Character Analysis Paper on Hester Prynne and Abigal Williams
Hester Prynne and Abigail Williams have both committed a crime and they are both hated by their societies. However, there are also differences between the two characters. Hester Prynne is the better Puritan woman of the two because she did not commit as many sins as Abigail did, she was not as secretive about it, and her actions only directly affected herself and her child, unlike Abigail who caused the deaths of so many people.
Hester did sinned but the single sin of adultery is not comparable to Abigail's many sins, these sins being s wrath, greed, lust, and envy. Hester's adulterous behavior was considered one of the worst sins that a Puritan woman could commit. Although that was an awful sin to have committed, Abigail committed a sin of the same kind and more. Abigail and Hester both knew that what they did was wrong. Hester took the blame to protect the man she loved and did not lie about what happened. Abigail lied to the whole town about what she did, and she made her friends lie just to make sure she didn’t get caught. Abigail’s behavior and the fact that she brought others into to her complicated sin make’s her harder to find forgiveness for.
Hester never denied the fact that she sinned as Abigail was. In fact Abigail was called "an orphan with an endless capacity for dissembling" (insert). This shows that she was already being questioned about her honesty even though it was believed that children could not lie. Hester did not try to hide the fact from the townspeople that she was pregnant. She only tried to conceal the identity of the father of her baby. Abigail, on the other hand, made sure that the citizens of Salem did not find out that she and her friends had been lying when they accused many innocent people of witchcraft. She even started to threaten John Proctor by telling him that if he told on she would have the towns council put up his wife under the suspicion of being a witch and get her hanged. She also threatened her friends many
Hester did sinned but the single sin of adultery is not comparable to Abigail's many sins, these sins being s wrath, greed, lust, and envy. Hester's adulterous behavior was considered one of the worst sins that a Puritan woman could commit. Although that was an awful sin to have committed, Abigail committed a sin of the same kind and more. Abigail and Hester both knew that what they did was wrong. Hester took the blame to protect the man she loved and did not lie about what happened. Abigail lied to the whole town about what she did, and she made her friends lie just to make sure she didn’t get caught. Abigail’s behavior and the fact that she brought others into to her complicated sin make’s her harder to find forgiveness for.
Hester never denied the fact that she sinned as Abigail was. In fact Abigail was called "an orphan with an endless capacity for dissembling" (insert). This shows that she was already being questioned about her honesty even though it was believed that children could not lie. Hester did not try to hide the fact from the townspeople that she was pregnant. She only tried to conceal the identity of the father of her baby. Abigail, on the other hand, made sure that the citizens of Salem did not find out that she and her friends had been lying when they accused many innocent people of witchcraft. She even started to threaten John Proctor by telling him that if he told on she would have the towns council put up his wife under the suspicion of being a witch and get her hanged. She also threatened her friends many