Abigail was the one that started all of this because she was accused of witchery but instead of accepting the fact, she ends up accusing other people of witchcraft. She blackmailed the girls to not say a word or they will die. She wanted all of them to pretend to be summoned by the demon so they can accuse other people of witchery. In the book on page 19, “Let either of you breathe a word, or edge of a word. About the other things, and i will come to you in the black of some terrible nights and i will bring a pointy reckoning that will shatter you”. This is what she said to the other girls so they wouldn't tell on her. She would also do things like faint, scream spirits , or even run away to blame innocent people of witchery and the other girls would follow what she was doing. …show more content…
It all started when Paris saw them cooking something in a pot, dancing, and Abigail drinking chickens blood. They were all accused and yell at for doing some witchcraft. Abigail accused Tituba of witchery and begged Abigail to do it with her so Abigail wouldn't be beaten but Tituba started to name names which Abigail and the other girls caught on and name some people of who they saw there. They also accused Mary Warren, “Mary Warren utterly confounded, and becoming overwhelmed by Abigails and the girls utter conviction, starts to whimper, hands half raised, powerless, and all the girls began whimpering exactly as she does”. The girls would copy Abigail so it would seem more realistic that they were seeing demons and causing the person they accused to be
Abigail and the others did not want to be punished for their actions in the woods so they turned the blame onto others. They first accused
In the movie ‘ Three Sovereigns for Sarah’ three sisters and much more people were accused of witchcraft by Abby Williams and other girls. Abby Williams is the preacher’s niece. The girls started to condole in such illegal activity when their slave, Tituba, started to read their fortunes. The girls began to act strange and would blame this behavior on witchcraft. The girls were told to point out locals that were “involved” in witchcraft.
and then she realized she could get away with telling big lies so she continued. Abigail threatened the other girls not to tell, so they went along with all her lies. Her lies caused multiple people to be accused of witchcraft and get killed. People were so scared of being accused and were careful of everything they did. A group of girl were caught dancing in the woods with a slave from Barbados named Tituba.
In the late sixteen hundreds, the mania of the Salem witch trials affected various families and individuals. In order for such terrible events to take place, an array of people catalyzed the trials. In Arthur Miller’s theatrical work The Crucible, Miller creates a specific group of young girls who accuses countless amount of men and women of witchcraft. Abigail, the leader of the girls, testifies in many of the executions taken place by lying about the people’s collaboration with the devil. As one of the antagonists of the story, she intends to kill Elizabeth, the wife of her paramour, John Proctor.
In the famous Playwright The Crucible by Arthur Miller we are introduced to Abigail Williams, who is a complex character that is portrayed as the main antagonist of the play. She is responsible for the deaths of many innocent victims during the trials and spread fake information about people to get vengeance on them. Abigail is shown to be evil, inhuman, and egocentric. However, Abigail was forced into a life or death situation where the only thing she could have done was to falsely accuse others to save herself. This causes Abigail to become the victim of this whole hysteria.
Abigail’s nature and threats leads the girls to keep up their charade of accusations and abuse at the hands of supposed witches. Throughout the trials of the people living in Salem, no evidence was found to convict anyone of witchcraft. As Abigail wishes to have John Proctor to herself, she takes advantage of these threats to her own benefit, killing innocent lives of the citizens. " And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.
Once Abigail is indicted of witch craft she exclaims that Tituba "...sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer," Tituba quickly retaliates only for Abigail to inform Reverend Hale she is lying (Miller 43). Albeit Abigail wasn't so selfish and took the punishment she deserved, none of the accusations would have been made. Protecting herself was her only goal but little did she know that it started the whirlwind of dreadful events. Abigail makes things worse when she has to threaten the other girls such as Betty to lie. Abigail warns the girls that if, "...either of [them] breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and [she] will come to [them] in the black of some terrible night and [she] will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you" (Miller 20), it was crystal clear that if one rats her out they're dead.
Often times there’s a point in a person’s life where one wonders if they’re crossing the red line when it comes to reaching their goals. When the lines a drawn and crossed, people suffer, much like the 20 sad souls who were executed in the Salem witch trials, or the 205 falsely accused state department officials. False accusations that ended and ruined people’s lives have been going on for ages like the examples before. Either for self-preservation or to cheat their way up, these things have always been embedded in human nature. Just like in Arthur Miller’s, The crucible, Abigail William’s false accusations propelled the community into its own demise, which also happened when McCarthy doomed 205 members of the state department with his accusations.
In a small village called Salem, witchcraft and sorcery exist, however everyone is pointing fingers but not a single soul knows who is actually to blame for this nonsense. During this time period of hysteria, there are multiple scenes that are very questionable due to one person and one person only. Abigail is the one most responsible for the hysteria and witchcraft in Salem. She threatens the group of girls that accompanied her in the woods while they all danced. She has also lied about many things on multiple occasions in which causes an extreme amount of suspicion.
Abigail should be held responsible for the imprisonment and execution of innocent people because she influenced the other teenage girls to say they saw the devil to save herself and to eventually kill the wife of the man she loved. Before the mass hysteria in the village occurred, Abigail had an affair with John Proctor who was knowingly married to Elizabeth Proctor. When John ended the affair, Abigail wanted to kill his wife so that she could be with John. When in the woods, she wanted her uncle’s slave, Tituba, to cast a spell on Elizabeth to kill her.
I think Abigail is to blame for the hysteria at the end of Act 1, because she accuses other people, lies, and tries to get what she wants. First, when Abigail says, “If they be questioning us tell them we danced- I told him as much already.”(18). Abigail is telling the other girls to lie to Reverend Parris about what happened in the woods that night he saw them. Fear is used to scare the girls into lying even though what they did was wrong, Abigail doesn’t want to lose the power of controlling and “witchcraft”. Secondly, Abigail is speaking to John Proctor saying, “Oh, I marvel how such a strong man may let such a sickly wife be-.”(24).
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 and a group of girls went to court and blame 200 people. Abigail went to court, and told them that Elizabeth Proctor was practicing witchcraft, and got her arrested. When John Proctor went to court, the girls pretended that he was the devil. Giles tries to explain to the court how Abigail is pure evil, and trying to get revenge: “Aye, how she is solemn and goes to hang people!” (3.1.875).
The witch trials in Salem occurred because of Abigail and it is her fault. She started something she could not finish and by starting it killed many innocent people and ruined many reputations. Abigail is at blame because she was the one who is basically the "psycho girlfriend" who is obsessed with her ex. But because she is desperately in love with John Proctor, she is willing to do anything to have him all to herself. Just like how she drank a chicken blood charm to kill Elizabeth, which is against her religion.
Abigail forces the girls of Salem to dance in the woods with her to help conjure spirits and make the charm to kill Goody Proctor. Abigail threatens the girls right after Betty took fright by saying, “let either of you breathe a word or the edge of a word about the other things and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.” (Miller, 144). Later on as the trials prolong Mary Warren turns on Abby and is telling the court that she lied. When Abigail then accuses Mary of witchcraft she turns back to Abby and obeys her once again.