...Abigail Williams is responsible for the chaos and turmoil in "The Crucible" due to her actions and manipulations. She falsely accuses numerous citizens of witchcraft, causing fear and hysteria in the town. Despite Mary Warren's attempt to testify against Abigail, she faces opposition from the other girls who are under Abigail's influence. Abigail continuously tries to convince people that everyone else is a witch, using tactics such as pretending to see and hear spirits whenever a witness tries to testify against her. Abigail's past and present experiences contribute to her actions, but they do not excuse her behavior. She witnessed the death of her parents at a young age, had an affair with John Proctor, and threatened those who crossed her....
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...Is the horrifying myth about witches really true? If they actually roam the earth, when exactly did they first exist and where do they live? In the 17th century, Abigail Williams insisted there were witches living in Salem, Massachusetts. Williams evoked the Salem Witch Trials after numerous suspects were convicted for Satanism; however, many were faulty accused and Abigail was blamed. Is there a catastrophe worse than the Devil’s spawn? McCarthyism was established after Senator Joseph McCarthy convinced the colonists of communism in the United States; as a result, innocent people were imprisoned and McCarthy was appointed to the court for witch trials. Although the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism occurred at different centuries in time,...
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...Character Analysis of Abigail Williams Author Miller’s drama The Crucible takes place in the seventeenth-century in Salem, Massachusetts. Salem suffers from witch-hunts, trials, and false accusations. In effect, the town is full of worry and suspicion; and when young girls falsely accuse self-righteous neighbors in Salem of witchcraft, the town goes against itself, which ultimately causes a conflict between power and aggression. The personality of Abigail Williams, the understood leader of all the young girls, ultimately causes the whole play to go into effect. Abigail displays that she is sinful, envious, and manipulative. Abigail Williams’ characteristic of sinfulness causes her to be the antagonist of the whole play. Abigail commits...
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...Abigail Williams is the opposite of one’s thought of a Puritan. She is selfish, manipulative, ungodly, and especially fond of her adulterous relationship with John Proctor. In Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, Abigail attempts to save herself from embarrassment by initiating a cruel witch hunt, accusing those who are innocent but are in the way of her own devious plan. She lies about her and her friends attempting to murder Elizabeth Proctor with witchcraft in the woods by turning the blame on others. Abigail continuously displays her intentions as the play goes on changing from lust to power hungry. Abigail is tried on her honesty and self pride, contributing to the theme of power given without judgement tends to corrupt. Miller uses Abigail's...
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...Act 1 One of the main characters of the play The Crucible, Abigail Williams, is the villain of the play, even more than Parris or Danforth. In Act One her skills at manipulation are very noticeable. John Proctor, who has dumped her after his wife found out about this sinful affair, “Abby, you’ll put it out of mind. I’ll not be comin’ for you no more.” Since she was also dismissed from her job at their house, Abigail becomes increasingly envious of Elizabeth. Abigail always has a different story from what actually happens and convinces people that her story is the truth. One event that happens that displays this would be when Abigail was in the woods with the girls dancing and took it to the next level by drinking blood and taking off her clothing. Before the questioning of what happen in the woods Abigail states “Shut up! All of you. We danced. That is all, and mark this, if anyone breathe a word or the edge of a word about the other things, I will come to you in the black of some terrible night, and I will bring with me a pointy reckoning that will shudder you!” When she's on the brink of getting busted for messing with witchcraft, she skillfully manages to pin the whole thing on Tituba and several of Salem's other woman. The horrible thing is that Abigail is the one who persuaded Tituba to go out and cast the spells. Ever since Abigail's affair with John Proctor, she's been out to get his wife, Elizabeth. Abigail convinced Tituba to put a curse on Elizabeth, hoping to get...
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...Arthur Miller’s The Crucible details the power that can be gained through manipulation of weak-minded or easily swayed individuals for one’s personal gain. In The Crucible, Abigail Williams manages to manipulate young girls in her town into pretending that other people are engaging in witchcraft. Abigail begins to accuse a significant number of townsfolk that protest her lies, all the while managing to manipulate the judges in charge of the trials into believing her and the other young girls. Abigail’s ability to lie and control those around her has been paralleled a multitude of times throughout history and continues to present itself in other instances today. With this in mind, it is clear that The Crucible strongly illustrates the ability...
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...other evils portrayed, Abigail Williams is by far the biggest evil throughout the story. She is a wicked teenaged girl who has her heart set on a man that she will never have and that causes bitterness to develop. While other characters display flaws and moments of unreasonableness, Abigail shows her level of monstrosity through manipulation, compulsive lying and allowing anyone and everyone to get hurt in order to obtain what she wants. Abigail is extremely manipulative, she has many people under the thumb of her control and often uses it to her advantage. For example, the girls all go into the forest and dance, and do other things considered unrighteous by the town. Abigail uses fear to manipulate...
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...of the character of Lady Macbeth authored by William Shakespeare within the book Macbeth to that character of Abigail authored by Arthur Miller within the book the Crucible. .......... The act of manipulation overwhelms the mindset of Lady Macbeth and Abigail. Although, how they choose to react to such a feeling is where individuality from one another occurs. The concept of Macbeth revolves around Lady Macbeth corrupting her husband’s mental stability and convincing him to commit a murder. She does so by questioning his manhood and referring to him as a coward. “[He] is too full o’ the milk of human kindness” (I.ii.16). Lady Macbeth is worried that he is not strong enough to perform such a task, so she manipulates him by telling Macbeth how far she will go if it is necessary. “While [the baby] was smiling in my face, / have pluck’d my nipple from his boneless gums/ and dash’d the brains out” (I.VII.56-58). With such ideas of murdering someone and manipulating someone else, only for self gain, does not come without the feeling of remorse. “What need we fear who/ knows it, when none can call our power to account? / yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” (V.i.36-39). The manipulation of Lady Macbeth’s husband leaves her feeling guilty to a point where it leads her to her own demise. Abigail also manipulates others for her own personal gain, as she is in a great deal of trouble if she does not. Abigail and her friends are caught dancing in a forsaken...
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...Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams are different people with few similarities, one being they have both slept with John Proctor. The differences between these two women are outstanding and shine throughout the book. Elizabeth, a cold old wife, refused John of some the basic things in a marriage. “It needs a cold wife to prompt lechery” (126). Abigail on the other was young and fearless and always prepared to have John sweating like a stallion. “…And sweated like a stallion when I come near” (21). Why is Elizabeth so cold? Why does Abigail rebel against the theocracy? To answer these questions, you have to understand their roles in the play and the witch trails. Abigail Williams, the wild card of the puritan religious group in Salem,...
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...Mrs. Putnam and Abigail Williams have hidden motivations fueling the Salem witch trials by making false accusations against people causing mass hysteria in the village. Mrs. Ann Putnam has experienced seven of her children die at childbirth in which she is in desperate need to find a justifiable reason. She argues with Rebecca Nurse because of Rebecca’s success in childbearing, Mrs. Putnam says, “You think it God’s work you should never lose a child, nor grandchild either, and I bury all but one? There are wheels within wheels in this village, and fires within fires!” (Miller 26). Mrs. Putnam does not understand why God would punish her by losing so many children and someone else like Rebecca have luck in...
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...entire village suspects witchcraft. Even though Betty’s cousin, Abigail Williams, recognizes that the illness is the result of fear and not black magic, she begins blaming innocent people of collaborating with the devil. This quote by Joseph Conrad expresses his thought that a supernatural source of evil is not necessary and that humankind is entirely capable of the depravity in...
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...than they believe. In the Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams is an orphan, young and Christian girl living in Salem, Massachusetts. Abigail falls in love and can not fall out, causing a chain of events guided by jealousy, power, manipulation and determination making her a more selfish person than before. Abigail Williams’ love for John Proctor controls her in the beginning of the play. Abigails says, “You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet! John pity me, pity me!” (Miller 45) She is so in love with John Proctor and it scares her that she is going to lose him. She is so afraid, Abigail is willing to manipulate John to stay with her by saying,“I have a sense, for heat, John, and yours has drawn me to...
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...get away with it. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Abigail Williams is one of those mean girls. The Crucible displays the chaos of the Salem Witch Trials, during which, an accusation meant time in jail and a trial. If the indicted person admitted to practicing witchcraft and repented, he or she was set free; but if the accused did not confess, that person lost their life. Abigail is one of the girls that charges many people of witchcraft, which leads many of those people to their hanging. She especially has it out for John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, because Abigail would love to replace her. Ever diabolical, Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft...
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...devious character, Abigail, shows her wicked mind and skill of manipulation in the play so she can get what she wants, John Proctor. The slave, Tituba, gave into the accusations and started the hysteria of the witch trials. The last character that contributed to an entire town’s belief in witches would be Danforth. His stubborn and narrow minded attitude had people dangling from a rope. It is easy to say that Abigail Williams is the triumphant ringleader of the accusers in The Crucible. Constantly pointing fingers, she named name after name and everyone believed her whole heartedly. At the beginning of the play, Reverend Parris accused Abigail of witch craft but to avoid punishment she passed the blame to Tituba saying “I never called him! Tituba, Tituba…” (Miller 42). Abigail took no responsibility for her actions but blamed another person claiming, “She made me do it! She made Betty do it!” (Miller 43). Once Tituba confessed to witchcraft, Abigail joined in by accusing others of witchcraft so the negative attention would not be on the girls. Once Abigail started accusing people, Betty woke up from her “infinite” sleep and joined in along with the other girls. When the trials began, it was Abigail who kept the charade going by pretending that the accused were casting their spirits upon her and the other girls in the court room. Abigail led the girls by crying out in pain, pretending to see things and shivering. When the affair with John Proctor almost came up, Abigail was quick to...
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...The Impact of Power in The Crucible Power can be influential and critical to society, but when people have too much power they have a sense of determination and fearlessness. When their power is threatened, it enables them to do anything and everything to maintain it. The Crucible by Arthur Miller describes the Salem witch trials. The play begins with Abigail Williams and her friends dancing in the woods. In an attempt to get John Proctor, after he ended their affair, Abigail curses his wife Elizabeth. The rumor of witchcraft is triggered when Abigail’s friends, Betty Parris and Ruth Putnam are both unable to move or talk when they became frightened when Reverend Parris found the group in the woods. Reverend Hale, a believed expert in witchcraft...
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