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.
Abigail and the girls pretend Mary is bewitching them again which make Mary breakdown and accuse john of being a witch. After being tried as a witch and told he was going to get hanged he has a chance to confess and live but he chooses to die and keep his name. As a result of the lies and the affair between john and Abigail there were a lot of innocent people killed and hurt even those who they claimed they loved. Abigail and Elizabeth are two very different characters but have some similarities. Both Abigail and Elizabeth show determination in order to get what they want, and they are both strong
Moreover, when Reverend Parris confronts Abigail about being fired by Elizabeth Proctor, Abigail denies any wrongdoings. She accuses Elizabeth as “a lying, cold, sniveling women” who spreads rumor about to degrade her social status. Abigail’s motivation in the witchcraft is thus revealed, which is jealousy towards Elizabeth. As Abigail successfully frames other people for being responsible about the witchcraft, she further imposes her domination over the other girls. Her domination is demonstrated physically and verbally.
Conflict certainly exposes the true qualities of a person that might have been kept deep inside never to be revealed, however due to the pressure of a bad situation the ‘real’ person is displayed. McCarthyism has been shown in the play “The Crucible”, which was practiced by Abigail. McCarthyism is paranoia and finding scapegoats and blaming innocent people for things they did not do. Many lives were ruined because of this. In the Crucible, Abigail is tormented by the fact that she had been caught out having an affair with John Proctor.
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
Haley Houston October 3, 2013 Honors English 11, Per. 3A Analysis Essay The Evil of Jealousy and Lust Much of the evil in today’s world is driven by jealousy and lust. Affairs occur often, students betray each other in order to get something they desire, and many young girls like Elizabeth Smart have been kidnapped and raped because of that unreasonable lust. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller describes a young group of girls as they wrongly accuse many of witchcraft in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. 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.
Her statement was constantly attacked by Danforth and Parris, the stubborn, prideful rat. Like a child trying to elude reprimanding, he fabricated holes in every attempt we made to reason with Judge Danforth. Then Abigail began to shiver and shriek, turning the blame of witchcraft on Mary. To see that Abigail and her friends' trickery was actually persuading the judge enraged me so much that I confessed to my act of adultery with her, in hopes of ruining her credibility. I was blind in my fury, grabbing the girl by the hair, wondering what I had seen in her.
Obviously, the conflict between Lysandra and Elaine is shown by Lysandra being so mad she withdraws on her dream to be to herself. Lysandra also shows jealousy towards Elaine. She does this by stealing Elaine’s boyfriend. Elaine explains how Lysandra does this by saying, “As she and Brett moved off into the darkness the looked like one person. That’s how close they were.” (72).
Her jealous acts caused the people she loved to have miserable lives. This not only hurt them but herself. In the middle of Act 2 Abigail accuses Elizabeth Proctor of doing voodoo on her; Abigail had to hurt herself to make it look like the truth. She lifts up her dress and shows John saying, “Why, look at my leg. I’m holes all over from their dammed needles and pins.
Continuously throughout the text she performs acts of deception which tragically condemn others to death just to cover her lies. Miller exhibits that power lies with those who have people to impose it upon. This power is demonstrated most effectively in Mary Warren’s retraction in Act 3. When Mary confesses against the witchcraft is Salem Abigail and the other girls abuse the power of unity and accuse Mary of spiritually attacking them. Abigail says, ‘Oh please Mary!