Not only does she deny doing witchcraft, she also manages to accuse Tituba of having full responsibility while she is the one who starts the whole thing. At the end of the chapter, she also frames some other citizens, saying that she sees them with the Devil. Her affair with John Proctor is furthermore exposed to the audience. Betty, Reverend Parris’s daughter, reveals that Abigail attempts to drink blood as a charm in order to kill Elizabeth Proctor, who is John Proctor’s wife. Moreover, when Reverend Parris confronts Abigail about being fired by Elizabeth Proctor, Abigail denies any wrongdoings.
Before the play even begins, the antecedent action includes Abigail and Proctor having an affair. Sex out of wedlock is a heinous crime and Abigail would be severely punished if ever found out, so the risk she takes tells of how starved she is for love. Similarly, Abigail continues to lust for Proctor even after the affair ends. In the seven months after she left the Proctor house, she convinces herself that Proctor does indeed love her. She makes herself believe that his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, stands in their way.
The Crucible, set during the Salem Witch Trials, is about how young girls could persuade an entire puritanical society to believe that there are witches. Throughout the plot of the story, John Proctor is an important character. While he dismisses the fact that there are witches, it is revealed that Proctor had an affair with Abigail, the first accuser. Throughout the beginning and middle of the story, Proctor pays his penance privately and no one knows what he did. When he tries to confess to the court about his sin to prove that he would not lie about the witches, the court puts him in jail for lying ironically.
Up to now in this story it seems like half of the town has been accused of witchcraft, but it gets worse. Martha Corey was accused because she thought the town and everyone in the church was insane blaming all the innocent people for things that were out of their control. She also thought the girls they were listening to were fools and she thought they were even bigger fools for listening to children. She told the court that she was innocent; she didn’t know what a witch was. They simply told her that how could she not know if she was one if she didn’t know what a witch is.
Throughout the story you can tell that Hester never truly loved Roger Chillingworth. Hester refuses to tell anyone who she committed adultery with but since she had a child, Pearl, while her husband was not in America, everyone knows and she is judged harshly (Hawthorne 74). Her punishment for this sin is that for the rest of her life she will have to wear a scarlet letter ‘A’ on her chest that stands for adultery (Hawthorne 60). John Proctor committed adultery a young girl named Abigail Williams. Abigail was John and his wife’s, Elizabeth’s servant.
Abigail and Elizabeth stand out the most because of their role in the witch trails. Abigail Williams is the niece of Reverend Parris. She once was the servant for the Proctors but was fired by Elizabeth because she discovered that Abigail was having an affair with her husband, John Proctor. Abigail is a smart, wily, good liar, and vindictive when crossed. She is clearly the Villain of the play because she manipulated her friends and lied to the whole town.
John denies Abigail saying that it will never happen because he loves his wife. Their relationship isn’t the strongest but love is there. This so called love drives Abigail to accuse Johns wife of witchcraft so that she is to be hanged for committing sins against the bible. She thinks that killing Johns wife would make him love her even though John has told her otherwise so many times already. Her actions actually hurt John greatly throughout the story.
In Tom Walker, both Tom and his wife are constantly arguing and always trying to cheat each other. They both also tried to make deals with the devil and had no qualms about doing so. Tom became very wealthy on the misfortunes of others that sought his help. In Goodman Brown we hear of how the elders of the church whispered wanton ideas into fair maiden’s ears. We are also told how women desperate to become widows would sometimes poison their husbands, letting them find eternal sleep in their arms.
Proctor tries to prevent Elizabeth from being hanged. He also admits that he lusted with Abigail. Elizabeth lies to the court, telling the first lie she has ever told. She lied to save her husband though. Abigail is accusing everyone of witchcraft to clear her name.
Abigail is an antagonist who is driven by lust and revenge and ultimately causes tragedy through her manipulation. She is not the greatest person. Abigail is an antagonist in the Crucible. An antagonist is the adversary of the hero or the protagonist of a drama or other literary work. Abigail is an antagonist for multiple reasons.