The Salem Witch Trials caused absolute pandemonium within the city of Salem, Massachusetts. Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, tells a tale of a young woman who faces many difficulties in her life that result in her becoming the person she is. Abigail, the main character in The Crucible, is a vindictive individual who always wants her way, no matter whom she hurts. Throughout the play her accusations, manipulations, and affair with John Proctor leads her to become the absolute cause of the catastrophe in her community. The witch hysteria begins seven months prior to the beginning of the play with John Proctor who had an affair with Abigail. John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth employed Abigail, up until Elizabeth found out about the affair and threw Abigail out. Although John had disregards Abigail and tells her time and time again that the affair is over, she tries desperately to rekindle their romance. "Abby, I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I'll ever reach for you again." (Page 23). She claims that she loves John and that he loves her and that they should be together. “You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet. John pity me, pity …show more content…
On account of the fear for her life, she falsely accuses innocent people of practicing witchcraft, and others soon follow suit. After she and the other girls were discovered in the forest dancing, she knew that they would be whipped and possibly hung. Abigail claims that they were bewitched, and begins to utter names of those who were 'with the devil'.The accused are forced to falsely blame other innocent people in order to angle the allegation to others to avoid punishment. This turns into complete chaos. Among other accusations, Abigail also places the blame on Elizabeth, saying that the needle cut that she acquires was done by Elizabeth’s
(Pause) And my (her) husband.” (Act 3, pg. 118). Her love was so great for Proctor
His guilt is what is driving him to prove himself good. This leads her to decide she is not in a place to judge his actions or control his future, so she says to John, “Do what you will. But let none be your judge. There be no higher judge under Heaven than Proctor is!” (137).
Crucible Paper 1. Elizabeth and Abigail play very conflicting roles in Arthur Miller’s tragedy, The Crucible. Elizabeth is portrayed as someone who has never lied and is pure heartily good, while Abigail on the other hand is shown to be more of a liar by nature. Abigail can be seen lying throughout the entire play to get her way, this can be supported by when Abigail states on page 578 “she is blackening my name in the village!
Who Is To Blame? Arthur Miller’s The Crucible takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem witch trials. Arthur Miller shows how Abigail was the main cause of the all the killing of innocent people of Salem. Her flaws was that she was quick to temper, she was jealous of Elizabeth, and that’s she lust for John Proctor.
The judge in the novel states that adultery is a serious crime with serious punishments and tries to get John Proctor's wife to admit he committed adultery by asking why she dismissed Abigail from her service. John admits to the crime of adultery to try to prove that Abigail is a liar, and all those people she accused of witchcraft are actually innocent. The judge asks John's wife if he is an adulterer, but she says he is not to protect him because she does not know he has confessed. Even before the Salem witch trials officially started, John told Abigail that he does not love her and that they can not see each other ever again, she still tries to prove to him that he loves her, and she loves him. Abigail also repeatedly tempts John to sleep with her even though he is still married.
During the late 17th century a total of 200 people were accused of participating in witchcraft, while 19 people lost their lives to the mass hysteria. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a group of girls start a huge uproar in Salem, Massachusetts when they start screeching about Salemites being associated with the Devil. Throughout the play write, it shows the consequences of mass hysteria and how it puts people's lives in danger. Abigail Williams causes a wave of mass hysteria and because of her trickery, innocent people have died by her and the other girl’s actions, for this Abigail is the most unforgivable character in The Crucible.
Elizabeth was right for lying to the court about John Proctor’s infidelity. Elizabeth believed it was her fault for him turning away due to the strictness she kept due to her belief that no one could truly ever love her since she was so ordinary. “I counted myself so plain, so poorly made, no honest love could come to me" (144). Elizabeth goes on to say how during the three months she was taken, she looked into herself and could not blame Proctor for being a lecher. This is because Elizabeth had sins of her own, also by being a cold wife had prompt Proctor 's lechery.
The Crucible is a movie based on the play by Arthur Miller. It explores the consequences of lies and witchcraft during the late 1600s. During that period of time, Witchcraft was a crime punishable by death. This movie presents us with a character named Abigail. Due to Abigail’s obsession over her ex- lover John Proctor, she made up a string of lies that eventually got out of control and cost many lives, including her beloved John.
In the play, the Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Salem, Massachusetts was a place of constant hysteria in the 1600s because of what would come to be commonly known as the Salem Witch Trials. This was a full-blown witch hunt for people found to display signs of witchcraft. Abigail Williams was the main person to blame for this pursuit of witches in Salem because, first off, she was the one who caused hysteria about witchcraft just to cover up the fact that
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is a play that takes place in the Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692. The play begins with young girls performing a ritual in the woods to get the guys they like to fall in love with them. After they are caught, the situation spirals out of control as the presiding church officials begin trials to hang the alleged witches that plague Salem. Abigail Williams, one of the girls, accuses Elizabeth Proctor of being a witch in order to have her killed because she feels envy towards what Elizabeth has with her husband John Proctor, a farmer. Abigail uses the situation to her advantage to rid herself of Elizabeth so that she can finally be with John, despite the him telling Abigail that they will no longer have anything together.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a dramatic play that expresses a very important message and that is how far people would go to save themselves from the hands of death. There are many characters in the Crucible who are guilty of taking innocent lives, but there are three major characters who, without a doubt, are the most at blame. The play takes place in the city of Salem, a city filled with people that would do anything to keep their reputation clean. Throughout the play, Miller is introducing multiple characters that experience changes in their decisions and negatively influence more people eventually leading up to the witch trials. The main point that the story revolves around is that people would rather lie and blame someone else instead of confessing and accepting the punishment.
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.
She accuses Elizabeth of casting a spell on her that caused her to be stabbed, but she really had stabbed herself. Abigail wants revenge on Elizabeth since she is in love with Proctor and Elizabeth is in the way justifying her ethics. In The Crucible Elizabeth is loving towards others unlike Abigail who revengeful. For the duration of The Crucible Elizabeth and Abigail express very contradictory traits following the theme of protecting their integrity.
The Crucible: Character Analysis The book/play The Crucible by Arthur Miller tells the story of the people involved in the Salem Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts starting in 1692. Elizabeth and John Proctor lived on a farm with their three sons. John Proctor had an affair with Abigail Williams that affected a lot of the events that happened during the story. Abigail had become obsessed with John Proctor and even tried to get rid of Elizabeth just to be with him.
Salem in The Crucible from Arthur Miller is the home to chaos and murder due to witchery that is still unclear as to whether it happened or not. These events caused major changes in the characters from start to finish, at the same time a change in society. Furthermore, calling what happened in Salem a tragedy is an understatement when Salem is clearly in a state of anarchy. Similarly, authority is discontinued and Salem enters a “she said he said” state of mind which only further confuses Salem while also hiding the true slaughterer of innocent Puritan people right in front of their faces. Furthermore, this rising anarchy inhibits the people of logical thinking and hides major perpetrators right in front of them.