Abigail Williams is the main instigator in all of the play. She is the ringleader of all the young women in Salem. The minute she feels or sees a “spirit” all the other girls miraculously see and feel them too. Abigail has her eyes set on John Proctor and uses the witch-hunt to take his wife out of play. She discovers that with her new found power all she has to do is accuse someone and they can be condemned. Her hatred for Goody Proctor is evident as in her quote to Rev. Parris, “ She hates me, uncle for I would not be her slave. It’s a bitter woman, a lying, cold, sniveling woman, and I will not work for such a woman!” (Act 1 PG 11) The power behind the girls accusations is amazingly large, through all their spectral evidence that was taken for by Danforth and Hathorne. “I tell you straight, Mister—I have seen marvels in this court. I have seen people choked before my eyes by spirits; I have seen them struck by pins and slashed by daggers. I have until this moment not the slightest reason to suspect that the children may be deceiving me.” (Act 3 PG 84) The power these girls got from the court is a monster that is ever present throughout this play. However along with power comes something much worse which is evil.…
We can’t help but to tell a lie here and there. We, as a race, have the tendency to unknowingly tell a tale to save ourselves, others or their feelings. In this particular situation, Abigail Williams was only thinking for herself to avoid the rope.…
Additionally, Abigail is displayed as the major antagonist and her role in the play remains static. Abigail falsely accuses innocent people of witchcraft and feels no repentance for her actions. She is a vicious antagonist who will stop at nothing to attain her uncontrolled goals. Her central role remains static throughout the play. This is proven from her hiding the truth and convincing the girls…
In 1692, in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, several young girls experienced a conjured illness, triggering the beginning of mass hysteria in the town. The unexplained illnesses were thought to be the devil’s doing; using witches to stain the town. The hysteria spread within the strictly religious town and allowed for revenge and old jealousies to be rekindled. Women and men fell victim to the young girls and were condemned to hang. The unimaginable events that took place became known as the Salem Witch Trials. The trials brought Arthur Miller to write The Crucible, depicting the unfortunate events. Throughout The Crucible, a young girl named Abigail Williams uses her cunningness and deceitfulness to get what she wants. Her jealousness and lack of moral and ethics gives her the ability to condemn innocent beings to death, without any questions.…
Abigail Williams was a suspicious 11 or 12 year old girl who was the leading cause of the Salem Witch Trial hysteria. There is not much background information on her, but as far as history goes, Abigail was born 1680 and lived with her Uncle Samuel Parris’ family, who was the head Reverend of Salem, Massachusetts at the time. “Although it was ordinary practice for young girls to live with relatives to learn about housewifery, we know very little about Abigail, including where she was born and who her parents were.” (Yost, 2002) In an indirect way, Abigail has contributed to American history being that she was the main cause of the Salem Witch Trial accusations. The 6th amendment of the American Constitution was highly influenced by the Salem Witch Trials. With the 6th amendment, the accused are entitled to have a witness, an attorney for their defense, and will be heard before a jury in court. The Salem Witch Trials affected the way America viewed reliable evidence used in court cases because they stopped using spectral evidence. During the Witchcraft trials, the only evidence available was hear-say information from the girls who were “afflicted.” More than 45 innocent people were killed, because the court believed Abigail and the girls without looking into further detail about the spoken "witches." Nowadays, the accused are able to have a witness with them as well as some one who will look into their case and use accurate evidence to prove their innocence "until proven…
Abigail Williams is the niece of Reverend Samuel Parris in Arthur Miller’s book the Crucible. Some people may think she’s just a normal girl but how can people be sure about that? Abigail Williams, age 17, is indeed a young girl, but she’s also an evil villain. Throughout the book, there are many examples to show how this is true. Abigail makes up lies to get what she wants, to get out of trouble, and to manipulate others. She also attempts a homicide just because she’s jealous. These are the details that will be examined in this essay.…
What is a witch, you might ask yourself. A witch is a person who practices witchcraft, which are…
Abigail Williams is a deranged character throughout the play. Towards the end she gets even worse. It all starts out because she’s in love with John Proctor from whom she had an affair with. She does everything she does to try to get John to be with her. One night when Tituba and the other girls went out in the woods to dance around a fire Abby brought a chicken. She drank the chicken’s blood and sacrificed it into the fire in hope that Elizabeth proctor would die. When Betty wouldn’t wake up from her sleep while John came to visit her, so then Abby tried to make her move with him. John stated that he didn’t want her no more towards Abby. Once the town starts to talk of witchcraft Abby blames Tituba for the whole thing. She explains that Tituba made all the girls go out into the woods and dance. Abby will do anything to keep herself out of the blame.…
Don't lie to hail she comes to me while I sleep she's always making me dream corruptions."page 1091" The crucible is in the astonishing play about the history of Salem and witchcraft. This play is a story from past time, Abigail Williams is a huge part of this play because of her scheming ways to put people to death as you can see from the previous quote I listed, this was one of her many lies. Many different people play a role in the Salem deaths but Abigail started all and kept playing it off until she killed in abundant amount. Abigail is responsible for numerous deaths that occurred during this time. Due to her falsely accusing goody Proctor, threatening the girls to take part in her lies, and her admission to guilt by leaving Salem. Abigail is most to blame as a result of her extremely persuasive ways that involve threats towards the rest of the girls which made them start blaming people for witchcraft and they lied about all the things that they were accused of.…
In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams has a major effect on the Salem witch trials. She plays a major role in the development of the plot of the story and is the main antagonist as well. It is learned in Act I that she has had an affair with John Proctor and that she is accusing others, later including his wife, of witchcraft. Abigail is not only in love and had an affair with a man that is already married, she gets innocent people killed with her false accusations and runs away instead of dealing with the repercussions of her actions.…
In The Crucible, Abigail Williams is a wicked, sinful, foul girl who lies to get what she wants. She defends her life and her name by falsely accusing others of conspiring with the devil. Witchcraft or evil is forcefully shown through abigail williams. wickedness is represent by abigail in many ways. She uses many ways to fulfill her evil wants some of them were through whoring, insanity, allegation.…
When present, fear can often be exploited for one’s personal gain. The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, exemplifies the power of fear due to the imaginary idea of witchcraft in the small village of Salem. During the time this play was written, the United States was overcome by the fear of communism, which had led to the government accusing many innocent people for ridiculous reasons. Miller uses The Crucible to show how many of the accusations in the Salem Witch Trials, a similar event, often had underlying, selfish, and personal reasons behind them. In the play Abigail Williams, and Thomas Putnam’s take advantage of the pervasive fear in the village, allowing them to fulfill their selfish and exploitative motives which are what truly fuel the Salem Witch Trials.…
Abigail Williams seems to be evil by the way she speaks with other women, “Let either of you breathe a word, or edge of a word about the other things and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will a pointy reckoning that will shudder you”(Miller 26) Williams in a way is also a childish character. When she continues to proclaim her love for John proctor even when she knows he wants nothing to do with her. “ Child!…How do you call me child.” ( Miller 29).…
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,…
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.…