...makes sacrifices, how can they be selfish? In the story “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams makes many sacrifices that are not all for the best. She sacrifices the lives of many people in her town for herself. She also makes her lover, John Proctor, sacrifice his time with his sick wife. Abigail sacrifices the freedom of her fellow townspeople. All those actions made by Abigail Williams can only point to one thing, a selfish person. Abigail Williams convinces a town that many people are bewitched. She proceeds to lie on her uncle’s slave Tituba. “She sends her spirits on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer!” (Miller 41). Abigail tells her uncle that Tituba has possessed her with the devil to save herself. That leads to Abigail telling the story that she seen many townspeople walking with the devil. The people she named were took to court and hung. Abigail’s lover, John Proctor, has a wife that was sickly. When the affair between John and Abigail took place, she...
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...Being the main source of drama, Abigail Williams was altered The Crucible, a historic play, by Arthur Miller to provoke the witch trials, to develop the protagonist, John Proctor, and to draw parallelism McCarthyism. Abigail, at the age of 17, who is 5 years older than the historical Abigail, was the main accuser in the witch trials. According to the Shmoop Editorial Team, “Abigail is vengeful, selfish, manipulative, and a magnificent liar...She has an eerie sense of how to manipulate others and gain control over them”(n.p). In regards to their remark towards Abigail, we can infer that her personality caused the entire witch trials in the play. Arthur Miller also had to alter Abigail’s real age in order to match her nasty personality and to make her...
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...Katie Lewis Mrs. Miller English 11, Period 1 26 November 2014 The Good, the Bad, and the Witches Buddha once said, “There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it.” His words describe how there is both evil and good in the world. There is also both good and evil in Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible. In 1692, the witch trials played a huge role in the lives of people in Salem, Massachusetts. The townspeople feared witchcraft so much that it created confusion regarding who was actually a witch and who was not. Many accusations were made leaving innocent people responsible for the mysterious acts of witchcraft. Abigail Williams reveals her impurity by doing just this. Abigail constantly lies to the court and does everything in her power to save herself, even if it means falsely accusing others. In Miller's play The Crucible, Abigail Williams proves her impurity of soul by having an affair with John Proctor, lying to the townspeople, and attempting to kill Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail first reveals her impure heart through her love affair with John Proctor. Although Abigail is aware that John is married to Elizabeth Proctor, she does not let their relationship get in the way of her own selfish desires. Johns fends off Abigail when he says “Abigail, 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. We never touched Abby” (15). Abigail argues, “Aye, but we did” (15). Here Abigail shows no guilt...
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...times, maintaining one’s reputation can influence how a person act. This theme is evident throughout Arthur Miller’s play, the Crucible. Miller presents a 1690’s town with a rigid system and an extremely religious-oriented people. In this Puritan society, private and public integrity interweave and the threat of tainting their names is ever present. The stressed importance of maintaining pride and reputation results in influencing many of the characters within the play. The importance of reputation is instantly apparent, when Reverend Parris is more concerned about the hints and rumors of witchcraft and how that might blemish his good name, rather than his own daughter’s health....
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...The Crucible, is a play by Arthur Miller about the Salem witch trials, which occured in the early 1690s in Massachusetts. Throughout the historical play, Miller shows many different characters, but some, like Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor are easily comparable. Although Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams are distinguishable when it comes to morals and views of religion, there are a few similarities, like their love of John Proctor and their hatred for each other that make them so alike. Elizabeth and Abigail have many different beliefs in the way they live their lives. Unlike Elizabeth, Abigail is very manipulative and rude to the people she talks to. People in the town are scared of her because she is accusing people of witchcraft....
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...integrity is something that many people fear and this is shown through the characters in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Cotton Mather’s Wonders of the Invisible World and John Hale’s A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft. The Crucible is a play about the Salem witch trials and the characters who are accused and judged based off of their reputation. Each character’s perception is different than what the actual reality is of the witchcraft because they have their own views about this trial. In Cotton Mather’s Wonders of the Invisible World, Cotton Mather is warning the townspeople about the devil taking control of their lives. He encourages them to take action and do something about it,...
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...advantage of others, yet they 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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...Sarah Clay Ms. Hans Amstud English 10H 23 April 2018 The Crucible Essay One connection that is often overlooked is that Arthur Miller wrote the Crucible in the late nineteen forties and early nineteen fifties at a time when America had developed a newfound fear of communism and politicians were investigating people, accusing them of being communists and wrongly prosecuting them. It has been said that Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible because he was fascinated with the Salem Witch Trials and because he wanted to remind people who had forgotten about the fear and shame that resulted from so many innocent people who were found guilty of being witches and hanged. Arthur Miller used his writings in the Crucible to tell the world that a community...
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...Lauren Barash Mrs. Dachille ELA: Hour 4 25 November 2014 John Proctor Tragic Hero A tragic hero is one who holds a high status in a community. The protagonist habitually faces a supernatural force of misfortune in which they conquer and gain admiration from the audience. In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, John Proctor was not the ordinary resident living in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. Salem during this time period embodies pure unintelligence. The community faced ruthless weather, deceased crops, and sickness. They didn’t know how these dreadful happenings arose. The only knowledge they had came from books, which did not contain the solutions for their troubles. The idea of witchcraft was proposed, and with this being the only possible...
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...The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play where the town of Salem conducts witch trials and exhibits extreme behavior resulting from dark desires. One notable character, Abigail Williams, was the cause of the mishaps within Salem and displayed an erratic behavior to the townspeople. Her distinct personality and persona have stood out within the plot and ruined John Proctor’s reputation. Abigail Williams actions and dialogue portray her, not only as manipulative but bossy and selfish. Abigail’s physical description ties into her manipulative nature. For instance, she is described as “a strikingly beautiful girl, an orphan, with an endless capacity for dissembling” (Miller 8) This suggests that she is powerful in regards to her lies and is tactical...
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...Authority is Power – Crucible Essay Is authority power that is given to an individual? Or must that individual earn their respectful status with no faults? When does the power given begin to become too much for an individual to regulate? An individual with a lot of power over a certain group or person may misuse their authority in negative ways. Many figures of authority misuse their powerful influence over other individuals which can negatively impact the lives of others or even themselves. A number of people with authority tend to misuse their powerful influence over a group of individuals, as seen in the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Many characters with power try to maintain their respectable reputations but along the way end up dissipating the authority they have. Other characters misuse their positions of power over certain individuals for personal gain such as love and for wealth and land. Individuals with respectable authority tend to misuse their power in hopes of maintaining their idea of a perfect reputation. Reverend Parris is known as the town reverend, a title with power and high expectations. He has power over the town due to his title but he misuses the power he has over his slave from Barbados, Tituba. Once Parris discovered that Tituba was present in the woods with the girls dancing, he felt as though she were responsible. He used his power, as her boss, to threaten Tituba into giving information as he asks her “who? Who? Their names, their names”...
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...playwright The Crucible by Arthur Miller brings the events of the Salem witch trials to life. Miller’s characterization of Reverend Parris and Judge Danforth as selfish and narcissistic, individuals portray how people will do anything, even immoral acts, to maintain a good reputation. Reputation is paramount in Reverend Parris’s eyes, his character fixates on maintaining his reputation and keeping the prestige that backs his name. For instance, when Parris finds out that his daughter is ill he reacts in a narcissistic manner: “[t]hey will howl me out of Salem, for such a corruption in my house” (Miller 1). This shows how his life revolves around his name, he cares more for his name than he does his own daughter. Prior, to ensuring his daughter's safety, Parris remarks on how his enemies will drive him out of...
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...The Crucible written by Arthur Miller is a play that showcases the importance of telling the truth in all situations, even when it may appear to be the wrong course of action. The play takes place in the town of Salem, Massachusetts during the chaotic times of the Salem witch trials. Miller presents the characters of Abigail, John Proctor, and Elizabeth Proctor as three townspeople who are connected by the sins of the past. Although these three characters are different in far more ways than one, they all share a special purpose in revealing an important truth to the readers of this play. Abigail, John, and Elizabeth all showed that not speaking the truth can have immense consequences on other people, not just themselves. Abigail Williams had no trouble lying throughout the entire play, even when her actions sentence people to death. After Paris first found the girls...
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...The Crucible Act Four Questions Short Response Answer the following questions based on your knowledge of the drama. Write a response on a separate sheet of paper. 1. Where does Tituba think that the Devil is going to take her? 2. Give one example of how Abigail shows her dishonesty in this act. 3. What effect do the trials have on Salem? Use three details from the drama to support your answer. 4. When first arrives at the Salem jail, Danforth complains, “There is a prodigious stench in this place.” How might this line be read to mean something besides a comment on the smell? 5. How is Giles Corey’s character reflected in his death? Use one detail from the drama to support your response. 6. What qualities does Proctor find within himself that prevent him from at last saving himself and signing the confession? Use details from the text to support your response. 7. Explain how Proctor is right or wrong for refusing to sign the confession. Use details to support your response. 8. A tragic hero’s fate, according to Aristotle, inspires pity and horror. Name the tragic hero in The Crucible, and describe how his or her fate inspires both pity and horror. 9. People accused of being Communists had a difficult time getting jobs; some even moved out of the United States in order to try to resume normal lives. How is Proctor’s situation like that of the people accused of Communist activities? 10. Based on the conversation involving Tituba, Sarah...
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...The Crucible is a tragic story, one of unjustified deaths and malicious lies. People died standing up for what they believed in, and according to the story, one of those people was John Proctor. However, he wasn’t the courageous individual who wanted to save the lives of others. He had something else in mind, his own reputation. John Proctor died to save his own reputation in his town. He chose to die rather than live with his pregnant wife and children, just to avoid losing his good name. As the story was spun, John Proctor was supposed to appear as a tragic hero, however this is not the case. John Proctor’s actions were driven by guilt, selfishness and arrogance, not because of heroism. Although John Proctor's death was not warranted, he...
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