Preview

Abigail Williams: Misfit Archetype

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1156 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Abigail Williams: Misfit Archetype
Abigail Williams: Misfit Archetype

Abigail Williams, a character from The Crucible, is a misfit archetype. A misfit archetype describes a character who doesn’t fit in with their community and surroundings. These types of characters can often display an attitude of freedom. I chose the misfit archetype for Abigail Williams because she fits into it very well. To begin with, Abigail was found conjugating with Tituba and other girls in the woods. She is also a misfit because she starts accusing fellow citizens of being witches. Arthur Miller wrote a novel called The Crucible, with a character named Abigail Williams, who fits the misfit archetype that can be connected to 21st century, the time period that The Crucible takes place, and characters, both in The Crucible, and in other novels.

Abigail Williams, a misfit archetype from the 17th century, has experiences and qualities that can be associated with the 20th and 21st centuries. Throughout this time, people have done things to get another person, who happens to be some type of enemy, into trouble. An example of this during the 20th century were the McCarthy Trials. During this time, Americas were accusing each other of being Communist spies who were trying to gather information to give back to Russia. Neighbors, friends, and family who didn't like each other were accusing and being accused. The McCarthy trials can be related to Abigail Williams
…show more content…
Abigail can be seen as a misfit throughout the entire novel. Abigail had tried multiple times to get Elizabeth proctor accused of witchcraft so that she could have John Proctor for herself. She used her uncle's power with the church to get her way. Abigail likes to get people executed because they've done something to her that angers

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the Crucible, we know that Abigail Williams is obsessed with John Proctor’s love, which motivates her to go down a villainous path. She is vindictive and a compulsive liar, which allows her to have power in the Salem Witch Trials. Here, we can apply the typical character traits of female villains.The romance element is very important to Abigail’s villainy. Abigail's behaviour in the trials is provoked by her past affair with John Proctor as well as her feelings towards Elizabeth. In this situation, Proctor is supposedly responsible for Abigail’s evil nature. The aftermath of this relationship led to the revenge attribute, in which Abigail and the other girls begin accusing people of witchcraft as a way of hopefully eliminating Elizabeth…

    • 248 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Abigail is a peculiar individual as she is one of the main charachters in the play, with her convicting so many innocent civilians, it can only be assured…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    She would call witchcraft on innocent people for example John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail fancied John Proctor and was furious when John ended the affair to go back faithfully to his wife Elizabeth. Abigail accused Elizabeth of witchcraft and as a result of of Abigail’s accusation It caused John’s death. Another major reason i believe she is the villain is when she saw her town falling to pieces she stood there and filled with pride. Abigail enjoyed being able to have the power of putting a label on someone and cloud everyone's judgment. Once one of her followers backed down from…

    • 146 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Salem, Massachusetts in the year of 1692 the Salem witch trials ruined everybody’s lives and ignited all because of Abigail Williams. In the play the “Crucible” which is also known as a severe test, the town of Salem was considered a Crucible. The town was put through hard and controversial times. Abigail’s attachment to John Proctor makes her try to get rid of his wife Elizabeth throughout the entire play. Abigail also even threatens and lies multiple times to people to get what she wants. Abigail is a mean and selfish person that always wants her way no matter who she hurts.…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Arthur miller creates a female lead called Abigail Williams, she's a young, good-looking, smart girls, always mindful of her personal advantage. The fact that she lost her parents in her early childhood due to a brutal Indian robbery in which she was an eye witness has certainly strongly influenced her character. After the death of her parents, she grows up with her uncle, the pastor of Salem. At first she follows all the rules and customs of this church, but she finds it too hard to be serious for twenty-four hours a day because she is not really like that.…

    • 100 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Abigail Williams was a deceitful, dishonest, and manipulative teenage girl who antagonized the village of Salem in the the late 17th century. Instead of living a traditional Puritan life Abigail was the initiator of pandemonium within the village of Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials. In 1692 men and women were accused and sometimes hanged for practicing witchcraft, including husband and wife John and Elizabeth Proctor. The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller depicts the story of Abigail and her mischievous ways of governing people’s lives during the dark times in Salem. With the aid of Abigail’s friends she was able to psychologically influence Salem with her selfish and greed actions to successfully control the minds of it’s…

    • 1035 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams plays a very important role as being a manipulative character that accuses many woman of witchcraft, some including Tituba, Sarah Good, Goody Booth and Goody Hawkins. Abigail also had an affair with Proctor, which leads to a lot of problems for him down the road. Abigail Williams gets a lot of women in trouble by saying that they were involved in witchcraft and that they were torturing children and young girls. The problem with Abigail saying stuff like this about other women is that the punishment for witchcraft back then was death, usually by getting hung. Abigail manipulated everyone into thinking that she was also getting her by one of the women doing witchcraft.…

    • 268 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams' behavior is not without reason; her mental instability is to blame for her actions. For example, she saw her parents murdered as a child and this seems to have lead to her being mentally unstable. John Proctor, a much older man, also basically sexually abused her. And her being raised by Reverend Parris, the paranoid, power-hungry man, is sure to be messing Abigail up in some way or another.…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Winona Ryder’s statement about Abigail Williams’ character is very controversial. I believe, unlike Ryder, that Abigail was indeed a villain. Much like her friends, Abigail loved being the “talk of the town.” Once Abigail realized she was receiving attention from the town, she found ways to keep it by accusing people of witchcraft. In Act 1, Abigail says, “...I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!” This proves that Abigail made many false accusations against other townspeople to keep the attention on herself. On the other hand, some might believe that Abigail is innocent. People claim that Abigail and her friends are doing it for fun and games at first, but not long after,…

    • 176 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I agree with Winona Ryder when she says Abigail Williams is the villian. Why I think this is because a lot of trouble and also a lot of drama was created by her. Abigail Williams first off is a bad person because she threatens people and uses power. Secondly she threatens all these people without second guessing which shows she is evil. Thirdly she accused people of things that they didn't do. Such as accusing Elizabeth proctor of something she didn't do. That shows she wanted bad for others and tried to take the easy way out of things. Finally she was a bad person because she just caused problems all around and was a negative in the…

    • 119 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Abigail Williams Guilty

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Have you ever met someone that has been responsible for the crimes in the city? Well Abigail Williams is one of the many in the village in Salem, Massachusetts. Abigail is a mean and vindictive person who always wanted to get her way. Others may argue that Abigail was not responsible for the crimes in Salem, but they have been mistaken.…

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Abigail Williams is a very important if not the most important person to this play. She has many different qualities that make her the unpredictable enigma she is. abby lies, cheats, steals, persuades, and snitches on everyone and anyone who gets in the way of what she wants. She has had a sheltered life and is tired of it which makes her quite rebellious and manipulative. It all starts out with her trying to find love in the wrong places.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play that takes place in 1692 in the small Massachusetts village of Salem. Salem is a Puritan community; they are a very restrictive society with strong beliefs. They believe in hard work and prayer, therefore they consider material and sexual desires unnatural and evil. Abigail Williams, the main character is the reason for the witch trials that begin in Salem. She is dishonest, manipulative and her seductive ways is what makes her the antagonist of this play.…

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “Watching a compulsive liar scramble to damage control when the truth and secrets unfold, knowing that they’re hurting others, makes them inconceivably shameful.” This quote is a good definition to describe Abigail Williams morals and how she lives as a person. Abigail Williams is a character from the famous book, The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Malicious, psychotic, and manipulative are a couple of the many words that can describe Abigail Williams to more than an extent. She has no actual morals, she just thinks about herself, what she wants, and what she can say or do that will benefit her. Abigail lies, manipulates, and due to her selfish ways, her false testimonies, sent over twenty people to death, jail, because of her love for john…

    • 126 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the main characters of the play The Crucible, Abigail Williams, is the most spiteful and least complex character throughout the entire play. She is the villain of the play, even more than Parris or Danforth. She is on the lower end of the social hierarchy; the only people below her were slaves like Tituba. Abigail Williams possess wicked character traits that give her a negative perception. She is a jezebel figure who lacks feelings, an immoral character who lacks ethics and a manipulative person who lacks a conscience.…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays