Abigail A Victim In The Crucible
From Victim to Villain
Everyone has their reasons for their actions; some make decisions out of love or anger. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Abigail’s decisions are made from an intricate weave of mixed emotions driven by the tortured mind of a 17 year old girl. It is those decisions, those choices she makes that destroy the town of Salem. While in the beginning she is the victim of unfair and cruel circumstances, her choices such as witchcraft, manipulation, and blackmail lead to her descent down to a lowly villain who cares for nothing other than what she wants. The Crucible, while a story of how hysteria and the power of mob mentality can destroy a community, is also a story of falling from grace. From Proctor's affair with Abigail, to judge Danforth's decision to condemn so many innocent people to their deaths. Out of all of these people, Abigail falls the furthest. In the beginning she is the victim, her parents dead, a self centered uncle who cares more about his reputation than his own niece.”Abigail, I have spent 3 long years to bend …show more content…
“... You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor” (Miller 148)! This however does not work and results in one of the other girls getting sick. This is what leads up to the hysteria. Later she frames Goody Proctor with voodoo by using a doll she sees Mary knitting earlier that day, “... Let you ask Susanna Walcott-she saw me sewin’ it in court. Ask Abby, Abby sat beside me when I made it” (Miller 176). Abigail sees Mary put the needle into the doll and waits until later so she could stab herself and accuse Goody Proctor of witchcraft. When Cheever goes to the Proctors’ home to see, they find the doll that is given as a gift to Goody Proctor, therefor being “proof” that Elizabeth did it. This shows just how easily Abigail can manipulate situations to her
Everyone has their reasons for their actions; some make decisions out of love or anger. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Abigail’s decisions are made from an intricate weave of mixed emotions driven by the tortured mind of a 17 year old girl. It is those decisions, those choices she makes that destroy the town of Salem. While in the beginning she is the victim of unfair and cruel circumstances, her choices such as witchcraft, manipulation, and blackmail lead to her descent down to a lowly villain who cares for nothing other than what she wants. The Crucible, while a story of how hysteria and the power of mob mentality can destroy a community, is also a story of falling from grace. From Proctor's affair with Abigail, to judge Danforth's decision to condemn so many innocent people to their deaths. Out of all of these people, Abigail falls the furthest. In the beginning she is the victim, her parents dead, a self centered uncle who cares more about his reputation than his own niece.”Abigail, I have spent 3 long years to bend …show more content…
“... You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor” (Miller 148)! This however does not work and results in one of the other girls getting sick. This is what leads up to the hysteria. Later she frames Goody Proctor with voodoo by using a doll she sees Mary knitting earlier that day, “... Let you ask Susanna Walcott-she saw me sewin’ it in court. Ask Abby, Abby sat beside me when I made it” (Miller 176). Abigail sees Mary put the needle into the doll and waits until later so she could stab herself and accuse Goody Proctor of witchcraft. When Cheever goes to the Proctors’ home to see, they find the doll that is given as a gift to Goody Proctor, therefor being “proof” that Elizabeth did it. This shows just how easily Abigail can manipulate situations to her