Abigail WIlliams and Iago: Master VIllains
Kiana Bales
Mrs. MacKenzie
English 3U
Monday, April 15, 2013
Abigail Williams and Iago: Master Villains Villains play a very important role in every literary work. Whether they exist as people, circumstances, or even nature, their purpose is to provide a problem to be solved by the “good guys”. Without villains, no piece of literature would be worth reading. Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello are master villains. Both antagonists are fuelled by thoughts of revenge, and rely heavily on deception and manipulation to get what they want. Both Abigail and Iago are deceptive characters, which clearly illustrates their villainous nature. Abigail begins to show this destructive quality very early in the story, when she and the other girls in the story have just been caught dancing in the woods. Betty, her young cousin, lies comatose, as she has since Reverend Parris had caught the girls. When Rev. Parris asks Abigail if anything that happened in the woods could possibly have hurt Betty, she is adamant about the fact that nothing they were doing was malicious. She tells him, “I would never hurt Betty, I love her dearly” (Miller 9). Later, when Betty begins to wake up and starts telling the truth about what happened in the woods, that Abigail had drunk blood in order to kill Elizabeth Proctor, Abigail tries to shut her up. She smashes her across the face, and yells, “Shut it! Now shut it!” (Miller 18). Another example of her lies to her uncle is again when he questions her about what happened that night in the forest. He is certain that he saw someone naked, but Abigail cannot let him believe that. If he thinks someone was naked in the forest, it will make him more certain that witchcraft was involved. Therefore, she quickly tells her uncle, “No one was naked! You mistake yourself uncle!” (Miller 11). She later tells her friend Mercy Lewis that her uncle saw her naked, which clearly shows that she lied to her uncle.
Mrs. MacKenzie
English 3U
Monday, April 15, 2013
Abigail Williams and Iago: Master Villains Villains play a very important role in every literary work. Whether they exist as people, circumstances, or even nature, their purpose is to provide a problem to be solved by the “good guys”. Without villains, no piece of literature would be worth reading. Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello are master villains. Both antagonists are fuelled by thoughts of revenge, and rely heavily on deception and manipulation to get what they want. Both Abigail and Iago are deceptive characters, which clearly illustrates their villainous nature. Abigail begins to show this destructive quality very early in the story, when she and the other girls in the story have just been caught dancing in the woods. Betty, her young cousin, lies comatose, as she has since Reverend Parris had caught the girls. When Rev. Parris asks Abigail if anything that happened in the woods could possibly have hurt Betty, she is adamant about the fact that nothing they were doing was malicious. She tells him, “I would never hurt Betty, I love her dearly” (Miller 9). Later, when Betty begins to wake up and starts telling the truth about what happened in the woods, that Abigail had drunk blood in order to kill Elizabeth Proctor, Abigail tries to shut her up. She smashes her across the face, and yells, “Shut it! Now shut it!” (Miller 18). Another example of her lies to her uncle is again when he questions her about what happened that night in the forest. He is certain that he saw someone naked, but Abigail cannot let him believe that. If he thinks someone was naked in the forest, it will make him more certain that witchcraft was involved. Therefore, she quickly tells her uncle, “No one was naked! You mistake yourself uncle!” (Miller 11). She later tells her friend Mercy Lewis that her uncle saw her naked, which clearly shows that she lied to her uncle.
Cited: 1. Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1952 2. Shakespeare, William. Othello. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989