Abigail A Victim In The Crucible

During Act 1 Mary attempted to be righteous, by trying to get Abigail to confess about what the dancing in the forest. She doesn’t want to be hanged for witchcraft and breaks down to the point Abigail smashes her across the face. Mary claims that they’ll “only be whipped for dancing’.” (Miller 18).“Abby, we’ve got to tell. Witchery’s a hangin’ error’.”

She didn’t want to tell the truth about what happened in the woods to the adults because she wanted to protect herself. She manipulated the young girls to lie and say they were only dancing, “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”(Miller).

Abigail evades responsibility for her actions and attempts to conceal the truth by averting the blame to others. After being discovered performing rituals in the forest, Abigail threatens the others girls with a “pointy reckoning” if they tell the truth, she also states that “ (tituba) had made her do it” blaming tituba for her corruption and further emphasising her spiteful character and he r lack of concern for theories as she shows no remorse. Furthermore, after being rejected by John Proctor who she claims had “put knowledge in (her) heart” furious that she had meant so little to him, Abigail’s desire to take over Elizabeth’s place is what prompts her actions. Abigail attempts to portray herself as a victim various times in order to gain one’s affection. This is evident when she states that Goody proctor is “ a cold, snivelling woman” where it is encouraged to believe that Elizabeth Proctor is a nasty person, however Abigail is not as innocent as she claims to be.

Power in our society nowadays is very misgiven and abused. When people have power they tend to use it for their own benefit and to manipulate people into believing them. In the play, The Crucible, Arthur Miller dramatizes the Salem witch trials of 1692 in order to show his audience how easy it was to be accused and hung for witchcraft. In the Crucible a group of young girls were caught dancing in the woods and in order to not receive a punishment they lied saying they got witched. The girls blamed many people of the town of being witches and caused conflict all over the village.

She is lying a lot, for example, she says “Elizabeth Proctor is an envious, gossipy liar!”. She says things about other people, witch are lies, to distract from herself. She is lying about the meeting in the woods, witchcraft and about his love for John Proctor. On account of Abigail other people died in the play, because she shifts the focus away from herself by accusing others of witchcraft. In the end she steals money for saving John from the death.

If people had used evidence instead of just accusations then they would have realized that Mr.Jacobs isn’t a witch, just a person accused for Thomas Putnam's own personal gain. Thomas Putnam's anger toward the town for not getting enough respect is what caused him to accuse an innocent man of witchcraft, demonstrating how emotions can lead to immoral

She is mean. She shows that she is mean by threatening the lives of the girls if they say anything about witchcraft. “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 line 460) She also shows that she is mean when she is coping Mary making the pastors in the court believe that Mary is a witch. “

Jealousy is an ugly emotion, which provokes many human actions of destruction. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, the main theme portrayed by the characters was a hate fueled by jealousy. But not everyone in The Crucible was acting out of jealousy, some genuinely thought witchcraft was real and feared it, after all witchcraft is written in the Bible. The good Puritan people of Salem, Massachusetts filled with jealousy, greed, and fear took the idea of witchcraft and used it for their own personal gain. Abigail Williams used witchcraft in her plan to replace Elizabeth Proctor and as a scapegoat, while Reverend Samuel Parris used witchcraft to protect his namesake, and Reverend John Hale used witchcraft to further build up his witch

Reverend Parris, worried for his own job, explains to Abigail that her “punishment will come in its time. But if you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know it now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it.” Even the idea of witchcraft in Reverend Parris’s house could ruin his reputation in the town and therefore risk his job. By Betty being ‘afflicted’, she is holding power over her own father and his position in the town. She knows that the longer she is asleep, the more desperate her father is going to be blame someone for the witchcraft who is not her.

This hard work made it possible for the couple to reside on a large farm near the Putnams. The Putnams and the Nurses are known to have had land disputes in the past few years and because of this, we believe that the Putnams are trying to ruin the reputation of and get revenge on the Nurses by manufacturing false accusations of witchcraft on Goody Nurse. In the Putnam’s eyes, the use of the accusation of witchcraft as a way to rid the family of Rebecca would be a simple solution to their problems. Goody Nurse was accused by Ann Putnam Sr. and her daughter Ann Putnam Jr., and some of the Putnam family friends and relatives for sending out her spirit and tormenting them (The Trial of Rebecca Nurse). The accusations against Goody Nurse only became prevailing in court, because of the sheer amount of people testifying against her.

To begin with, Abigail had control over the rest of the girls who were also caught dancing in the woods. The girls, after the incident in the woods, lied along with Abigail. Whatever lie Abigail came up with, the girls would support it. Even in court, Abigail had the support of the girls when she claim to have seen a yellow bird. This made her story even more believable that even Judge Danforth fell for it.

The authorities questioned the girls, and Abigail confessed that the servant Tituba sent her evil spirit upon them, and made them write in the Devil’s book. It only went downhill from there. Soon many were accused, and they would accuse others in order to save their own lives. It only started however,

Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible in 1953. Miller wrote this because of his communist “witch hunt” situation. Miller had ties with communist and was suspected of it. He was summoned to the House of Un-American activities because of his connections, by Joseph McCarthy. Miller was condemned for 30 days without any evidence to support that he had any connections with communists.

In my own personal well thought of opinion, I believe that Abigail Williams is the one to blame for the witch trials due to multiple reasons. Firstly is that because of her self greed of trying to keep a well polished reputation and to not face the consequences, she did all that she could so that she would not get in trouble herself, which was acting or pretending to the best of her abilities, and claiming that the people she stated has either met the devil or created an agreement with him. Another would be attempting to eliminate the individuals she or the girls that follow her dislikes, which includes the upper class people, certain individuals that seems suspicious, etc. Lastly of course is the idea that she is just doing it to seize the

If someone “hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property” (Miller, 99) and then others would fight to get their property. In the Red Scare, those accused lost their jobs and their well earned respect. For example, Helen Keller’s reputation is practically spotless but once branded with communism, that went downhill. In the Crucible, Rebecca Nurse was accused of witchcraft, who was seen as the “mother” of Salem and had a pure reputation. This just shows that people blindly believed what they were told without really thinking about it.