...“I cannot sleep for dreamin’; I cannot dream but I wake and walk about the house as though I’ll find you comin’ through some door” (Miller, Act 1, pg 23). The Crucible by Arthur Miller holds a description of the Salem Witch trials. Arthur Miller lived in the “McCarthyism” era, in which people had accusations thrown at them that they might possibly be communists in the way that the accusations of being witches could be thrown at innocents in 1672 Salem. Miller himself carried the accusation of being a communist, which happened to be one of the reasons he wrote this play, in theory; to display what mass hysteria can do to a community or nation. Even though Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams are both opinionated, only one holds something that is purely opinion whilst the other holds a solid basis upon faith....
Words: 550 - Pages: 3
...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...
Words: 533 - Pages: 3
...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...
Words: 375 - Pages: 2
...The Crucible a wonderful piece of literature by Arthur Miller. Has a very deceitful character named Abigail Williams. Her behavior is very shocking. The things she does to keep her name white. To begin, Abigail and all her friends got caught by Reverend Parris in the woods singing and dancing. They all brought different things to put in the soup. They brought flowers, and a frog and one of the girls brought a chicken. Abby drank the blood from the chicken. After the girls get caught in the forest and the next day Betty and Ruth will not wake up. The people thinks that the devil has processed them and thats when abigail accuses Tituba of conjuring spirits. All because Abby (Abigail) did not want to get in trouble or risk her reputation (her name in the town) no longer being white. So she started accusing people of being witches Abigail starts accusing people of being witches, she wrongfully convicted people, when people stopped believing her she vanished. First, why did abigail start accusing people of being witch’s. She did not want her name to be blackened in the village. According to Abby “My name is good in the village! I will not have it said my name is soiled!”(Crucible 140). She started accusing people just to keep her name white in the village. It is shocking because the people she and her friends were...
Words: 655 - Pages: 3
...Is Abigail Williams a person of good character or does she have cruel intentions? In The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams is one of the main characters. Abigail Williams plays a big role and not a very good one at that, she’s a liar, sinner of adultery, and feels no emotion for those who were hung because of her. From the beginning, Abigail Williams lied which lead her to tell a whole string of lies. The very first lie that Abigail told was about the dancing she said,”It were sport, uncle!”(Miller 1131), which was not the case. Her dancing was for a spell to get John Proctor to like her. Her and many other girls went along with the spell and the lie. Many people were hung for this ongoing lie that was never confessed to be...
Words: 415 - Pages: 2
...Abigail Williams drives The Crucible. She is Reverend Parris’ niece who initiates witch trials by falsely accusing others of witchcraft. She acts as though she sees spirits along with instructing the other girls to act as well. Abigail at first wants to avoid punishment. When she sees how the adults react to others crying witch, she sees this as an opportunity. Once things get started, she sees an opportunity for self-interest (John Proctor). Abigail is the most responsible for the girls being in the woods. Once the girls were caught by Reverend Paris, Abigail tries to hide her behavior because it will expose her affair with John Proctor if she admits to casting a spell on Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail found herself attracted to Proctor while working in their...
Words: 465 - Pages: 2
...Abigail's actions were convicted of a bogus crime by an effective yet dishonest jury of young youth villagers. John Procter himself had none of this expected to come his way, apart from his affair with Abigail he was known as an exceptional member of the community especially portrayed when he criticized the witch trials even after he becomes convicted of the crime himself. The self inflicted pressures that Abigail places upon herself due to her selfish love of John Procter, result in complex and uncontrollable lies that eventually leads to the social destruction of Salem in Arthur Millers The Crucible. Abigail desires to have power in the court, in this way she can sway the decisions of the Judges and make anyone appear as a threat to Salem. This empowerment causes Abigail to get all girls involved in the court hearings, if all girls follow her lead in making these decisions; then it is these girls that are in charge of the fate of innocent villagers. Elizabeth Procter fears for her life in act two, "Abigail brings the other girls into the court, and where she walks the crowd will part like the sea for Israel" (Miller 52), as she feels victimized by Abigail and all knowingly realises that she has a strong persuasion in the other girls. The other village girls will follow the lead of Abigail; therefore Elizabeth should fear her life, as she knows about...
Words: 574 - Pages: 3
...During the late 1600s, Abigail Williams caused irreparable harm and chaos in Salem, Massachusetts. Abigail is a malicious individual, doing whatever she can to get the things she wants. Abigail takes whatever action is needed to protect herself, even if it harms others. In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, Abigail Williams was the true cause of the Salem Witch Trials because she falsely accused other women of being witches, had an affair with John Proctor, and forced others to do what she wanted them to. Abigail Williams ignites turmoil in Salem when she begins to accuse innocent women in Salem of witchcraft. Abigail’s main reason for doing so is to deflect the blame off of herself so that her name is not tarnished; and she does not get in any trouble. Abigail shows her true colors in the climax of Act 1 when Abigail and the girls begin to yell out the names of the women in the town, claiming they are witches. For example, when Abigail yells out to the town, “I saw Sarah Good with the devil, I saw Goody Osburn with the devil” (Miller 1.45). It is understood that Abigail did...
Words: 637 - Pages: 3
...The Crucible Essay In The Crucible , Arthur Miller shows unique character traits through the character’s personality, values and their feelings. Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor are great examples. Their personality traits and what they value are very different from each other. However, their feelings towards John Proctor are similar to a certain extinct. Arthur Miller shows the difference between their true feelings through their actions later on in the play. Abigail displays different personality traits throughout the play. She is a liar, a bully, and a manipulative person. In Act Ⅰ, Abigail starts yelling and threatening the other girls if they told what really happened in the woods. She told Mary Warren to “Shut it”(Miller 468)....
Words: 819 - Pages: 4
...The Crucible, 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...
Words: 648 - Pages: 3
...believe or think that we are one or the other- vice or virtue. But why is that? Do you come to think to question yourself that you’re either a good or bad person for possibly the littlest thing? Think about it. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams is the most despicable character because she obtains a power by starting to accuse innocent people of witchcraft, was involved in lechery with John Proctor, and ran away with her uncle’s money that she stole from a safe. To begin with, Abigail Williams may just be a young woman, but she is capable of many things. For instance, her and Mercy Lewis ran away with Reverend Parris’s money. They ran away, because they wanted to avoid getting accused for any sort of witchcraft, especially after what happened in the forest. In act four, Parris states to Danforth,”...my strongbox is broken into” (4.207*208), the only person who knew where his strongbox was Abigail, since she lived with him. This shows one of the many things that Abigail is capable of. In addition, Parris knew what Abigail was capable of and what she had on the...
Words: 698 - Pages: 3
...Abigail Williams appears to be a young lady, prim and proper in the community of Salem. When you take a look closer you can see she is really the deceiving spawn of satan himself. ‘The Crucible by Arthur Miller’ is full of conflict. Many of the people who live in Salem are responsible for the conflict being started from time to time. However, everywhere you look at this particular time in Salem Abigail Williams is the beginning source of the conflict. Abigail Williams spreads false truths that result in deaths of many innocent townspeople, including the love of her life John Proctor. Towards the beginning of the story, Abigail chooses to lie about the dancing in the woods and falsely accuse many innocent people of witchcraft. Abigail threatens Betty with “Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam's dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. 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. And you know I can do it;...
Words: 583 - Pages: 3
...The Crucible: Who was Responsible In 1692, it was dark times for the town of Salem, Massachusetts, times where the phrase witchcraft spread like wildfire. A town where speculation overcame common sense and where chaos overcame order. The town was mostly composed of farmers, priests, and common folk, but there was one person who wanted more than the common life, she wanted power. Her name was Abigail Williams, the sole reason of why the events in Salem became reality and the fears of many became true. Abigail Williams is the most responsible for the events in Salem because of her lust for John Proctor, her jealousy, and her vengefulness. Abigail was quite a delusional girl when it came to falling in love, especially with John Proctor, one...
Words: 875 - Pages: 4
...Abigail Williams, or Abby, was afflicted by some “spirit”. She is manipulative and wants everything to go her way. She is around 17 years old. She started out as The Proctors helper but then was fired by Mrs. Proctor because she thought Abby and Mr. Proctor were secretly getting together. It was Elizabeth Proctor's arbitrate to send Abby off. Elizabeth makes it ascertain as possible that she didn’t do any witchcraft. The girls were unintelligible. For several motivations, Abigail Williams used the power through false witchcraft accusations to feed her infatuation for John Proctor. Abigail and her friends were dancing in the woods. Dancing is forbidden in their village and Mr. Parris found the girls. While he tried to get his daughter to wake up the day after he found them, she would not. He called the doctor and there was another girl who would not wake up. He blamed Abigail for doing witchcraft because he saw a pot and something inside it move. She told him that it was not that and they were just dancing in the woods. She did not want anything bad with her name. “You drank blood, Abby! You didn’t tell him that!” (Applebee et al. 175). “John, have you ever shown her somewhat of contempt? She cannot pass you in the church but you will blush-.” (Applebee et al. 197). Abigail did not have a good word in the community. There was word around the village...
Words: 1142 - Pages: 5
...would say Abigail Williams is an innocent young teen I believe she is an untrustworthy person whose actions have negative effects on people’s lives. Abigail Williams shows her true colors by manipulating many people in the town of Salem. Abigail Williams was a very un-honest person as she lied and did many bad things. One of the first things she lies about is in the start of the story when the girls get caught dancing in the woods Abigail says “We did dance uncle and when you leaped out of the bushes suddenly, Betty was frightened and the she fainted. And there’s the whole of it.”(Miller page 1130). Abigail lies to her uncle because what she really did in the woods was drink blood to kill Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail wants to kill Elizabeth because she has had an affair with Elizabeth’s husband John Proctor so she can be with him. In fear of getting in trouble for what she did Abigail threatens the other girls that where with her in the woods if they don’t support her story. To get the attention off of her Abigail starts making up lies about Tituba, by saying...
Words: 440 - Pages: 2
