She starts accusing people that she doesn’t like of practicing witchcraft, including Elizabeth Proctor. Elizabeth Proctor is John Proctor’s wife, and Abigail doesn 't like her because she wants to be with John, who she had an affair with. Abigail thinks that by accusing Elizabeth of witchcraft Elizabeth will be killed and then she can finally be with John. During these witch trials, many other people were accused and blamed for things that they did not do. It was mostly because of Abigail and her friends were lying about innocent people doing witchcraft.
At the beginning of the story, many girls, including Abby, get caught dancing in the woods by Reverend Parris. Many of the girls are not recognizable, and Abby one of them. Abby eventually tells John the truth, who then tells Elizabeth. Abby is eventually confronted with the truth, so she has to do something about it: ABIGAIL: “My name is good in the village!
He wrote a play called The Crucible where he had told the story of the Salem people who were bounded by the Devil. The Salem-town (nowadays Salem) situates in Massachusses state and during Witch Trails it was under the influence of Puritans church and traditions. In other words, The Crucible is the play about fears of social isolation and unknown, and how hysteria spreads fast among people. The most notable character of the play is Abigail Williams.
She accused Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft so she can be with John and she is lying to force Mary Warren to join their side again. In the beginning of the play, when the girls are just about to try to wake up Betty but Mr. Parris will come in while, Abigail says, “No, he’ll be comin’ up. Listen, now; if they be questioning us, tell them we danced-I told him as much already” (Miller 174). She is lying to save herself and she is expecting others to do the same and they will. In middle of the play when John Proctor just tells Mr. Hale that Abigail told him she is lying the whole time, “Abigail Williams told you it had naught to do with witchcraft” (Miller 200).
To demonstrate, in Act One of The Crucible, Tituba, a Barbados slave to Reverend Parris, was falsely accused of leading the girls of the play in witchcraft, but deliberately defended herself by stating that “I do believe somebody else be witchin these children”(Pg. 42, Miller). In other words, because Tituba was under the false accusations of witchcraft, she was forced to blame other people of the village as well in order to save her own life. Therefore, because all the villagers, especially Mr. Hale, another important character of the play, accused Tituba in a forceful manner, she was forced to take decisive action due to her society’s daunting influence in order to save her own life.
“The Crucible by Author Miller is a fictional play that retells the historical event of the Salem Witch Trials that took place in a minute puritan village in Massachusetts in 1992. Miller fixates on the revelation of several girls and a slave, Tituba, dancing around in the woods endeavoring to conjure spirits from the dead. To avoid punishment for their demeanor, the girls started to accuse others of the same thing they were guilty of. This finger pointing game was very juvenile and they engendered a community in which everyone feared that everyone was a potential witch. The number of arrests increased and so did the distrust within the community.
It all starts at the very beginning when they start lying about Tituba being a witch and conjuring Ruth Putnams dead sisters. And the group of girls that accuse people of witch trial are lying pretty much the whole play. One doesn’t even know if witches and wizards are real and these girls had all of Salem going crazy thinking everyone is cursed with witchcraft. They did it all to make people lower on the social ladder than they are or to get back at people who have done them wrong. It is established very early in the play that girls are liars when Abby says, “
Character Analysis of The Crucible The Crucible is a play about the Salem witch trials, written by Arthur Miller. John Proctor is the protagonist character in the play. He is married to Elizabeth Proctor and they have three small children. Mary Warren was the Procter family maid.
Female power in Macbeth The three witches Apart from Lady Macbeth, who is the most relevant character related to gender and power issues, the three witches are instrumental in starting the action that leads to so much tragedy. In the manner of Lady Macbeth, they try to break gender barriers, and they are represented as evil for two reasons. On the one hand, when Christianity was established witches were associated with the devil.
Throughout his conversation with Abigail in Act I his main concern seems to be his reputation as a minister. Rev Parris saw the girls (Abigail, Betty, Mary and other girls) dancing in the woods the previous night. The rumor is Elizabeth Proctor said Abigail’s soul is tainted.
The Devil would have people whom were called witches that made a vow to worship and serve him(Lambert). This derogatory term of witch soon spread around Europe among this time. The calumniation of fear was building up amongst local neighbors in fact. With these fearful terms and news about witches it was when the trials were soon to occur. Many books were created during the time period of the witch hunts, one book in particular which was created around 1486 named “Malleus Maleficarum” which translates to Hammer of Witches(University of Pennsylvania).
In 1692 the beginning of the Salem witch trials began. A few decades later a similar occurrence happened in 1950 with the spread of McCarthyism. What started both the Salem witch trials and McCarthyism was the spread of fear and mass hysteria. Puritans during 1692 believed that the new world should be a holy place with freedom to practice your own personal religion. When witchcraft came around the puritans noticed strange behavior between the young teenage girls for example being choked by an invisible force or falling out on the floor as if possessed.
Act one begins with Samuel Parris discovering that his niece, Abigail, was dancing in the woods. Today, this would not be overly concerning, but back in that time children were hardly allowed to speak to anyone. Since children were supposed to be so submissive towards adults, it was shocking that a group of kids would go out to dance by themselves and was suspected to be witch trials. As most would in the late 17th century, Parris believed that his niece and daughter were performing witchcraft in the woods and that was why his daughter Betty had fallen sick. Throughout majority of
Tituba- Rev. Parris Slave Abigail- Parris Niece and also John secret side chick Betty- The Daughter of Parris 4. Mrs. Putnam’s Believes there are witches because she knows that Tituba does rituals
Abigail Williams is Responsible for the Salem Tragedy The spring of 1692, the Salem witch trials began after a group of young girls claimed to be possessed by the Devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. The tragic death of many people was caused by just a few young girls just as it was in the play. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the main character responsible for the tragedy in Salem was Abigail Williams. Abigail was the reason for the start of many of the things that happened, such as: being caught in the woods, leading to the idea of witchcraft; pretending to get stabbed by Elizabeth’s spirit, leading to respected people being accused; and threatening people with her authority, leading to the death of many people.