Between 1692 and 1693 the Salem Witch Trials took place in Salem Village, Massachusetts. During these trials more than 200 people were accused and 20 were executed for practicing witchcraft. Although many people can be accused for causing the Salem witch trials, the person who is ultimately responsible for the deaths is Abigail Williams, the servant of Mr. and Mrs. Procter. She is the instigator of all accusations, gets the girls on her side to have a stronger argument, and she tries her very best to get Elizabeth killed. One reason why Abigail is responsible for the death of innocent Salemites is because she makes up lies and stories about the people involved in the witchcraft. “Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the open doorway and not a stich on my body. I always hear her laughing in my sleep. I hear her singing her Barbados songs and tempting me with-” (Miller, 156). In this quote Abigail is talking about Tituba, the slave of Mr. and Mrs. Proctor, to Mr. Danforth. She made up a story about Tituba putting her under a spell and doing things to her at night. Abigail is also the first person to accuse someone of …show more content…
“Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth’s Putnam’s dead sisters… let either of you breathe 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… I can make you wish you never seen the sun go down” (Miller, 144). As soon as she threatens the girls they listen to everything she says as if she is a leader for them. Later, in the story Abigail pretends to see Marry Lynn on the ceiling of the court house and makes a scene while the girls follow what she does which makes it seem like Marry has them under some kind of
Abigail is the person most responsible for the hysteria brought in Salem. She started the whole thing by asking Tituba for a charm. When Betty pretends to be ail she threatens all the girls with “a pointy reckoning” making sure they will not tell the truth (26). If they did tell the truth Abigail, who wanted the charm to kill Goody Proctor, would be punished the most and her name would be tarnished. When Reverend Hale believes it is the work of the devil Abigail lies saying Tituba made her. When Tituba confesses to witchery in order to save herself Abigail sees her chance to manipulate the situation, bringing in the girls with her.
She accused a total of 57 people according to the court’s records. Even though Abigail accused so many people she only testified against eight of them. Of everyone she either accused or testified against fifteen were executed, one was tortured to death, and the others either evaded arrest, escaped jail, were pardon, or died in jail (Brooks). Abigail was around the age of twelve when she started accusing the people of Salem of witchcraft. Williams was staying with her uncle, reverend Samuel Parris, and her cousin, Betty Parris, who followed in Abigail footsteps and accused people of witchcraft. There was also two slaves that lived with Rev. Parris. Those slaves were John Indian and Tituba, who was the first to be accused by the group of girls of witchcraft. Among the many people that were accused by Abigail is Rebecca
Abigail Williams was the person who was most responsible for the chaotic witchcraft situation in Salem. Abigail has an endless gift of dissembling. Abigail believes that by concealing, lying, and not speaking the truth she wouldn’t be whipped or executed. “Abigail: Please don’t hurt me! Mary Warren: I’m not hurtin’ her! Danforth: Why does she see this vision? Abigail: She see’s nothin’ Mary Warren: Abby you mustn’t! All The Girls: Abby you mustn’t!” (1149). There are no spirits there. They don’t see nothing. Abigail is just making a show for Danforth since they are all in the courtroom. Abigail is looking for someone to blame to make herself look
There are many factors that play a role in cause of the Salem witch trials, but there are three characters that are most responsible for the Salem witch trials in The Crucible; Abigail Williams, John Proctor, and Reverend Hale. Abigail Williams starts the whole thing wanting John Proctor. John Proctor knows what Abigail did but refuses to speak up. Reverend Hale uses his respected authority to accuse the innocent people of Salem.
In 1692, in Massachusetts Bay Colony town of Salem Village there were many contributing factors to the execution of fourteen women, five men, and two dogs. The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. It began as a few girls being accused of witchcraft, then slowly and more progressively it was many people that were being accused. The first few started it out of boredom, then it gout out of hand. The process of identifying witches began with suspicions or rumours.
In Arthur Miller’s work, The Crucible, Abigail Williams is most to blame for the Salem Witch Trials. In Salem, Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693, people were heard and prosecuted for witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. Over 200 people were accused of witchcraft. A total of thirty individuals were convicted, and nineteen of them were executed by hanging. During the story, Abigail Williams leads a group of girls who cast charms and dance in the woods, which leads to the events in Salem.
Abigail Williams is one of many girls in the town of Salem that is accused of witchcraft. Abigail is not the victim of the story she is the perpetrator until she is proven that she is not a witch, but yet she is having an affair with John Procter. She is one of the biggest liars in the story, she covers her lies with more lies which make her the perpetrator and not the victim of the town.
Even though she knows that she is the reason for the condemnation of these people, this does not stop her in any way. The fact that she is willing to have people executed without thinking twice about it demonstrates how cold-hearted Abigail really is. In order to take the blame for committing witchcraft off of herself, Abigail immediately accuses Tituba and blames her for the entire thing. Tituba is the perfect scapegoat due to the fact that she is a slave, and Abigail is clever enough to realize that. Abigail lies to both Hale and Parris, by explaining that Tituba forced her to drink blood and also by accusing her of being associated with the devil (Miller 29-30; act 1).
After being despised and refuted by decent citizens who caught on to the whispers of her affair with John Proctor, she is now come to the conclusion that she has clout. Without a doubt, Abigail takes all the advantage away from this. Even a single accusation from Abigail’s troop is more than necessary to put the most respected people of Salem in jail. Abigail now has the power to accuse anyone of the worst sin of all, which is
Abigail was only interested in protecting herself from blame and rejection, her main character trait that did not change at any course of the play. Abigail chose to blame Tituba for their dancing in the woods and laughter during church. All the while she keeps to herself the one detail that she drank blood in an attempt to kill Elizabeth Proctor to get closer to John. She made this choice because she and the other girls wanted to keep the blame off of them and to save themselves from getting hanged for witchcraft. Abigail could have made many different choices but she chose to make mistakes.
Behind all of the trials, the most responsible for the trials would have to be Abigail Williams. The reasoning behind this opinion is because throughout the entire story is she has manipulated several people in order to cover for the actions she has been doing. Abigail made her way into John Proctor's relationship and is willing to do anything to have John Proctor to herself. As the story continued, Abigail and the Salem Girls began to gain more and more power. With the girls and Abigail having the power the wanted, it caused about 20 people to die in the town. Allowing Abigail to continue to create lies, the attention is not towards her. She blamed others for that had to do anything with witchcraft. Although she created lots of lies, the court
In 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, puritans started to be accused of witchcraft. In The Crucible, the community believed that any Puritan who showed any signs of destruction to the population were witches and had to be hanged to dispel of the devil from Salem. Abigail Williams, niece of Reverend Parris, brought chaos to the community when she was questioned about dancing in the woods. She had many girls lied with her except for her best friend Mary Warren, the new servant of John and Elizabeth Proctor. The unique character of Mary Warren reveals throughout the witch trials that she is selfless, oblivious, weak, and indecisive. Mary Warren is a confused teenager in the Salem Witch Trials.
Abigail later on got called out for witchcraft, by Reverend Parris, but she blamed tituba because she didn’t want to get in trouble or in her case a “bad reputation” which everyone knows she has besides Reverend Parris, the reason why she has a bad reputation is because she had an affair with john proctor.
I believe the person at fault mostly for the trials is Abigail Williams, who's intentions from the start were never honesty. Of all the girls affiliated with the witchcraft trials, Abigail Williams purposefully faultily accused many citizens when she saw the impact of her confessions in the community. In court, she realized how easy it was to get away with her false confessions given after every one the courts were quick to interrogate that person and push them to confess. The amount of attention given to her by the townsmen made her feel powerful and gave her a sense of superiority when she realized the fear she struck into people. The rest of the girls' voices were hushed by Abigail's dominant personality and relentlessness to accuse multiple
The Salem Witch Trials was a series of events that killed innocent people and brought fear to the community. The infamous Salem witch trials began during the Spring of 1692, located in Salem Village, Massachusetts. The people of Salem wanted to purge against anything that was considered remotely unholy. A group of young girls claimed that they were possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. A special court was made due to this wave of hysteria that spreaded through colonial Massachusetts. The first convicted witch, Bridget Bishop, was hung in June of 1692. More than 150 men, women, and children were accused of being witches and eighteen others were trialed and executed. There were also two dogs that were trialed