Essay On Abigail In The Crucible

All references to witchcraft are connected with fear, suspicion and the collapse of normal social values. 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.

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’.” (Miller 18). Mary was afraid of Abigail Williams and didn’t tell the truth fearing that Abigail would hurt her.

The girls blamed many people of the town of being witches and caused conflict all over the village. People in the village had power by influencing others to lie in order not to receive the consequences of witchcraft. Abigail shows power in the play by influencing the girls and what to say and do. She threatened all the girls she will hurt them if they open their mouth and say the truth. Abigail threatens, “Let either one of you breathe a word, or the edge of the other thing and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will being a pointy reckoning that will shutter you.”(Act 1).

Instead of interrogating Abigail, he is silenced by her which most likely shows that he has accepted her demand of not being judged. At this point, there is a flip in power dynamics at the witchcraft trials, Abigail has overpowered Danforth in courtroom. Judge Danforth an honorable Judge of the supreme court has easily been dominated by a seventeen-year-old Abigail, proving that he is gullible to her lies. Lastly, right after the Andover witchcraft trial revolt, Abigail runs away and also steals Reverend Parris’s money (The crucible). The sheer act of fleeing away shows a sign of guilt and fear of punishment along with her act of stealing Reverend Parris’s money clearly speaks a lot about the criminal character of Abigail Williams.

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. Putnam claims that “There is a murdering witch among us, bound to keep herself in the dark.

The girls had to act fast in order to save themselves from getting into trouble because, in their community, their actions were considered sinful and immoral. In the desperate act of self-preservation, Abigail began to accuse others of being witches. Abigail Williams is anything but a good person. Although she tries to make everyone believe she is virtuous, she portrays many characteristics of being the complete opposite. Abigail is deceptive/mendacious, conniving, and manipulative.

What is the essential action of what the character is doing in the scene The essential action of denying the accusation is to show honesty. She knows that Abigail is lying and wants to bring the truth to light. She also knows that if found to be a witch in Salem, she will be hanged. She wants to prevent this. The essential action of trying to convince people in the scene that she is telling the truth is to show the people in the scene that Abigail is a liar and reduce her chances of getting in trouble The essential action of kneeling down and begging mister Hale not to hang her is that Tituba wants to save her life.

Abigail oftentimes makes me wonder what people would do in order to have a good reputation. In the play Abigail only cares about herself and what she can do to protect herself. When the girls talk in Betty’s room and Mary shows weakness and wants to tell everyone about what they did in the forest, Abigail gets really angry. She threatens the girls and is not afraid to show what she is willing to do. “Now look you.

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.

He falls to the false accusations of the girls and begins to believe them. It could also be Danforth's fear of witches that causes him to act so blindly. Danforth may be so scared of the devil that he does not act rationally when accusations of witchcraft are made because he takes the accusation with the utmost concern. Because of this Abigail takes advantage of his incompetence. This is displayed when Abigail fools him after screaming.

Some tried to stop while others continued to build up the hysteria. However, Abigail is the most responsible for the witch hysteria. Due to her selfishness and jealousy, she created this huge chaos and the people who did not want to get involved in this would get caught in the middle of it. Even after it was over, she did not show any remorse for it. Instead of admitting to the truth, she left the town because she knew how much trouble she would be in if she stayed.

Tituba also afraid of facing consequences blames someone else. This blaming caused a domino affect, all started by Abigail Williams. In act one in The Crucible, Abigail Williams was the person for creating disorderly witchcraft in Salem. Abigail lied about herself to stay away from punishment, Betty also revealed that Abigail was partaking in

This kindled a powerful hatred that Abby had towards Elizabeth that would soon cause much more than a little harm. Once the idea of witchery took deep root into the hearts of the people, many were accused and arrested. Out of the selfishness of her heart, Abigail accused Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft in an attempt to be rid of her so she could have John. She kept telling herself that she was in love with him, and she would use any opportunity to her advantage to be rid of Elizabeth. This however, would not bode well with John.