ruining the family, but instead she took the responsibility. Secondly she comes to think that because she was self conscious and did not lover herself she was “cold” (137) or did not let her husband love her. This made her believe that she made him feel like there was little compassion between him and her which led John to give “a promise that a stallion gives a mare” (62) to Abigail. Elizabeth is all around a selfless human being. Always trying to make it better for the other person and take the responsibility on her self which is opposite of