Carley Belnap English Mrs. Watt 23 September 2015 Crucible Essay Abigail Williams is motivated to lie about her affair with John Proctor. What motivates her to lie is the thought of getting hung. Another big reason that she could be lying is for vengeance. Abigail loves John Proctor and one night they had an affair and touched. Since then, Abigail has been jealous towards John’s wife, Elizabeth. Abigail goes into the forest with some other young girls and Tituba, who makes a potion to have boys fall in love with them. This is a great example, “ABIGAIL, pulling her away from the window: I told him everything; he knows now, he knows everything we—BETTY: You drank blood, Abby! You didn't tell him that! ABIGAIL: Betty, you never say that …show more content…
again! You will never— BETTY: You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!”(The Crucible Quotes). Tituba told Abby that if she would drink blood that Elizabeth Proctor would die. Of course, Abby does this. The whole time throughout this play Abigail is determined to get back with John Proctor. When Reverend Parris was questioning the girls in the forest, he started wondering what they did. Abigail started to blame others for witchcraft so she wouldn’t be hung and could have Elizabeth sent to jail. Abigail Williams was a jealous harlot who wanted John Proctors love back. Sadly for Abigail, John Proctor realizes that he committed a sin and confesses it later on. A lot of these characters in The Crucible have a lot of pride.
John Proctor has pride in his beliefs and in himself. He is always trying to stand up for those innocent people who are being accused of witchcraft and being hung. He has good morals and keeps on telling the truth to the people who are lying. These are the reasons why he has built himself up a good name. When people think of John Proctor, they will think of his good deeds and morals. This could be a main reason why he just cannot give up his name. “[With a cry of his soul.] Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I like and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!”(The Crucible Act IV) In this example John had confessed his sin and the Judges want to hang his sin on the church doors for everyone to see. John knows that people like and think highly of him so he knows that that cannot happen! There are two other characters in this story that also have pride in themselves and cannot have their names taken away …show more content…
either! Reverend Parris and Judge Danforth also have great pride in themselves. They both have good reputations but they accuse and send innocent people to be hung. That can really ruin their name. Reverend Parris is known as the churchly man in the town. Some of the townspeople dislike his personality, but he is respected for his great belief in the church. During this play Parris knows deep down inside that the people he has accused are not guilty. He cannot admit or tell anyone because then he would be getting accused of making an oath with the devil. This is a good reason why he can’t and won’t lose his name. On the other hand, Judge Danforth is known as the decision maker. He tries to make the right decisions and never backs away from them. He too realizes that he has been hanging innocent people and that Abigail has been lying the entire time. Judge Danforth knows that if he were to admit of being wrong then his name would be known as killing the innocent. Parris and Danforth think that their names are more important than the truth. Is a good name more important than the truth?
Absolutely not! Telling the truth in any circumstance will get you a good name. It will mean that you are honest and care about being right! Reverend John Hale said in the last Act, “I quit this court!”(The Crucible Literature Book). Hale discovered he was guilty of all these hangings and instead of admitting that guilt, he just quit the court. Being truthful could have saved this whole witch trail incident in many ways! Having a good name in this play is how you are accepted in this society. The three men are all examples of why you should always find the facts of something instead of believing what you hear from others! Abigail was a liar and when John Proctor proved her guilty, she ran away with Mercy Lewis. This just proves that you can’t ever get away with a lie! Make sure to always keep a good name and a good reputation. If keeping a good reputation isn’t possible then you may risk the chances of rejection. Rejection is a good reason why none of these people would confess their guilt. If John Proctor told others his sin he would be frowned upon. Reverend Parris would not be not be respected as a religious man anymore. Lastly, Judge Danforth wouldn’t be able to keep his job as a judge and would most likely be
questioned! Works Cited "The Crucible Quotes." The Crucible Lies and Deceit Quotes. Shmoop, 2015. Web. The Crucible Act IV. (n.d.). In Literature Book.
Abigail’s mendacity is a driving force throughout the play. It becomes clear early on in Act One that Abigail is hiding something. Her reactions to her uncles questioning of her name and reasons for discharge from Goody Proctors service are curious. The stage directions indicate that she answers “with an edge of resentment,” “with ill concealed resentment” and “in a temper.” She defends herself by slandering Goody Proctor. When she and her friends were together and realized that they could be in serious trouble she told them exactly what to say and threatened them if they did otherwise. When pressed with questions about the night of dancing in the woods and drinking blood, she tells blatant lies about Tituba by saying, “She made me do it! She made Betty do it!” (1154). This is known to be a lie because earlier when the girls were discussing their alibi, it came out that Abigail drank the bloody charm to kill John Proctor’s wife. Tituba says that
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
John Proctor is a good man. He is a puritan, a husband, a citizen, and an all around valuable member of the community. All of this is represented by his name. The name of John Proctor could be considered his most prized possession. It is his most priceless asset. Proctor is very strong-willed and caring. He does not set out with any intentions of hurting anyone. He is a farmer and village commoner who is faced with incredible inner turmoil. He has committed adultery and had absolutely no intentions of joining in the witch trials. After his wife got involved and eventually was set free due to the fact that she was pregnant, he feels that he can't sit back and accept what is happening to the town. John Proctor is a good and noble man and because of this he believes that he can't be hanged and die a martyr when he has this sin blooming over him every waking moment.
In today's society a person's reputation is more important than a persons integrity because it is how people perceive you. No one should want to want to ruin their reputation. The fact of the matter is that reputation plays a big role in society and it is should be very important to people and they should value it.
“I have given you my soul, leave me my name” (143). John Proctor does not want people to look at him and think that he is a witch, and he knows that they will if he signs to it. Proctor admitted to witchcraft; though he wasn’t guilty, but it was only to save his life; he knows that he isn’t a witch, and the people who were there to hear him admit to it don’t matter because they will think that he is a witch anyhow and he doesn’t care to change their minds.
How can a girl who condemned seventy two to a death sentence and drank a charm to kill a man’s wife, a man she has slept with on more than one occasion be the victim? It’s possible when the town she lives in is worse than her. Although Abigail Williams is typically thought of as the antagonist of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, she is in fact a victim as much as any other tragic character in the play.
From the start of the play, Abigail already has a bad reputation for committing adultery. Elizabeth Proctor had kicked her out of their home because Elizabeth knew of the affair that was going on between Abigail and John. This tarnished her reputation and for that, Abigail wanted to get revenge on Elizabeth Proctor. “She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her!” This is the remark Abigail makes to John Proctor about Elizabeth and what she is doing to her reputation. The main reason behind Abigail accusing so many people is so that eventually the blame is put on Elizabeth. Abigail’s hopes are to have Elizabeth killed so her and John can go on living their lives together. Not only does she want to live her life with John Proctor, but Abigail is also angered at Elizabeth because of the reputation she has given her throughout the village. Her actions go to show how willing she is to ruin numerous lives in order to get revenge on Elizabeth and also get rid of Elizabeth to carry on her dreams of marrying John Proctor. Obviously, Abigail Williams was very serious about getting vengeance on Elizabeth for destroying her reputation in the village of Salem,
She said to the girls “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”. (Miller 20) Abigail only wanted one thing she could not have which was a married man. When in court John begins to reveal his affair with Abigail. However Abigail is asked about the affair with John Proctor and she completely denies it.
Without a doubt, Abigail convinces the group of girls to not speak about the night, or she will make them regret it. Clearly, Abigail makes them lie to save herself. As Betty whimpers in bed, she says “You drank blood Abby! You didn’t tell him that… You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!”(Miller 18). Abigail uses the threat of violence to manipulate Betty when she says “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…”(Miller 19). This shows Abby’s personality is manipulative and evil. As the reader can tell, Abigail says this because she knows there will be consequences for her. Additionally, Abigail lies another time when she plants revenge on Elizabeth Proctor. With this in mind, Abigail claims Elizabeth stabbed her
Proctor takes advantage of this opportunity when he shows gracious acts of selflessness during the trials. For example, when Abigail and her friends begin to act like they are being frozen and Marry starts to falter, it becomes clear that the only way John can prove Abigail is lying is to admit to adultery. “I have made a bell of my honor! I have rung the boom of my good name --- you will believe me, Mr. Danforth! My wife is innocent…” John Proctor protests in his last attempt to prove that his wife and all the others accused are innocent. This is the turning point in the story for Proctor’s character development when finally puts others before himself. Throughout the book, Proctor has always stood up against authority to prove the innocence of himself and his wife; however this is the point where he sacrifices his good name for the truth. In the end, he preserves his pride and dignity by discarding his bad temper and providing the honest truth when he must either plead guilty and keep his life or be hung. Proctor’s declaration of his true innocence and assuming responsibility for his actions makes him symbolic of maintaining one’s personal integrity, which many in Salem fail to do. Proctor is a respectively good man who was taken to sin by his lust for
The play The Crucible by Arthur Miller is about a girl named abigail who lives in the puritan times in salem Massachusetts. The people then were not like today, everything was about god and the church. Anything can be thought of as sinning or as witchcraft by the towns people, dancing being one of them. Abigail and her friends were caught by her uncle, Reverend Parris, in the forest dancing around a fire with paris’ servant Tituba, whom was from Barbados, while singing a song in her native language. Abigail to protect herself from punishment of witchcraft blamed the incident on tituba and said that tituba was working for the devil. That was the only beginning of Abigail's lies.
During act 4 Proctor feels ashamed of himself for having sign a paper of him confessing to witchcraft but danforth want to nail that confesion to the church doors and Proctor to ashamed with himself does not give back the confession and says “I have confessed myself! Is there no good penitence but it be public? God does not need my name nailed upon the church! God sees my name, God knows how black my sins are! It is enough.”(the crucible act 4 Arthur-miller) here shows that proctor trying to keep his name is too ashamed to have it posted for all to see then he says “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life. Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul, leave me my name!” showing that he wants some dignity when this is
In the crucible the person that changes in the biggest way is abigail williams the way that she changes is at the start of the play she is perfect then they get caught at the fire and she is freaking out. She is acting like she has been witched she is saying that she can talk to the devil and that he comes to her at night to make her sign his book which is the devil's book. But she says she refuses to sign the book then she starts praying to god that she wants him to forgive her. During the witch trials her and all her friends fainted and acted like the witch one bewitching them and they would act like they could see a ghost.When she would hear anything about a witch she would fake and acted like the people were putting spells on her so she
If he lived, he felt he would be alive but with no purpose. To survive, and falsely confess to witchcraft, John knew he would lose his name in the town. When asked why he refused to sign a declaration binding himself to the devil Proctor responded, “ Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name” (MIller, 1163)!
When it comes to decisions John Proctor had to make a very big one that helps make him look like a good man. His decision was he could either keep what he had done a secret or lie to everyone. Or he could tell the court what he has done and maybe things will work out. If he chooses to lie and not confess to what he has done he will just be like every bad person there is and would not fix anything. Since he wants to fix things he decided to tell the court to gain goodness, integrity, and be more respected again. Since he did this it shows that he is a good man because he I swilling to confess up to gain respect from others. In the play it says, “Because it is my name! Because cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (1232 Act 4). In this