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Why is abigail williams important in the crucible
Power in the salem witch trials
Power in the salem witch trials
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Witchcraft hysteria was easily believed in the Salem Trials time. In the Crucible, I believe that Abigail Williams is responsible for the witchcraft hysteria. Also to be held responsible for the imprisonment and execution of innocent people due to lying and selfishness. First and foremost, the act of lying can cause a lot of wrongs and damage. For example, Abigail Williams told her uncle, Reverend Parris, that all the girls including herself were only dancing in the woods. This is not truthful because in the beginning of act 1 in the Crucible it was stated that Reverend Parris saw Tituba waving her hands over the fire mumbling gibberish while the girls danced and someone ran through the trees naked. Knowing this it had also caused a lot in the village due to the belief of witchcraft. Abigail denied it but told the girls that if anyone questioned them to keep hush and claim that they had only danced. “Listen …show more content…
now; if they be questioning us, tell them we danced…” Secondly, selfishness to save one’s self can lead to many things.
For example, Abigail Williams and the other girls, including Tituba, started to call out names of others. This would be considered selfishness because in the Crucible the girls called out names to avoid getting whipped for dancin in the woods. Abigail caused a scene and carried on after Tituba, calling out names as Betty followed. “I saw Goody Osburn with the devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the devil!” Many people claim that Abigail Williams is not guilty. For example, we can say that Abigail did not have good role models to look up to. Reverend Parris was too busy with the church, she had no parents, and Goody Procter was too sick to care. Not having good role models to impersonate can turn anyone to make poor choices. I still strongly believe that Abigail Williams is guilty. In conclusion, after reading the Crucible I strongly believe that Abigail Williams is guilty for witchcraft hysteria. Could you imagine one young girl causing so much chaos for lying and being
selfish?
The motivation of jealousy is portrayed by Abigail in The Crucible numerous times. In the play, Abigail's motivation of jealousy is shown when Betty says "You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!". (1107) Abigail's jealousy gave her motivation to try to kill Elizabeth because she was convinced that John loved her as much as she loved him. Another example of Abigail's jealousy is when she says to Proctor "She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a --". (1110) Abigai...
Abigail Williams did what she did so her and her friends could harvest attention from the people of Salem. Judge Danforth was ignorant of the fact that verbal evidence is very unreliable just because he wanted to be correct about every decision in the trials. Thomas Putnam accuses several people in Salem of personal gain of land and money. Many people were charged as guilty but in reality they were innocent, the only people who were actually guilty are Abigail Williams, Judge Danforth, and Thomas Putnam.
In conclusion I ask this again: 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 slept with on more than one occasion, be the victim? Abigail is truly a victim just as much as one of those she condemned to death, because of Salem’s judgemental, self-concerned and oppressive views and beliefs led her to it.
Some may be able to prove that Abigail Williams is innocent, however she is not because of blaming and “proving” in a certain way that those innocent people were using witchcraft. After she found out the people were hanged, she fled in terror without telling anyone where she was going and
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller shows that the tragedy of the Salem Witch Trials stems from human failings, particularly the need for vengeance, greed, and fear. Abigail Williams is an example of all three. Her fear prompts her to first accuse random women, her need for vengeance directs her toward Elizabeth, and her greed for power affects the lives of everyone around her. Individual flaws, when acted on collectively, inevitably cause the downfall of Salem.
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.
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.
Lastly, it is evident that she did not cause the trials, she merely triggered it. Yet her accomplices were the ones who took it upon themselves to get involved with the court and influenced her into becoming their leader so that when they were accused all blame would transition automatically, without thought, onto Abigail. This, yet again, is proof of the endless workings of puritan Salem to distort Abigail into the villain.
In the play the crucible by Arthur Miller people are faced with an issue believed to be witchcraft. The play is based upon a problem that happened in 1692 and 1693 in Massachusetts. In the play people believe that everything that goes wrong must be related to witchcraft. If accused of witch craft you will be arrested and forced to a trial. In the play the trial is influenced on a girl named Abigale who holds the power to tell if a person is working with the devil. As the play progresses girls from the town fake illnesses, accuse people, and support Abigale decisions willingly with no disregard. The girls blindly follow Abigail scheme because if they go against her she will accuse them of witchcraft and will be sent to death.
Now I know what you are thinking: ‘Abigail Williams should be hanged for her crimes and for the false accusations of women in Salem.’
No one knows who is really to blame for the deaths.The cause of the Salem Witch trials began with the girls dancing in the woods and Abigail drinking blood. If that had not of happened, Betty would not have gone into shock and Reverend Parris would not have called Reverend Hale. There would have been no word of witchcraft. Abigail having an affair with John Proctor tells us that she has no boundaries when it comes to getting what she wants. Accusing a woman of witchcraft to get hanged, whose husband she had an affair with, just to be able to get him to herself is insane. Lastly, Abigail threatening all the girls to not say a word about them in the woods, and leading them in the trials is messed up. Sending innocent people to die because you don’t like them, heck Abigail should have been tried for being a witch as well. Abigail Williams is to blame for the deaths caused by the Salem Witch Trials. “Aye, Sir. She swears how that she never saw Satan; nor any spirit, vague, or clear that Satan may have sent to hurt her. And she declares her friends are lying now,” announced by John Proctor during Mary Warren's confession. (Miller
She contradicts he statement by drinking blood at a ritual with Tituba to kill Elizabeth Proctor and then accuses people of withcraft so that her reputation stays good and isn't ruined and the act of her committing adultry with John doesn't come out. She turns the tables fast by saying “I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus; I danced with the devil; I saw him, I wrote in his books; I go back to Jesus; I kiss his hand.”(162). Abigail admits to this so all eyes are off her and she can be free from what she did. Abigail shifts albatross of herself and onto the others she blames. As the trials begin Abigail and her friends start pointing fingers in all direction to innocent people. Abigail blames Marry Warren of “sending her spirit out.” (160). and “taking the form of a yellow bird and was about to swoop down. ”(160). She does accuse Marry so that she does not tell the courts she is lying about it all. Abigail is a killer, because she knows what she is doing is wrong but she does not speak up for the innocent she lets them get sent to the gallows to be hung to
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.
Throughout the years of the Salem witch trials, many horrific events occurred. Events such as when many innocent people were, “tortured until they confessed, and then were hanged” (Jimerson 29). John Proctor is no exception to this horrific event. Proctor is wrongly accused, by Abigail Williams, a young lady from the play, The Crucible, to be involved in witchcraft. In order to show reasons not to blindly follow authority figures, author Arthur Miller transitions the reasons behind Abigail’s actions from lust to self-preservation.
In The Crucible, Abigail and the girls accused other people for practicing witchcraft because they did not want to suffer from a severe punishment. They were the reason why the number of arrests increased and suspicions were raised in the Salem community.