The Crucible “Be careful not to mistake insecurity and inadequacy for humility! Humility has nothing to do with the insecure and inadequate.” In today’s society people can be insecure about anything especially when it comes to relationships, societal expectations, or just the way we perceive ourselves compared to others. Elizabeth Proctor started to blame herself and become insecure over her husbands morbid act of Infidelity, and Abigail Williams became insecure over John Proctor choosing his wife Elizabeth rather than her. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, there was many signs of so called “witchcraft” which had led to many false accusations of this crime that caused many unnecassary hangings of numerous people. Abigail and Elizabeth are …show more content…
As abigail says to the other girls “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.(Act 1) In this quote abigail is threatening and controlling these young girls to not say one word about anything or else she would kill them. Abigail and the girls got caught in the woods and abigail took charge in attempt to cover up what they were actually doing, with this she threatens the girls to speak of nothing. This quote shows how intimidating and controlling Abigail can be; she threatened to kill these girls if they said anything she was not okay with. As Elizabeth states to her husband John Proctor, “I do not judge you. The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you. I never thought you but a good man”. (Act 2) Elizabeth was telling John that she does not judge him. The only person that judges him is himself. John feels extremely guilty for cheating on Elizabeth and this goes against them being puritans; As Elizabeth has forgaven John for cheating on her, she is saying that the only person left that has to forgive him is himself. From this we can see the difference between Abigail and Elizabeth but another difference is how they handle their …show more content…
As abigail states “She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer” Abigail is referring to Tituba and how Tituba sends the devils spirit to her in church. When Abigail is accused of witchcraft she does not own up to her mistakes of her attempt to summon the devil; She blames Tituba for her intolerable behavior. Abigail is a very Selfish person who hurt others numerous times to save herself. As Elizabeth states to the court “But in my sickness you see sir, I were a long time sick after my last baby, and I thought I saw my husband somewhat turning on me.” Elizabeth had gotten postpartum depression after her last baby, this left her very sick. Elizabeth blames herself for Johns cheating; She blames herslef due to being so sick and unable to show John any affection. This shows how hard Elizabeth is on herself; she can not control her depression yet she still defends John no matter the circumstance. Abigail is overall a very selfish and disobedient teen who wants everything her way and will not accept anything less and Elizabeth can be too selfless and blames everything on
Elizabeth tells Proctor, “I do not judge you. The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you. I never thought you, but a good man.” (Act 2.57) Abigail finds this out in
As you can imagine, Abigail does describe her as the greatest person. So, given the subtext Elizabeth sounds very accusatory and, even though John is the one that has done something wrong, under the surface
Even though her plan backfired, since John actually had told the truth, we all know that she was just trying to save her unloyal husband. Even though both of those situations show how Abigail and Elizabeth contrast one another, they also can support how they are comparable characters. In both of the given scenarios, Abigail and Elizabeth act similarly because they both are strategic. Disregarding the fact that it was wrong, Abigail's lie can be seen as tactical since it did remove the negative attention off of her and saved her. Elizabeth's lie to the judges was also well thought out since she could have saved John with
Abigail does not like Elizabeth because Elizabeth is married to John, who Abigail is in love with. Abigail is trying to make people feel sorry for her and look down on Elizabeth.
Elizabeth recognizes the value of adhering to the law and respects authority. "I do not judge you"(Miller 605), Elizabeth says. "The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you"(Miller 605). In Act 3, as she is pleading with John Proctor to confess, she says, "I never thought you but a good man, John— with a smile—only somewhat bewildered" (Miller 605). Despite its shortcomings, it is clear from Elizabeth's comments that she believes in the importance of the legal system.
Once Parris discovers the girls. Abigail was trying to say where nobody could see her, because it will reveal she had an affair with John Proctor. Abigail lies to conceal her affair, and to prevent charges of witchcraft. She was trying to avoid sever punishes for casting spells and adultery.
She allows her threats to get to them if they disobey her orders. Dialogue shows the main point of how Abigail uses her selfishness, and how much she controls the girls within the story. Secondly, the author uses Character actions to portray Abigail’s fear of the people who happen to be afraid of witchcraft to gain more power for herself. Abigail once again uses her manipulation in situations to gain her own power. After her falling and stabbing at reverend Parris's house she uses her jealousy towards Elizabeth and applies that Elizabeth Procter used witchcraft against Abigail during her stabbing, Abigail proceeds to stick herself with needles that Mary Warren gave to Elizabeth to make it look more believable that she is taking the place of witchcraft, these accusations do eventually leave Elizabeth being charged.
Resulting to this she is determined the world is fault for her actions. Failing to realize that she is in charge of herself and most of her problems are self inflicted. Abigail was hired as a maid for John and Elizabeth Proctor. During that time period Elizabeth got ill and because of this she didn’t have a very great attitude.
Two of the people who Abigail has the greatest influence over are Elizabeth Proctor and Tituba. The first person who Abigail has the greatest influence over is Elizabeth Proctor. One reason why Abigail has great influence over
Abigail is clearly the villain of the story, as she is selfish, vengeful, and manipulative. She feels no remorse for her actions. whereas Elizabeth tends to act more in a socially acceptable manner, and feels some sort of guilt for trying to cover and protect her husband. But it is John who carries the fatal flaw; his affair with Abigail.
In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the setting is Salem, Massachusetts during the late 1600s where the town’s pious Puritan beliefs directly influence their government. A 17-year-old girl named Abigail Williams had an affair with John Proctor, a wealthy, married man. Abigail is told by John to move on but instead, Abigail starts accusing the townspeople of witchcraft, including John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth. As this hysteria begins to rise, other people such as Thomas Putnam, a rich landowner, start to also allege Salem villagers. In this play, the author illustrates the central idea that people should not allow jealousy to control their actions.
Abigail uses her own personal desires to get to what she wants even though many people died in the
The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller that takes place in the late 1600’s. The play is about a girl named Abigail who was caught dancing in the woods with her friends by her uncle Parris, who then grows very suspicious of witchcraft being practiced. The play is also about the witch trials that took place in Salem. A character in the play named Elizabeth Proctor went through so much with her husband. A theme that appeared repeatedly throughout this play was forgiveness, as Elizabeth finally forgave her husband after he repeatedly begged for forgiveness.
Elizabeth is truthful, meanwhile Abigail lies by making accusations of people both trying to keep good integrity. First, Elizabeth stays truthful when talking about Proctor possibly
Elizabeth is the victim of Abigail’s heartless actions and affair. These two women are almost complete opposites. Both characters struggle and fight through the story in their own ways. Abigail is the villain in this play.