Abigail Williams Flaws In The Crucible

In the fervor of the witch trials, Abigail is put on a pedestal by the people of Salem and treated as though she has a direct connection with the Divine. Through cold calculation, Abigail carefully selects the people that she accuses in order to establish her credibility. Thus, she first accuses the town’s social deviants, as she knows the court is already predisposed to convict them. Soon a mere accusation from her becomes enough reason to convict even important, influential people. Abigail uses the witch hysteria that consumes Salem to secure herself from accusation, and gain control of the trials by accusing respectable people, before moving on to Elizabeth, and then in her desperation, she manipulates Mary Warren into eventually accusing John.

“Now little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law” (Hale) Abigail Williams in the Crucible is a despicable character that is toxic to every person she commerses with. She portrays the evil of the world and the weakness of fear. She longed for love because of her loneliness and guilt that she could feel deep down inside of her soul.

Warren soon regrets her decision and looks to reconcile. The power she holds scares her and she wished to appease her past deeds od accusing anyone and everyone in the town of witchcraft. Mary works for the Proctors, and her ties seem to cause her guilt when she ultimately accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft and attempting to kill her. To rescind her actions Mary states “ Why, I-I think it is mine.[the poppet]” (Miller 75).

Abigail is a selfish and manipulative girl. Abigail Williams stirs up the entire town of Salem against many people, including Elizabeth and John Proctor, because of her selfish personal ambition to be John's next wife, as well as her treacherous lust for the power that she gains by accusing innocent people of witchcraft. When Abigail and John Proctor had their affair, Abigail told John “You loved me John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet! , pity me, pity me!” Abigail hates that John

“Now look you… I will come to you in the black of some terrible night… bring a reckoning that will shudder you… I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down”. In order to save herself she did extreme things; she made people fear of her, that way people would obey. In act II, she accused Elizabeth Proctor of witchery; she said that Elizabeth used poppets to damage her. Abagail Williams had a horrible obsession with John Proctor; she invented false testimonies in order to keep away Elizabeth form John. The fact is that because her name was pure in Salem, almost everybody trusted her.

“The Crucible” is a novel by Arthur Miller that focuses on what fear and ignorance can do in society. This book is a tragic tale in which the other woman, Abigail Williams, seeks vengeance when her lover, John Proctor, turns from her and back to his wife, Elizabeth. Abigail is the most responsible for the deaths that occurred during this time because she was the ringleader of all the young girls during this witchcraft escapade. Although she is guilty for these crimes, she does not feel remorse for it, except perhaps her lover getting caught in the crossfire. Reverend John Hale, the self proclaimed witch expert, feels the most guilt due to the fact that he was the one who signed off on the death warrants.

“Abigail is the most complex of the girls in the town who cry out against their elders. Both clever and cunning, her intense cynicism toward the so called respectability of the town is partly supported in the way that we see them act” (Abbotson 1). She has so many layers to her character that we as readers can explore. When she says “My name is good in

Their heads were smashed by Indians while Abigail, at a presumably young age, watched. This undeniably has caused some sort of psychopathy to have emerged in Abigail’s psyche. She has all the symptoms of psychopathy, being manipulative, apathetic, and ruthless. She wishes to rid herself of Elizabeth so that her and John can be together and this on its own signifies some sort of mental delusion, but the measures that Abigail takes to make this realization point to her true insanity. Abigail not only tries to make a charm to kill Goody Proctor, but when this attempt on her life fails, she convinces the Salem court that Elizabeth is a witch.

Abigail wanted to get her vengeance on Elizabeth Proctor for firing her as a maid. John Proctor screamed in rage at Judge Danforth, “She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave!... But it is a whore’s vengeance, and you must see it…”(3.863-8). Abigail wanted to kill or blame Elizabeth for witchcraft to get her vengeance. She may have wanted vengeance, but that did not happen as much as scapegoating like when Abigail scapegoated Tituba.

Abigail accused many innocent people of witchcraft and she also told lies about the people she thought were witches. She made her accusations very believable for the judges to put innocent people to death. In conclusion, I say Abigail Williams was the most to blame for the events of the Salem Witch Trails. Her character flaws of dishonesty, envy, and lust costed many innocent people their lives and left survivors of the Salem Witch Trails wretched

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,

In The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, one of the characters who goes by the name of Abigail Williams is the orphaned niece of Reverend Parris, she was once the mistress of John Proctor but Elizabeth Proctor discovered the affair. Abigail is extremely jealous of Elizabeth she ends up using her power that she has in the town to get rid of her and anyone else that discredit her in the past. She will not let go of John Proctor and she is the leader of the girls, she tells lies manipulates the entire town and her friends. This sends nineteen guiltless people to their get hanged in front of the whole town while Abigail is still free of the harm and lies she told. Abigail Williams is selfish and a magnificent liar in Act 1 Abigail says “I never sold myself!

“The jealous are possessed by a mad devil and and a dull spirit at the same time” (Lavatar). This quote is seen throughout The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller, in a character named Abigail Williams. Located in 1600s Salem, Massachusetts, a group of troublesome girls started accusing many innocent people of witchcraft, which causes a lot of people to die. Abigail was the main instigator, using her psychotic personality to full advantage while being driven by her love for John. Since she is motivated by her lust for John Proctor, her decision to accuse Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft creates high tensions, restlessness and death by the end of the play.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller was based on the horrors of the Salem witch trials of 1912. Arthur Miller tells of a girl named Abigail Williams, who started the accusation of witchcraft. Abigail gets many girls in Salem Massachusetts to lie about witchcraft for her own little game. Then towards the end of the story everyone realizes they let her fool them. Arthur Miller focuses on Abigail and two other main characters in the Crucible.

The community in which someone lives will often have definite effects on the people living within it. This means that you can often connect someone's behavior to their surrounding area. However in The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, you can not blame the puritan society that Abigail Williams resides in for her actions. The root of her estranged actions and decisions is her past, personality, and her pride.