She is responsible for the deaths of those innocent puritans who died during the witch-hunt because of three reasons: First she is jealous. Second She is a malicious, vengeful girl. Third she is an unabashed liar who charges witchcraft against those who oppose her. Abigail Williams was a jealousy person. John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth used to employ Abigail, until Elizabeth found out the affair and threw Abigail out.
Because of her hate towards Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, Abigail creates demented tales, directed at abolishing the “problem.” Though Abigail’s wild canards seem quite obtuse in civilization today, at the time her acts fell to justification. Furthermore, because of Abigail’s childlike disposition in wiggling her way out of punishment as well as her lust and love for John Proctor, she found deceiving the people of Salem easy, seeing as the threat of witchcraft and demons loomed dangerously in the hearts and minds of all who lived there. Though the
In the Crucible, Abigail is tormented by the fact that she had been caught out having an affair with John Proctor. This creates conflict between John’s wife Elizabeth and Abigail. Abigail is devastated that she cannot be with John and lashes out in fury and creates chaos in the heart of the town with her false accusations within Salem. Abigail’s uncontrollable acts rise which result in the hanging of many people, ultimately destroying the love of her life. She was blinded by her own problems in life that she couldn’t see her ways, although to John, Abigail was transparent.
She enters as one does who can no longer bear to be barred from the sight of her beloved, but she is also very frightened because her slave sense has warned her that, as always trouble in this house eventually lands on her back." (8). Most of the information about Tituba is historically true but Arthur Miller adds some ideas like "her slave sense has warned her that, as always trouble in this house eventually lands on her back." which has no real background but help build Miller's play. Arthur Miller creates a story from the plethora court information and next uses the information he has from every individual and adds some information about the individual that he has to use for the story to be accurate and plausible.
When Abigail was talking to Proctor she says “She is telling lies to about me! She is a cold sniveling woman, and you bend to her!”(Page 15, act one) she is basically showing her jealousy towards his wife. This stirred up the witch trials because Abigail wanted to be with Proctor and she would do just about anything. The fact that John proctor realizes all of his flaws and confesses to all of his sins is another reason why he can be considered a tragic hero. When Proctor had to go to the court to get his wife out of being accused of upholding witchcraft he eventually confess to his sins he committed.
The witch hunt led to Abigail having a destructive power trip. She controlled the town with fear. She acted as a ringleader to a bunch of scared girls. “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.” (Miller 20) She controlled them and used the Court Officials to do her deeds. She not only acted as a tyrant but she pulled other people into her mess.
She once was servant for the Proctor household, but was fired when Elizabeth Proctor discovered that her husband was having an affair with her. Abigail becomes obsessed with Reverend Proctor after their affair. She did whatever she could to keep Proctor for herself. Abigail later on accuses Elizabeth Proctor of damaging her name in the community saying “She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me!
Everyone who was charged by McCarthy had his or her own reputation diminished also. The Salem witch trials and the McCarthy hearings are very similar and from very different times in history. They both involved many innocent women who were accused of being something that they were not, and were also very horrendous and repulsive to be in the day and age in which they were living. A lot of women's lives were ruined
One of the girls, Abigail Williams, is the cause of all wrong accusations and innocent deaths in Salem, thus making her the antagonist of the play. First, Abigail conducts in a brief affair with John proctor; then, she seeks vengeance
Abigail deceives her closest friends and many other well respected townspeople. She manipulates the whole town and begins to gain power and control over everyone. Soon, Abigail starts to get revenge on the people from her past by accusing them of witchcraft. She goes after Proctors wife Elizabeth. Abigail previously worked for the Proctors until Elizabeth became aware of the affair between her and John.