Abigail Williams is a manipulative, vengeful 17 year old girl that will do anything it takes to get what she wants. Abigail is one of the main characters in the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller. She lost her parents at a young age, and has been living with her uncle for many years. Abigail is directly responsible for the massive hysteria in Salem, which caused innocent people to become accused and executed. Abigail deeply cares about protecting her reputation, even though she had an affair with a married man. Some people may defend Abigail’s character for various reasons. However, her actions throughout the play prove that she is a selfish, villainous character.
One reason Abigail is considered selfish is because she falsely accuses Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft, in order to be with her husband. Abigail and Elizabeth’s husband, John Proctor were having an affair. Elizabeth fired Abigail as their servant when she discovered the affair. John ended their relationship, but Abigail was still desperately in love with him. In Act one of the play Abigail says “My name is good in the village! I will not have it said my name is soiled! Goody Proctor is a gossiping liar!” (p. 12). This demonstrates Abigail’s hatred towards Elizabeth, which caused her to seek revenge. Abigail was extremely jealous of Elizabeth and was willing to do anything to get rid of her. She claimed that Elizabeth sent her familiar spirit, to harm her. A needle was found in a poppet given to
Abigail Williams seems to be a despicable character in the story The Crucible. She causes do much trouble throughout the story starting from when the girls were in the woods dancing naked with Tituba. Abby says “She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer” (Miller,1154). Abigail uses Tituba to take the blame for all the girls speaking spirits and being in the woods. She manipulates people into believing and seeing what she wants them to see she is a very decisive
It’s important to note why and how Abigail inherited her selfish behavior in the first place, and what caused her to act a certain way. Abigail claims that she is in love with John Proctor, and the two characters were discovered to have an affair with each other. John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth Proctor, finds out about the affair and
Abigail Williams, a seventeen year old girl is the antagonist of this play because she tells lies and wrongfully accuses innocent people to hide her affair and to ultimately get John Proctor back. The Crucible by Arthur Miller, is a play about the Salem Witch Trials based off of the historic event in 1692, where many people fall victim to Abigail’s accusations. Her motivation to accuse is driven by her feelings for John Proctor and her determination to go to great lengths to steal Elizabeth's place as his wife. However, her plan to have John Proctor fails because of her careless actions. Abigail is considered as the evil villain of this play, because of her deceiving lies, her selfishness and her manipulativeness to satisfy her desires.
In Arthur Miller 's The Crucible, the main character Abigail Williams is to blame for the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, Abigail Williams remained a static character throughout the book. Abigail is a mean, deceitful and manipulative person who always wants her way; she has no remorse about who she hurts along her journey to get her want she wants.
Would you have innocent people die so that you could be with a married man that had kids? Well that is exactly what Abigail Williams did in the play, The Crucible. The play took place in the 1600's in Salem, Massachusetts. Abigail Williams was so exhilarated with this guy, who was married with kids, that she would do anything to be with him. She spoke one lie, and it soon became a monster that she could not tame. Anyone who reads The Crucible knows to not follow by Abigail's precedent because her attention seeking personality, lust for guys, and craven behavior destroyed her town and peoples lives.
The selfishness of Abigail is shown 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!”(19). Another quote is when Abigail says,” Shut it! Now shut it!”(19). The quotes show that Abigail was trying to keep a secret from John Proctor. As seen in these texts, Abigail was trying to put a charm on Elizabeth Proctor in order to have John Proctor’s love. She really wanted Elizabeth Proctor dead because she wanted to keep John Proctor all to herself. This was very selfish on her part because she wanted John Proctor to be in love with her instead of him being in love with his wife, Elizabeth
In Arthur Miller's play The Crucible Abigail Williams, an unmarried orphan in the Massachusetts town of Salem, incessantly grows more jealous, her desire for vengeance only grows stronger, and her selfishness escalates. She repeatedly lies to save herself by denying her involvement in witchcraft. Abigail's Jealousy of Elizabeth Proctor intensifies in attempt to realize her desire for Elizabeth's husband John Proctor. In order to save herself she accuses the innocent, without any sense of ethical violation. Abigail proves to be a selfish antagonist in The Crucible that shows no sense of right and wrong.
Her actions killed the man she once loved. She contradicted love for herself and love for another. Threatening the lives of others for her benefit. This manipulative girl that has an affair with a respectable and honest man. The deceptive girl, Abigail is the cause of a major incident in salem. “The Crucible” written by Arthur Miller tells the story of how theocracy in courts failed the innocent people. Abigails true nature is shown in the play, while trying to show her love proctor.
“The most memorable characters in fiction are not people most of us would choose as our friends” (Allen 1). Readers find it intriguing to learn about a character that lacks predictability: they could do no wrong in one scene, then turn around and become a backstabbing liar in the next. The same characteristics that would not make the best of friends. Irregularity makes a character and the story, for that matter, interesting. Abigail Williams from The Crucible develops into a character that readers love to hate. Her anger, her cunning, her passion, every twist and turn she brings throughout the play brings fascination with it. She would not be an especially remarkable candidate for a best friend, however, but it perusers find it extremely easy to remember her. Abigail exhibits memorability not because of the qualities that prove a good friend, but because of her intransigence, her passion, her accusatory behavior, and her manipulation.
Abigail Williams, while on the journey of adultery, seems to of already carefully positioned her name in the devil’s book of self-conceited, merciless, and vindictive individuals that roams this Earth. No one's back holds an off limits sign when it comes to her grabbing a knife. Some may say that Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, is dictated by a whore’s vengeance. While there’s some truth to this argument, I would counter that Abigail, the main antagonist, motives are beyond this. Maintaining her position of a victim to entrap anyone who dares cross her path is the premise upon which I build this counterargument. Abigail, not only abandons her hopeless relationship with John Proctor in the end, but continues the travesties against the people of Salem before and after John’s imprisonment.
Abigail Williams is an evil, lying witch responsible for the deaths of innocent citizens in Salem, Massachusetts. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible the young, beautiful Abigail has an affair with married John Proctor. She will stop at nothing to get what she wants, including practicing witchcraft. Abigail is an obsessive, selfish, manipulative liar, who brings destruction wherever she goes.
Abigail was so in love with John Proctor she would have done anything to be with him so she did . “ You did, you did you drank the charm to kill John proctor’s wife! You drank the charm to kill proctor's wife!” ( Miller 468) . Abigail wanted revenge on Elizabeth because she was John's wife and he was not going to leave her for Abigail. In his mind it was a silly mistake he
The character of Abigail is the reason behind many of the influential and devastating events, which occur during the play of “The Crucible”. Abigail is a character that has a longing for power and is determined to acquire it. She also has a frightening self-belief that she can achieve any objective even if it involves carrying out morally corrupt and selfish plans. I also believe that Abigail has a longing to become recognised as an adult. During the first act, Abigail is depicted as a victim since she appears more naive and therefore vulnerable, one example of this is when she is seen in the company of John Proctor and although the audience still receives inklings to her darker personality she seems to be depicted as an inferior.
In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Miller demonstrated that it was Abigail’s flaws- lust, jealousy, and mendacity- that led her to be responsible the most for the tragedy of the witch-hunt in Salem. The Crucible focuses of the finding of young girls and a slave messing around in the woods, trying to conjure spirits from the dead. Rather than admit to their actions and face the consequences, the girls accuse everyone else of the crimes they were guilty of. Abigail Williams is the person who caused much of the drama in this story. She bears much responsibility for everyone meeting with Tituba in the woods. Once Parris discovers this meeting, Abigail attempts to keep her actions a secret because it would possibly reveal her affair with Proctor. Abigail lies to cover up her affair with proctor, and to stop the charges of witchcraft in order to prevent the terrible punishments that go along with the accusations.
Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible has a variety of unique and memorable characters that change & progress throughout the entire play. Some characters may even change the final outcome of the entire story. Abigail Williams, an antagonist in the play is a character some may describe her as dreadful. I myself would describe her as smart and persuasive because of the way she tried to manipulate everyone. Abigail's actions are quite obvious, but I believe she doesn’t deserve all the blame for what she has done.