Not only does she deny doing witchcraft, she also manages to accuse Tituba of having full responsibility while she is the one who starts the whole thing. At the end of the chapter, she also frames some other citizens, saying that she sees them with the Devil. Her affair with John Proctor is furthermore exposed to the audience. Betty, Reverend Parris’s daughter, reveals that Abigail attempts to drink blood as a charm in order to kill Elizabeth Proctor, who is John Proctor’s wife. Moreover, when Reverend Parris confronts Abigail about being fired by Elizabeth Proctor, Abigail denies any wrongdoings.
The fear of getting punishment for the dancing that occurred in the woods was what prompted the girls to start accusing innocent people of witchery. The heart of this conflict that is driven by pure fear shows how the girls transform and go against their religious backgrounds to fuel these false accusations to save themselves from being punished and therefore creating the upsurge of conflicts in the town Salem. Abigail starts these false accusations by exaggerating the truth and putting the blame on Tituba "Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the open doorway and not a stitch on my body! I always hear her laughing in my sleep. I hear her singing her Barbados songs and tempting me with-".
b. "The Crucible", by Author Miller takes place in 1692, in Salem Massachusetts, which was, at the time, a puritan community. Abigail Williams is a 17 year old girl that has just been fired from her job as a maid, because of having an affair with the husband, John Proctor, of the woman he works with. Now to get even with her for seperating her from the one she loves, she starts allegations of witchery, that eventually lead up to her accusing Elizabeth Proctor. c. Abigail Williams was caught dancing in the woods by her uncle (whom she lives with), and her fear of what would happen to her if it came to the surface what she and the other girls were really doing, makes her start crazy allegations against others to save her own name.
Powerless to do anything, Abigail resented Elizabeth for that and her jealousy grew. After the dancing in the forest incident, realizing how people listened and believed in her stories, she abuses that power. She manipulated the entire town and even her friends. She tells lies about them, accusing them of witch craft. She took revenge on Elizabeth and accuses her of being a witch.
The spineless character of Mary Warren is a key example of the power of fear in human society. Although she watched and did not participate she was one of the girl’s caught in the forest with Abigail, dancing and conjuring spirits she becomes a part of the group which manipulates the power of fear in their society to convict innocent people. At first she seems to enjoy the power her actions give her but when it is clear that innocent people are becoming convicted Mary begins to feel bad about the whole thing. An
After Governor Danforth asked Rebecca if she would confess herself to witchcraft, she replied, “Why it is a lie, it is a lie; how may I damn myself? I cannot, I cannot.” (140) Her honesty sends her to certain death, but also to the kingdom of Heaven. Rebecca sees that life on Earth is temporary, while life after death is never ending. When she says, “Let you fear nothing! Another judgment waits us all!” (144) it is clear that she is confident, that she is making the right decision by telling the truth.
When he tries to confess to the court about his sin to prove that he would not lie about the witches, the court puts him in jail for lying ironically. Before his hanging, he has a conversation with Elizabeth, his wife, stating, “I cannot mount the gibbet like a saint. It is a fraud… It is pretense for me, a vanity that will not blind God nor keep my children out of the wind. What say you?” (Arthur 136) John was considering saying that he had see witch craft to keep his life. When they asked him to sign his name to the confession he said, “ Because it is my name!
In ‘The Crucible,’ the protagonist Abigail Williams manipulates her friends and the entire town of Salem, when she accuses innocent people of being witches, in a personal vendetta against Elizabeth Proctor, the wife of John Proctor, whom she had a previous affair with. The hysteria of the witch hunt in Salem is a result of Abigail’s selfish and vengeful behaviour, which leads nineteen innocent people to the gallows. “My name is good in the village! Elizabeth Proctor is an envious, gossipy liar!” Salem is oblivious to Abigail’s true vindictive nature and vengeance. ‘I beg you, sir, I beg you-see her for what she is.’ This statement by John Proctor reveals that he is only one of the very few, who is able to see the truth behind Abigail’s façade, however, her public persona of being an innocent young girl, possessed by the ‘devil’, that she so cunningly portrays was too strong and no one would have suspected she was capable of such lies and
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.
She is cast roughly aside, hits her head and passes out. In the meantime, Anys Gowdie, having heard news of what is happening, rushed to Mern’s aid. The crowd turns on Anys accusing her, in her turn, of being a witch and having consorted with George Vicars, now regarded as a male witch and an instrument of the devil. It is because Anna has betrayed Anys’ secret that they are privy to her connection with Viccars. Although Anna plans to run to Mompellion for help, she is struck to the ground and is powerless to stop the mob hanging Anys.