Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams are both extremely important characters in The Crucible who help us get insight into the Salem Witch Trials. Although they are opposing characters, you’d be surprised to find out how similar they actually are. Today, I will be discussing their personalities and how they compare and contrast each other.
While reading The Crucible we learn that Abigail Williams is the antagonist. Abigail is portrayed this way because she is a manipulative liar. When people started speculating that Abigail was a witch, she quickly came up with a lie in order to have the whole town turn against her friends. This was extremely thoughtless of Abigail, especially because 19 people had to face her consequences and die. If Abigail
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Their differing labels is not the only way they contrast each other, Abigail is selfish while Elizabeth is selfless. Abigail can be seen as selfish when she knowingly has an affair with a married man, John Proctor. She can also be viewed in an egotistical way when she creates a lie to save herself, but it kills 19 innocent people in her town. Elizabeth is the complete opposite and is extremely selfless. One of the foremost examples of her rendering this trait was when she had good intentions to lie about her husband in order to save him. 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
Her lies play a part in starting the witch trials. To save herself she would throw any of the other girls or towns folk to blame. “ I want the light of God”, “I saw Sarah Good, Goody Osburn, and Bridget Bishop with the devil”. Watching Abigail's actions we see how much she is willing to bend the truth and even manipulate others to keep herself away from blame/harm. Yet even with all the lies and manipulation from Abigail there is an instance
In the play, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller the two main female roles can be compared and contrasted. One way that Elizabeth and Abigail are the same is that they both loved John Proctor. Elizabeth and John were in a more committed relationship. They were married and had kids. Were Abigail and John were just fooling and around and had an affair.
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
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.
The Different Kind Power of Abigail Williams and John Proctor How can the power that a person has affect how they use it and the consequences of it? There can be different types of power, some of which can be used for either good or evil. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, there are two characters that have different kinds of power. Abigail Williams, a seventeen year old trouble maker, and John Proctor, a mid-thirties farmer and family man, both exhibit different kinds of power with very different results. Ultimately, Abigail uses her power dubiously gained power for ill intent; while, Proctor uses his power gained through good will and respect for the benefit of his family and friends.
Two significant female characters that unquestionably influence the events in Arthur Miller's drama The Crucible are Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams. While Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Proctor initially appear to be similar, a closer look at their motivations, personalities, and behavior reveals significant differences between the two, highlighting how they view morality and their relationships with John Proctor. Elizabeth Proctor is a morally upright individual. She values honesty and integrity highly and does not hesitate to stand up for what she believes in. For example, in Act 2, when her husband's loyalty is questioned, she acknowledges knowing about it and accepts full responsibility for his actions.
You can never miss Abigail being a selfish liar ever, yet she has many reasons to cover her description, She took it too far when she tries and attempts to guilt trip John Protector into continuing their affair. Since Abigail has a huge amount of jealousy towards Elizabeth, and yet she doesn't want to admit it. Abigail is still deeply in love with John and is wishing he would end up feeling the same and leaving his family for her. John refuses many times because he wants to end the affair with her to protect his family. Act 1 pg 22 ”
She’s unmarried, which during this time period and within the religion that she identified, being married as a woman was an important and honorable role, so the fact that she wasn’t married said a lot about her. Abigail was also avoided by the whole town because of her affair with John Proctor. Causing a married man to sin against God and his wife didn’t look good on her reputation. Abigail takes full advantage of her supposed power during the trials because she could accuse any of the other women whom she didn’t like, which made it very easy to get her revenge on Elizabeth because all she had to do was accuse her in court. She now had the opportunity to get her revenge on not only Elizabeth but also the people of Salem, because although they accused her of adultery, she could accuse them of something
They are alike in some ways and at the same time they have some differences. Abigail William in The Crucible by Arthur Miller, is a teenage girl. She is practically the villain in The Crucible, she's a liar, manipulative, and selfish. “She has an eerie sense of how to manipulate others and gain control over them.” Abigail William was a big deal, not only did she have an affair with an older man who was married, she also accused three innocent women of being witches.
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.
Abigail is one example of a character that allows jealousy to control her actions. For example, when John and Abigail talk to each other at the beginning, Abigail keeps broaching the topic of their love and also calls Elizabeth “...a cold, sniveling woman” (Miller 24). This shows that Abigail still loves John and hates Elizabeth because she is John’s wife which embodies jealousy. There are also many people in Salem that Abigail could have accused and Elizabeth has a good reputation which makes her a smaller target. Therefore, it is conspicuous that Elizabeth’s allegation was not coincidently by the girl her husband had an affair with, but instead completely out of
Abigail believed that Proctor actually loved her and she waited every night for him. She was brainwashed to think he would leave his wife for her. The witchcraft accusation came from the beginning of the story when Abigail and the girls were dancing naked in the woods and chanting. She made false accusations that people in the village were worshipping the devil to cover what she had done. Many lives were taken but Abigail had no empathy for anyone who was hanged.
A dynamic character like Abigail has lied before in the past and now has experiences something more sinister which is unique for a character in the story and makes the plot better with Abigail’s wickedness. Through the Trials of the Salem, the story will always have a person that will stand out when it is mentioned, and Abigail Williams takes the cake of being the most horrific, yet a great character in the story because it isn’t The Crucible without Abigail as being the antagonist and the tension builder. The Village will never forgive of what she did to all the innocent women she has killed. Abigail has shown that she is a very Dynamic character from her emotions, to her actions, and to her experiences she has made in
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
Nicole Schaefer Mr. Becker American Literature October 29, 2014 Two Women for Two Different Worlds In the novel the crucible, Elizabeth, wife of John Proctor, and Abigail Williams, mistress of John Proctor are two main roles. Elizabeth, a woman who is loyal and true, or manipulative and ruthless liar, Abigail. She pretends to see spirits and commands the other girls to pretend as well.