Abigial really ignites the fire by blaming Tituba for "bewitching her". As soon as Tituba confesses to witchcraft, to save her herself, and tells Mr. Hale and Rev. Parris that she saw Goody Good and Goody Osburn with the devil, all the girls start naming off names of women all around Salem that they supposedly saw with the Devil. Mary Warren is to blame for many innocent deaths as well. Mary was the housewife for John and Elizabeth Proctor.
She had people fooled to believe that she had god in her and she could see the evil in people and could tell if they were in witchcraft. One person after another she had them hung. People so clueless of her intentions saw her as a saint for getting rid of the “evil” in the town. In the end of the play Abigail’s reputation was soon found out about, she knew people would come back and accuse her of murder so she ran away with her uncle’s money and Mercy Lewis. In contrast with Abigail Williams Elizabeth Proctor was not your ideal woman.
This quote “[…] Let either of you breathe a word and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.” Shows her desperation and truly violent mind while she tries to control the mistake she’s made, but to control this mistake she must control those around her who know of it. No one would dare to expose her if they feared so terribly, Abigail uses this to her advantage. At the end of the trials Abigail was beginning to be revealed by townspeople who found out that she was the main accuser. When she found out about this she decided to take all of Parris’ money, and run away from Salem with Tituba. This leaves the reader wondering, but can only assume what will happen to
So now we’ll talk about affairs and how people get revenge. In The Crucible, Mr. Proctor had an affair with a young lady. It made John look bad, so he started to ignore Abigail by telling her to leave and that he was mad at her. When she wouldn’t leave he pushed her away. For revenge she accused John’s wife, Liz, of being a witch.
Miller makes her a young woman of eighteen or nineteen and invents an adulterous relationship between her and John Proctor in order to motivate her of John and his wife Elizabeth. The actual manner of the trials was outrageous, but no more outrageous than the conduct of ordinary criminal trials in England at that time. In any case, it is a little werid or ridiculous to ask the question of fair trial: how can there be a “fair trial” for a crime which not only has not been committed, but is impossible? The Salem “witches” suffered something that may be worse than persecution: they were hanged because some were accused with hysteria. And they choose to die, everyone could have saved themselves by “confession,” they would not say that they were witches when they were
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. First, Abigail conducts in a brief affair with John proctor; then, she seeks vengeance
I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!” (Act I) In this quote it explains how Abigail tried saving herself from being known as a “bad” person. Abigail also wants her name good in the village because a rumor was spread of her having an affair with John Proctor which is true. She then wants John Proctors wife dead so she could have him for herself. It then blows up in her face that she did not get what she wanted simply because Proctor did not want her.
When Abigail creates hysteria over witchcraft that sweeps over Salem, she views the situation as a chance to lie and manipulate to achieve her goals, while John Proctor sees through Abigail’s deceit and views the situation as a childish stunt that could get many innocent townspeople hurt. Proctor’s fears come true when Abigail begins accusing innocent women, including Elizabeth, John Proctor’s wife, of witchcraft, hoping to have Proctor for herself after Elizabeth has been hanged. Abigail sees Salem as full of gullible and easily manipulated pawns in her evil game of self-aggrandizement and in her quest to be with John Proctor. Proctor, however, regards Abigail’s plot as an atrocity and tries to save his wife and the other accused townspeople at all costs. Unlike Abigail, Proctor degrades himself in front of all of his fellow townspeople by admitting his lechery to the court in an attempt
Abigail’s greed was the most destructive to the outcome of this story. She destroyed most people’s reputation in the town. Many innocent people are hanged for crimes they did not commit including John Proctor. Abigail wanted to get rid of John Proctor’s wife Elizabeth, and Elizabeth was charged with consorting with the devil. Abigail new the punishment for the crime of witchcraft was hanging and carried out her accusation so that she and Jon could “dance upon her grave together.”(Act 3) John Proctor is also charged with witch craft; he had a choice of lying about consorting with the devil or keeping his integrity.
This event brought the thought of hysteria among the townspeople as many believed the illness suffered by Betty Parris and Ruth Putnam was of supernatural causes. Abigail, fearing the townsfolk of accusing her as being the cause, then accuses Tituba. “She made me do it” (p. 45) corresponding to the dancing and drinking of chicken blood. Fearing being hung, Tituba confesses and accuses other members of the town of witchcraft in order to protect herself. “And I look - and there was Goody Good... Aye sir, and Goody Osburn” (p. 49).