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
Al Johri Ms. Hamilton English III Honors 14 September 2009 In Arthur Miller's classic play, the Crucible, Act II, Scene II was deliberately removed. This scene largely consisted of a heated conversation between the two protagonists of the play, Abigail Williams and John Proctor. At first, Abigail believes that Proctor has finally come to marry her; however, this misconception is cleared when Proctor releases his wrath upon her due to Abigail's baseless accusation of witchcraft upon his wife, Elizabeth. As the scene progresses, the reader sees how Abigail becomes so wrapped up in her lies and witchcraft, consequently diminishing her intelligence, and what little respect she had in the reader's eyes. The reason the scene was cut from the play lies in both the significance of the conversation and what it revealed about the John Proctor in terms of his affair and his character.
Abigail show herself to be an even more mischievous character by accusing Tituba of Witchcraft, and wrong doing. Tituba in turn is held in suspicion of being a witch and is threatened with the taking of her life if she refuses to talk about her supposed involvement with the devil. She blames others about witchcraft even though she is the one believing it. She is the "leader" of the girls; she tells them what to do and when to do it. For example when they were in the court room and she was brought in to testify against Mary Warren the girls kept repeating what Abigail said and they did everything she
The first reason is that because Abigail Williams is extremely manipulative and vindictive. Abigail tries to get Procter to pity her saying, “You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet! John, pity me, pity me!” (Miller 22). Abigail wants Procter to pity and give her what she wants, regardless that his wife caught them once and can catch them again. Another reason their relationship is dangerous is that if John Procter were to prosecute against Abigail Williams saying that she is in fact a witch, Abigail Williams could very easily tell the entire town that she and Procter have been having an affair to get revenge on him.
The lack of power that women have in Salem sets the stage for hysteria. The female characters long for a voice in the community, and attempt to gain one by using their court powers to blame those around them and lying to gain attention from the community. Due to the very little power women have in Salem, the women find the need to blame others in order to be heard. While Abigail is being accused of performing witchcraft, she tries to blame Tituba. Abigail states, “Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the open doorway and not a sitch on my body!
Miller manifests this ideology through the application of literary and stage techniques. A key character in the play which demonstrates this ideology is Abigail Williams. Her unscrupulous nature promotes the use of propaganda to shift suspicion among people and to manipulate by the power of hysteria. From the beginning of the play Abigail enforces power of speech stirring hysteria to devoid any towards her. Continuously throughout the text she performs acts of deception which tragically condemn others to death just to cover her lies.
“How does The Crucible show us the power of fear in human society?” In the text The Crucible, Arthur Miller uses the events of the Salem Witch Trials to portray the power of fear in human society. Fear is an instinct humans need to survive, which strongly affects how people act and often results in horrible consequences. Throughout the play the theme of fear affects the outcomes and characters of Abigail Williams, Mary Warren, Reverend Parris, Reverend Hale and John Proctor. The character of seventeen year old Abigail Williams uses intimidation to show the power of fear in human society. Abigail first demonstrates her fondness of terrorising those around her in her threat to the girls of the town: “Let either of you breather 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...I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!” This threat foreshadows Abigail’s accusations of witchcraft against others.
Which is not an excuse at all, but now it makes more sense why she gets into trouble connected with witchcraft and involves the girls in it. The further we read the play, the more we get to know Abigail's personality. She accuses everybody, but not herself. The only thought on her mind is how to get Proctor's love. She does not feel sorry for anybody.
How does Miller create dislike for Abigail in ‘’The Crucible’’? Abigail Williams is a very demanding and arrogant seventeen year old girl who does not fit into the freedom deprived Puritan society in which the play is set. Abigail’s idea of fun is to cause havoc and mayhem and gets pleasure in seeing others suffer. An obvious example being the trouble she causes between the Proctors, by trying to make John Proctor turn against his wife Elizabeth Proctor, since she had an affair with him. Throughout the play, Miller portrays her as someone who will go to extreme measures to get her own way.
This makes dramatic impact within the audience increase and allows them to ponder what happened as grotesquely as they wish. The play is set in darkness which brings along a sense of cruelty, unnatural and evil; all three feelings that would naturally evoke fear. Shakespeare made this play unusual in a variety of ways. Lady Macbeth plays a dominant role throughout the play which is controversial as this was first shown in an era where women weren’t even allowed on the stage. This would cause drama as the viewers would think that this was awkward and would constantly be expecting something bad to occur.