Comparing Abigail And Mary In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

Vincent O'Sullivan once said, “If you are different from the rest of the flock, they bite you” (O’Sullivan 2). In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many feared for their lives. They would do what they needed to, to not get the noose. In Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, Puritan minister Reverend Parris finds a group of girls dancing naked in the forest. Among them is his niece Abigail and daughter his daughter Betty, who faints upon being discovered by her father. Knowing that they've sinned, the girls claim they were bewitched. The group of girls claimed over half the town that they were witches. Mary couldn’t take the lies anymore, then Abigail and the girls turned on her. Mary seemed to be doing the right thing but in Abigail's eyes, it was wrong. Abigail and Mary may have appeared different but there are also many similarities. They are both cruel, dishonest, and apprehensive. In the beginning, the girls are dancing in the woods in the middle of the night. It was claimed that Mary was dancing naked. When Abigail’s Uncle, Reverend Parris spots

When she confronts him, he refuses. She tries to tell him that everything was for him and now that his wife is out of the way they can leave and live happy lives. When John refuses again and tells her, he doesn’t love her, Abigail lashes out, “I know you love me, John, don’t try to deny it! She is locked away in jail now, you can confess and we can be together, she cannot split us apart anymore” (Miller 96). Abigail’s whole motive was to get rid of Elizabeth (John’s wife) and be with John. Now Mary didn’t want harm to come to other people. What she wanted from everything was no innocent lives taken and for people to stop lying. Mary and Abigail had very different motives throughout the play but unfortunately, they both didn’t get what they wanted. Abigail was now a “Wanted” persons and she flees the town and for Mary she becomes