Abigail Williams is the prominent antagonist of Arthur Lee Miller’s The Crucible. Abigail Williams, also known as Abby, deceives others, especially throughout the action of the trial. Her rationale for deception centers around her desires. Her dishonesty hurts many innocent characters throughout the conflict. Abigail is a deceitful person who truly only cares for her gain. Abigail has several motives for her actions, which evolve and become more iniquitous as the plot evolves. Abigail’s motives include protecting herself during the trial, ensuring the destruction of Elizabeth’s relationship with John Proctor, and stopping anyone who tries to get in her way. Her deception contributes to several themes throughout the play, including the destructive …show more content…
The first instance in which Abby uses deception is to protect herself from being accused of witchcraft. Reverend Parris, Abby’s uncle, is questioning Abby about the activity he witnessed them participate in the previous night. The night before, many young girls from the village met in the woods with Tituba to cast spells on boys they wished to be romantically involved with. At the ritual, Abby drinks the blood of a chicken to cast a harmful spell on Elizabeth Proctor. She greatly desires the demise of Elizabeth so that she may possess John Proctor’s heart. Reverend Parris discovered the girls dancing around a boiling cauldron while Tituba chanted. Parris is led to believe that the girls were participating in witchcraft. Parris calls Reverend Hale of Beverly to investigate and declare if the girls have been entranced by witchcraft. When Hale …show more content…
John Proctor was told by Abigail that they never got involved in witchcraft and that everything they have been doing is all for show. John sends Mary Warren to give a deposition. When Mary tells the court that Abby has been lying along with the other girls in Salem, Abby thinks quickly about how to protect herself. Abby proclaims that a giant yellow bird has appeared on the rafters of the church and is threatening harm to her and the girls. Danforth chooses to believe Abby and the girls. Abby’s motive for convicting her friend, Mary Warren, is to protect herself. She does not care about Mary Warren’s fate; she just wants Danforth to believe her so that her innocence is
In the play, Abigail's greed towards John Proctor causes Abby to lie and make bad choices. Abigail Williams is a selfish character throughout the entire play. Abby and John Proctor were having an affair before the witch trials began which causes Abigail to develop an emotional attachment to John. Because of this affair Abby wants Elizabeth Proctor to die, so she
Abigail attempted to have Tituba conjure up something that would kill Elizabeth Proctor so that Abigail could be with John Proctor instead. This action shows Abigail’s resolve and the selfishness that she believes it takes to be with John Proctor. In Act II Abigail plays a minor role in the grand scheme of things, however, she is responsible for getting Elizabeth Proctor accused of witchcraft. Abigail lies about a poppet that Elizabeth supposedly stabbed with a needle which then stabbed Abigail. Abigail is so determined she would literally stab herself in the stomach with a needle just to have the chance to get rid of Elizabeth.
In the New England town of Salem, Massachusetts, a group of girls goes dancing in the forest with a black slave named Tituba. They are caught by Reverend Parris right in the middle of dancing. One of the girls, The Parris’s daughter Betty, falls into a deep a coma after being caught dancing with the other girls. A crowd gathers at Reverend Parris’s home while rumors of witchcraft circle the town. After having sent for Reverend Hale, the expert on witchcraft in Salem, Parris questions Abigail Williams, Parris’s niece and one of the girls caught on seen about what had taken place in the forest.
At that moment Abby realizes “Hey, it’s really easy to get people in trouble over this.”, and with her friends she frames several other women. This starts the witch trials, which Abby and other townsfolk exploit to damage people they’ve got any hard feelings with. Particularly, Abby uses the witch trials to accuse John's Wife, Elizabeth,
Abby does not want people thinking ill of her nor does she want to get in trouble so the obvious answer to her is to distract everyone and have them look away from her. While they are all focusing on a “lesser’ person they begin to forget about what she is being accused of. While blaming innocent people, she, herself, is being freed. Getting the help of others to be included in lies help fuel the doubt in others because there is an alibi. Talking to the troop girls that were at Dabney 2 the scene with her, Abby tells them “We danced and Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam's dead sisters.
Abby also stabs herself in the stomach with a needle and lies that Elizabeth used her witchcraft to stab Abby. The community believes Abby’s story because there is a poppet in Elizabeth’s house with a needle in its stomach. Since Abby already has credibility and has proof that Elizabeth is a witch, she is able to get Elizabeth arrested. With Elizabeth out of the way, Abby believes that she can get back together with John. The second reason why Abigail has great influence over Elizabeth is so Abby can prevent Elizabeth from spreading the truth.
Abigail and the other girls started to act out in the court accusing Proctor of sending his spirit out on them which is what they claimed caused Mary Warren to faint as she could not do it outside of the courtroom.they also pretended to see a yellow bird that Abigail yelled to " be gone with you"(Miller, The Crucible pg ) these acts further discredited john proctor's case as it convinced the jury the Children were innocent and that John Proctor was lying. Although all the girls played a part in the accusations, the trials would not have been set in motion without Abigail William's unbeatable tactics of manipulation. At first, Abigail manipulates Tituba into doing the sinful work of witchcraft for her and tuned on Tituba, accusing her of forcing her to do witchcraft. Abigail also was obsessed with Proctor and had an affair with him until he ended it which sparked jealousy in Abigail and motivated her to act out and accuse Elizabeth Proctor of
For instance,the play begins with Rev. Hale and Rev. Parris Abigail of consorting with the Devil. Abigail begins to panic, and frantically decides to blame Tituba in order to get the attention off of herself. Abigail successfully draws the attention away from herself, while also giving the people a reason to fall into hysterics over the seemingly obvious evidence of witchcraft. Therefore, Abigail manipulates the townspeople into a witch frenzy time and time
Abigail seeks vengeance after her affair with John Proctor. She is still madly obsessed with him. After John rejected her, she makes up lies in court in desperate attempt to get Goody Proctor hanged. She thinks if she gets rid of Goody Proctor she will be able to have John all to herself. One quote that supports this is “I do sir.
Abigail defies all judgements against innocence as she is the driven evil force in The Crucible. Arthur Miller shows Abigail Williams to instinctively defend herself, as it is the humane reaction when accused of wrongdoing. It is common to tell a lie but, the intention of sabotage is a different story. Abigail had many tricks up her sleeve to manipulate the court. Her purpose to convince the town of her innocence was one of many.
She will say or do anything to cover up the fact that she took a blood charm to kill John Proctor's wife, whom she had affair with. Abigail threatens the girls that she will come “in the black of some terrible night” if they mention what happened to anyone that night (1.1.1244). Abigail Williams will also lie about anything to
Abigail forces the girls of Salem to dance in the woods with her to help conjure spirits and make the charm to kill Goody Proctor. Abigail threatens the girls right after Betty took fright by saying, “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.” (Miller, 144). Later on as the trials prolong Mary Warren turns on Abby and is telling the court that she lied. When Abigail then accuses Mary of witchcraft she turns back to Abby and obeys her once again.
In The Crucible, Arthur Miller utilizes the main antagonist, Abigail Williams, to further emphasize the physiological theme that one will go to great measures to preserve the way others perceive them. He writes her into the story as a crazy teenage girl who is hungry for trouble, which allows him to eventually display how even though the village did not show it in the beginning, the people were just as corrupt. Miller begins to uncover this truth when Abigail is caught dancing in the woods by her uncle, Parris. Instead of confessing that she was dancing for the devil she instead tells her uncle that “[they] did dance,” (Miller.1.1.12) but she informs him that “[they] never conjured spirits'' (1.1.21).
Abigail Williams In the play "The Crucibles" by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams was not such a good Puritan woman. She was a very young and gorgeous women but had sinned a lot against her Puritan religion. Abigail definitely did not make the right decisions for herself. She is an magnificent liar and tends to get others in trouble to save herself from getting caught.
After this, Mary Warren, who is John Proctors maid, very breathlessly tells Abigail “Abby, we’ve got to tell. Witchery’s a hangin’ error, a hangin’ like they done in Boston two years ago! We must tell the truth, Abby! You’ll only be whipped for dancin’, and the other things!”