Who Is Abigail Williams Responsible In The Crucible

The threats are witchcrafting and the devil moving into the community. These perceived threats that the society has comes from Abigail’s own real threat. Abigail is scared to get whipped after having danced in the wood and drinked chicken blood which is forbidden by the society. Knowing that her cousin, Betty, is unconscious, she pretends having seen the Devil to escape trouble but also to get her revenge on someone, as one can see throughout this quote : “I want to open myself! .

Firstly, Why was witchcraft illegal, why witchcraft stopped being viewed as a crime? The witchcraft in 1735 made a complete switch in attitudes. Penalties for the practice of witchcraft was usually believed by many famous and important people to be an impossible crime, that was replaced by penalties for the lie of witchcraft. The witchcraft of 1735 stayed in force in Britain into the 20th century, because of the illegal ways of telling witchcraft of 1951. (Wikipedia) During the 16th century, many people believed that witchcraft, rather than the workings of God's will, offered better reason of sudden and unexpected bad fortune, such as the death of a child, bad harvests, or the death of cows and bulls.

When her uncles caught the girls in the woods dancing by the fire, Abigail did not mention they were saying boys' names wishing they could marry them. She also did not mention that she wished for John Proctor's wife to die. Abigail Williams also drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife, Elizabeth Proctor. In the play, some of the girls yell at Abigail for drinking the charm

When Betty says “You did, you did! You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor” (Miller 19), the reader can clearly determine that Abigail will take any measure to accomplish her selfish goals. This is as Abigail is trying to intimidate the other girls into not saying anything. “She is the consummate seductress; the witchcraft hysteria in the play originates in her carnal lust for Proctor” (Schissel 3).

Since the beginning of time people have gone through trials in court to either be proven innocent or guilty. In the Crucible by Arthur Miller a massive number of people were being convicted in Salem, Massachusetts because of the witch trials. The law of the land states that everyone is above suspicion until they are demonstrated to be guilty by legitimate evidence; in the play the Crucible if a person was accused of an unlawful act they were summons for being a witch and working for the devil without proper confirmation. Citizens in Salem were imposed to establish their innocent or be put to death, which caused conflicting issues in the village. Therefore, people should not have to prove their innocence.

In the play Abby tries to do witchcraft to kill John Proctor's wife Elizabeth. She almost gets caught doing it so she accuses many people of bewitching her and got many people hanged. She accuses Elizabeth of bewitching her to kill her. The court will not kill her because she is pregnant but John Procter ends up being hanged because he was accused. In the play Elizabeth the example of good.

The reason this theme was chosen is because without it the witch hunts would have never been started. Whether the people being accused of witchcraft live or die, depends on truth versus lies. Now, the development of truth versus lie in The Crucible is going to be explained. First, Reverend Parris caught Abigail and Betty dancing in the woods; which is forbidden in Salem. Betty had the choice of telling the truth and getting in trouble or lying and acting like she could not wake up and staying out of trouble.

Lastly, the court cases for the accused in the Red Scare and the Salem Witch Trials were very alike. In both events, there was only one way to get out of being charged. In the Crucible, the accused would hang unless they confessed to witchcraft or gave a name of someone else who was a witch. During the McCarthy era, people put on trial for being a Communist were either expected to give names of other Communists, or they would be subject to

Abigail Williams was the main cause of Salem witch trials because Abigail was the first person to start accusing innocent people of witchcraft. Due to young Abigail actions, 20 innocent people took the calling of death for her actions. how many People do you know willing to lie and cheat the rules to get anything they want .? The fact that twenty people died all because of Abigail craving attention and wanting her own personal gain from accusing others of having spoken with the devil or witchery is insane. I blame Abigail for anything that has happened during the witch trials of Salem.

Mary was afraid of Abigail Williams and didn’t tell the truth fearing that Abigail would hurt her. While, she developed as a character and made better choices for herself. Acts 3 and 4 she attempted to help John try to accuse Abigail Williams of lying about witchcraft in the court. “I-I promise you, Mr.Danforth, I only thought I saw them but I did not’.”(Miller 100). At that point in time Mary Warren and John Proctor both tried to prove Abigail Williams and the other girls of faking it until, act 4 when she backstabbed John Proctor and made her own claim that John Proctor was satan.”You’re the devil’s man.” (Miller 110).

The more sarah goes out the more psycho Rebecca became, she starts killing people, and animals, she hurts one of sarah friends, she tries to kill her other friend. That 's when Sarah starts realizing how psycho Rebecca was. Rebecca wanted Sarah all to herself , whatever it took her to get Sarah to herself she did it. But Rebecca dies at the end cause Sarah kills her before she kills her. In the movie “When the Bough Breaks” Laura and John couldn’t have kids so they need surrogate.

she made me and Betty do it….he makes me drink blood….”(pg. 1109). Abigail Williams is afraid to tell the truth about her conjuring spirits in the forest. Abigail blames someone else and lies. Tituba also afraid of facing consequences blames someone else.

However, I believe Abigail should be held responsible for the imprisonment and execution of innocent people because she threaten the girls, so they would act bewitched and she also lied about getting stabbed by a needle and making it look like as if Elizabeth Proctor did it with witchcraft. To begin with, Abigail had control over the rest of the girls who were also caught dancing in the woods. The girls, after the incident in the woods, lied along with Abigail. Whatever lie Abigail came up with, the girls would support it. Even in court, Abigail had the support of the girls when she claim to have seen a yellow bird.

Aside from that, people accused others of being witches or having something to do with witchcraft if they had a grudge against them or needed something. People were able to accuse others of being witches for having too much land or for owning too many cattle. Witch trials were not only a way to get rid of the Devil, but also a way to get rid of people that you disliked. In the case of The Crucible, the witch trials began because of religious beliefs and the fear that Lucifer was controlling the children of Salem. To get out of trouble during the witch trials, those who were accused simply just accused others to be seen as innocent and avoid execution.

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.