The Crucible 19 hanged and 1 pressed to death, the result of witchcraft accusations...to all intents and purposes the power of theocracy in Massachusetts was broken. In Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, many themes were depicted through characters, actions and roles in the communities society. In this novel Miller covers tragedies of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials through a play based in that era. Some themes truly stuck out and were used to shape characters who played crucial roles to the plot. Abigail Williams is one who demonstrated specific qualities all shown through progression of the story. In the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller provides the themes of jealousy, manipulation and vengeance are explored through Abigail Williams. Specifically, jealousy is one of the widely demonstrated themes through Abigail Williams. “She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a—” (7) as stated in the text this is a prime example of jealousy. When she says this to Proctor about Elizabeth you can sense how she is jealous he is defending his wife. The reader sees how she dislikes Elizabeth and just wants John to have his attention focused to her well being. This is also proving she is far from selfless and much more selfish. By being jealous this …show more content…
As the reader is more introduced to her they can see her manipulation become more evident. “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” (23) she tells this to the other girls. This adds a fear element as well as eludes how she can manipulate people into doing what she tells them. This helps to not only prove to the reader the truth of this theme but develop the plot and her role in the
Sara Shepard wrote in her book Flawless “The sweetest smiles hold the darkest secrets…” This quote relates to the main character Abigail in a play called The Crucible. This play was written about the Salem Witch Trials and inspired by the McCarthy Hearings in which Arthur Miller—the author—was living through. In The Crucible, Miller portrays Abigail Williams as a troubled orphan who is manipulative, cunning, and has a propensity to victimize herself in every situation that does not fall her way.
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.
The Crucible takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during the year of 1692 and during this time, the Salem witch-hunts began. The Salem witch-hunt was one of the oddest and most fearsome epochs in human history. The numerous amounts of people that were prosecuted were all innocent and their lives were taken away due to the fallacious accusations of the Puritan’s belief in superstition and their paranoia that witches had walked among them. One accuser that is the reason this all started was Abigail Williams. Abigail Williams is to blame because she possesses the evil qualities of being remorselessness, jealous, and also having the quality of vengefulness. These qualities that Abigail have are direct contributions to the murder of many people who were unjustly hanged to death.
The Crucible shows bravery and cowardice throughout the book. Abigail Williams is a cowardly girl who doesn’t want to get in trouble for her foolish acts, who is then is offered a way to blame others for her actions by giving the names of “witches” in the town. John Proctor starts out as a cowardly man who cheated on his wife and didn’t want to give away Abigail’s secret that her accusations were false, but he ends up being a man that will die for his friends and the goodness of his name.
In a town full of religious-imposed justice, is the crimes happening in the towns actually considered true crimes? Should the people that committed the crimes be held responsible? In Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible” the town “Salem” many are being are being accused of witchery, which is a crime in their society.The problem is that they aren't witches but normal people to be hanged. The executioner behind these accusations were a group of salem girls, but the one who leads is Abigail Williams.The witch court that soon comes, makes the punishment of theses crimes hanging or confess of witchery. Another problem occurs when the accusations that the salem girls say are false.So are there any “True” crimes being committed in this play.Should the people who committed these crimes be held responsible?With the crimes of perjury, involuntary manslaughter, and theft, the people who committees these crimes should be held responsible and should be punished on how severe their crimes are.
Patty Jenkins, an American film director and screenwriter wrote,“Every villain has their belief system that makes perfect sense to them.” This quote is reminiscent of Abigail Williams, a character in The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller. In Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, four girls were caught doing witchcraft. The girls accused other innocents of witchcraft, so they would not be framed for it. Due to the girl's actions, many of them, accused were hanged to death. Abigail Williams was a villain in The Crucible.
Arthur Miller states "Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets." The quote of this meaning is that people are falsely accused, but they may be innocent. The Crucible by Arthur Miller, is a play based upon events that occurred in Salem circa 1690s. Through Abigail Williams, Miller was trying to state the injustice in Salem because she targeted the innocent people, leading to their death. Many of the conflicts that occurred in the play were caused by Abigail Williams. Abigail's jealousy of Elizabeth Proctor was triggered by Elizabeth's husband John Proctor. Abigail was a hypocrite because she used the name of the Lord for her own interests. She lied in order to save herself by denying her involvement in witchcraft. The character selected is Abigail Williams because of her three main character flaws which are jealousy, hypocrisy, and mendacity.
The devastating Salem witch trials occurred between February 1692 and May 1693. By the end of the trials many people were accused, nineteen were executed and several more died in prison. The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, captures the hysteria that developed during the Salem witch trials. Crucible character, Abigail Williams, represents the repressed desires that many of the Puritans possess. Abigail’s readiness to abandon Puritan social restrictions sets her apart from the other characters, and eventually leads to her downfall. Abigail Williams uses manipulation and cruelty to create an atmosphere of terror and intimidation in her town. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Abigail Williams leads the hysteria in Salem by taking extreme measures to succeed in attaining John Proctor's love.
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 the book “The Crucible” the Salem Witch Trials was one of the biggest tragedies in history. Who was to blame for this horrible tragedy? There are many accusations but only one person is guilty for causing the Salem Witch Trials. Abigail williams started the Salem Witch Trials, when she accused Tituba of witchcraft and manipulated mary warren as well as many court officials; this could have been prevented if she just told the truth.
Good afternoon production team, my name is Plaxeda Chiza and today I’ll be auditioning for a role in the critically acclaimed classic play by Arthur Miller called ‘The Crucible.’ The Crucible was a play written by Arthur Miller to make social commentary and criticise McCarthyism, authoritarianism and puritanism. The relevance of the play at the time was to batter the issue of McCarthyism, but some concepts found in the play such as disempowerment of women, feminism, social media and moral panics are still a major concern in today’s society. The role that I’ll be auditioning for is the role of Abigail Williams. Abigail felt disempowered all her life and became resentful of it causing her to abuse the Puritan's fear of defiance to God, to gain and wield power in the witch trials.
Abigail Williams is one of the few antagonist in The Crucible. Her character causes a reader to feel strong dislike towards her and her actions. One may ask if the entire witch trial comes from her desire for power. If the play is closely analyzed, you will find that a majority of the conflict does derive from Abigail’s actions. Since Abigail is mostly to blame for the friction in the community, the next question that arises is where does her desire for power come from?
Abigail had many flaws throughout the story. One of her flaws includes lust. Abigail was involved in a secret affair with John Proctor, who happened to be married to Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail illustrated lust by telling John, “John- I am waitin’ for you every night.” This suggests that Abigail does have something secret going on with John. Abigail also says, “I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I come near!” This justifies that they have a relationship because she told John that he
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
Arthur Miller’s famous 1952 court room drama ‘The Crucible’, based on the 1692 Salem Tragedy, explores the hysteria, strong theocracy and the importance of reputation in the town Salem. Many characters in ‘The Crucible’ generate empathy, but many do not. Sympathy does form for Abigail Williams the most, despite the fact she is seen as the play’s “evil villain”. Other characters however, also evoke condolence and concern like the honourable hero of the play, John Proctor and Giles Corey.