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. It wouldn’t really affect her too much, but on the contrary, it would ruin his reputation in the town and his relationship with his wife. Later in Act I, Abigail is being “interrogated” by Reverend Hale and she claims “I never sold myself! I’m a good girl! I’m a proper girl!” (Miller 40) in this statement, Abigail is defending herself that she never sold herself to the devil.
All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this.
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.
How does miller present Abigail as a powerful character in The Crucible? Abigail first shows her power when she is heavily questioned about what was going on in the woods. Abigail starts answering the questions that she is given but soon realises that she will be court and get into trouble. So she uses her power to shift the attention to someone and make people forget about her. Miller presents this when Abigail is asked about the devil and she responds by saying, “I never called him!
The girls are still in the room contemplating on what they’re going to do, Abigail tells the girls, “Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruths dead sisters. And that is all” (148).
For instance, in the play Abigail becomes well known for her accusations of witches in the town. She becomes the leader of the girls as they find witches and get away with her continuous fibs. Abigail sets up Mr. Proctor’s wife by sticking a needle in Mary Warrens’ poppet later given to Goody Proctor. Abigail does and plans things on her own which is why she is a character with a lot of individualism. The next person who greatly exemplifies individualism is John Proctor.
Uncle was so cross! But he shouldn’t have sneaked into the forest to spy on us. What did he know? There were too many secrets. He never knew that I drank blood for a charm to kill that weak holier-than-thou woman Goody Proctor.
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. Just as she threatens to harm the other girls through conjuring and witchcraft if they do not do as she says. Later, Abigail carefully eliminates her enemies through accusing of witchcraft. What starts off as a simple act of self-preservation quickly turns into an opportunity to achieve power and ultimately secure John Proctor. The spineless character of Mary Warren is a key example of the power of fear in human society.
When told that his daughter, Betty, was ill because of "unnatural causes," Paris quickly interjected, "No, no. There be no unnatural causes here." The Reverend denied this all even with seeing the girls dancing in the woods. With Reverend being in denial, he was unable to consider all causes of the problem. He was so quick to blow off the idea that witchcraft caused her sickness because he was too worried his reputation would get shot with that possibility.
People may choose to respond to conflict in a self-serving way in order, to save their reputation or solely because of the fear that they will loose everything that they have ever worked for. In the play ‘The Crucible’, Reverend Harris is given the choice of whether to tell the truth about the girls dancing in the forest or to maintain his position. His ‘ name is solid in the village’ and will not have it ‘blackened’ by some girls dancing in the forest. He claims he has ‘many enemies’ and ‘for surely they will run him with it’. Despite knowing the girls have danced in the forest, he chooses not to tell the truth in court to save his position and not have his 3 year earned hard work thrown away due to the ‘stiffed-necked people’, further showing that an individual is given the choice in conflict and may act in a irrational and negative way just for their own agenda.