The Crucible: Character Analysis of Abigail Williams
The Crucible Character Analysis: Abigail Williams
“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. I saw Indians smash my dear parents’ heads on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun come down!” (Miller 20).
In The Crucible Arthur Miller portrays Abigail Williams as manipulative, intimidating, and a compulsive liar. Throughout the entire play she spreads devastation and death in every corner of Salem. She is depicted as the “villain” of the town, and plays the role well. Abigail shows a lack of empathy or any sense of the well being of others and the consequences she causes to fall on them.
Act one is when Abigail sets the ball rolling and when she starts to manipulate those around her. Parris accuses her of witchcraft and while denying it she in turn accuses Tituba, a slave from Barbados who lives in the Parris home, of being the one performing witchcraft. Abigail exclaimed, “She made me drink blood!” (Miller 43) while trying to convince the adults that Tituba was a witch. She later also claimed, “Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the open doorway and not a stitch on my body! I always hear her laughing in my sleep. I hear her singing her Barbados song and tempting me,” (Miller 44) trying to further raise suspicions of Tituba and to get the attention away from herself. She and other girls accuse several other women of witchcraft in the end of Act One. In Act Two, Abigail continues her manipulation by accusing Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft and getting her arrested.
One of Abigail’s most prominent traits is lying. Not only is she good at it, but she is also
“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. I saw Indians smash my dear parents’ heads on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun come down!” (Miller 20).
In The Crucible Arthur Miller portrays Abigail Williams as manipulative, intimidating, and a compulsive liar. Throughout the entire play she spreads devastation and death in every corner of Salem. She is depicted as the “villain” of the town, and plays the role well. Abigail shows a lack of empathy or any sense of the well being of others and the consequences she causes to fall on them.
Act one is when Abigail sets the ball rolling and when she starts to manipulate those around her. Parris accuses her of witchcraft and while denying it she in turn accuses Tituba, a slave from Barbados who lives in the Parris home, of being the one performing witchcraft. Abigail exclaimed, “She made me drink blood!” (Miller 43) while trying to convince the adults that Tituba was a witch. She later also claimed, “Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the open doorway and not a stitch on my body! I always hear her laughing in my sleep. I hear her singing her Barbados song and tempting me,” (Miller 44) trying to further raise suspicions of Tituba and to get the attention away from herself. She and other girls accuse several other women of witchcraft in the end of Act One. In Act Two, Abigail continues her manipulation by accusing Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft and getting her arrested.
One of Abigail’s most prominent traits is lying. Not only is she good at it, but she is also