Medea, the protagonist of Robinson Jeffers' play of the same name, is a vengeful termagant, stricken with grief and wanting nothing but to vindicate Jason's deeds. To her credit, though, she is quite wily, and in possession of one of the most impressive acumen ever given to a character of her type. So deep is her animosity towards Jason that she goes to such lengths as parricide (killing her children, who are merely "pawns of her agony") to extract revenge on her former husband. She does not stop there, though. She despoils him not only of two children, but also of a wife, a father-in-law, and a kingdom.
...I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw...” In this scene, Abigail deals with this conflict emotionally, by beginning to lie and manipulate the other characters by accusing others of witchcraft to absolve her of her guilt. From this scene we begin to understand her as an antagonist which is reaffirmed throughout the play, when her lies and manipulation eventually lead to the death of most of the town. By understanding both plays within the genre of tragedy, we understand that in both, there has to be both an antagonist, and
Hester Prynne is the poster child of Puritan ideology gone wrong. Before she was condemned for a crime that in today’s society wouldn’t even be given a second thought, she was was probably a great girl. In fact she was an accomplished seamstress before she was branded with the Scarlet Letter (Hawthorne 86). What the Puritan society did to her was horrible and destroyed her as a person. She was forced to wear a public symbol of shame and was shunned to the outskirts of society.
The people of the town were pressured, accused, and tested simple tests but the girls would scream with such pain whenever the accused spoke. The victims, the girls, and the judges all were consumed in the anarchy and lost all sanity. Were people convicted of not only being witches in Salem but across the country suspicion arose and people convicted women of being witches for the simplest causes. Two girls took a joke way too far and caused disorder across the country. Not all "witches" were from Salem, MA.
The Madness that is Abigail Williams: Her Intentions in The Crucible “How hard it is when pretense falls! But it falls, it falls!” With these chilling and ominous words, Abigail’s twisted sense of revenge rings hollow in Arthur Miller’s terrifying play, The Crucible. A masterpiece of its time, The Crucible brings forth the true horrors man is capable of: deception and vengefulness. No character presents these values as well as Abigail, whose lust and heartbreak for John Proctor results in a homicidal goose chase. 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.
In The Scarlet Letter, the sin that has been committed is adultery where Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale conceive an illegitimate child, a daughter named Pearl. Throughout the story Hester is put on display and humiliated for her sin, while Dimmsdale is still thought to be the "almighty" minister. In similarity from The Crucible, sin is put on trial. The Crucible directly addresses the themes and ideas from Salem Witch Trials. The young girls and their leader Abigail are the core of sin and evil in the girls and the community.
In the course of the play, one of the major characters John Proctor, goes through changes and faces multiple challenges. John Proctor is one of the local farmers, and is well known in the town. One of his hidden sins is that he committed adultery with a young girl named Abigail Williams; who was the leader of the group of girls that were pretending to be at the hands of witchcraft. John Proctor knew that he could expose Abigail as being a fraud but he was hesitant to do so because it would reveal his secret to the town. In addition, he and his wife, Elizabeth, are going through a rough time in their marriage where there’s an obvious sense of distance between them.
THE CRUCIBLE Character analysis Abigail Williams – Abigail Williams is an orphan, unmarried but has an affair with married man John Proctor. From the start of the play Abigail is a villain, she tells lies and manipulates everyone to fit her own little world, all so she gets her way, to get revenge on Elizabeth Proctor. Throughout the hysteria Abigail is driven by sexual desire, lust for power and jealousy. All of the young girls in Salem have no authority, the minister and other male adults are God’s representatives. The trials start, in which the girls act as though they have a direct connection to God, led by the now powerful Abigail.
Elizabeth Proctor is married to a man named John Proctor. Recently, Elizabeth found out that John had sex with another woman, and sinned. Not only did her husband cheat on her though, he cheated on her with someone that they had been taking care of. Because of John's previous actions, Elizabeth becomes a jealous wife, and acts as if he can never be forgiven for making a small mistake. Elizabeth breaks the news to John that Abigail, the woman (or more teenager) that John had sex with, is telling people all over town that certain members of society are witches.
Hysteria in Salem In 1692, in Salem Massachusetts, the superstition of witches existed in a society of strong Christian beliefs. Anybody who acted out of the ordinary was accused of being a witch and the accused would actually be forgiven if they blamed their accusations on another individual. In this play, a group of young girls is accused of being witches. These girls then blame other people in order to get out of trouble and even pretend to be "bewitched" in front of the court during a trial. This leads into the deaths of the innocent people who are accused and automatically found guilty.