When the trials began, many accused others of witchcraft and this lead to them accusing even more. The new news of the entire witchcraft epidemic in Salem left many disturbed and trying to eliminate the bad of the town. The novel allows the reader to reflect on the life of the Salem people and understand the happenings. One example is the reflection of the lives of teenage girls in the puritan society, sent by God to marry and have a family, lacking the happiness of teen hood. Thus, explaining a
She was taken in by her Uncle Reverend Parris, who she now lives with. She is the leader of the group of girls who accuse witchcraft on the town members of Salem. She danced in the forest with Tituba, and is also in love with John Proctor. Abigail has many different attitudes which include determination and dishonesty. She shows that she is determined by trying her best to condemn Elizabeth Proctor to death just to be with her husband John Proctor.
Parris caught the girls dancing in the forest. He suspected them of doing witchcraft. He was worried that his reputation would be ruined. 2. Why do the Putnams come to the Parris house?
She begins accusing people of witchcraft to cover up her own lies and the accusations lead to 19 deaths by hanging. In the court, Abigail pretends to see the spirit of Mary Warren walking on the rafters in the courthouse. The two people who believe that Abigail lies are Reverend Hale and John Proctor, yet Abigail’s act convinces
Abigail first tells the lie “No one was naked! You mistake yourself, Uncle!” (The Crucible, I.9) Then she goes on and accuses Tituba of witchcraft to cover her trail of lies, starting from dancing naked in the forests to Elizabeth stabbing the poppet with the needle. Elizabeth is just as bad with her only lie. When she is asked to answer a question about the affair with her husband and Abigail, she lies to protect him. She is thinking if she tells the court the truth, then she is going to lose
Good Name A proverb states that “A good name will shine forever.” In the play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, having a good name in society is important and has a different meaning to different characters. In The Crucible, many characters view having a good name as being well respected and correlate it with their reputation. When Reverend Parris discovers girls from Salem dancing in the forest, he finds his daughter, Betty, lying on the ground unconscious. Worried that his daughters illness was a result of witchcraft, he finds Abigail and asks her about the events that took place in the forest. The first thing Reverend Parris asks Abigail is if her “name in the town – it is entirely white, is it not?” because he is worried about his reputation
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 Williams is the most important character in The Crucible, whether she is on stage, or not.’ Discuss this statement, with reference to language, structure and dramatic devices. The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller, and is about the persecution of persons falsely accused of being witches in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, based on a true story. Many people died in villages after a series of lies and unjust practices, which is the core foundation of the play, the illusory untruth and the dishonesty of sly females to their male counterparts, and in some extent to other females; trying avoid the unmerited punishment of execution. Abigail Williams, after having had an affair with a married man named John Proctor,
A crucible represents the events in the town because it suggests how the town is boiling due to all the incidences going on within the society and how the court is trying to purify Salem of witchcraft and evil. The poppet represents the witchcraft within the play, because these types of dolls are connected to voodoo and other superstitious deeds that the Puritans considered evil. As it was found in the hands of the accused Elizabeth Proctor, they immediately concluded she was associated with witchcraft, this is obvious when Ezekiel Cheever says “’Tis hard proof! I find here a poppet Goody Proctor keeps.” When Abigail accuses Mary Warren of sending her spirit out to harm her in the church, Abigail uses the symbol of a bird and relates it to evil when she says “Why do you come, yellow bird?” Throughout history, bird
While winter wore on, the girls began to show signs of odd sicknesses. When the village doctor called and could find nothing physically wrong with the girls, he concluded that the evil hand was on them. Mr. Parris begged the affected girls to name the witches, and so Elizabeth blurted out the name of Tituba and other names such as Sarah Good, a despised pipe-smoking beggar, and Sarah Osborne, who had scandalized the village by living openly with a man before marriage. In seven months time, seven men and thirteen women were executed for practicing witch craft, many on the basis of the testimony of ghosts and specters. Those who would not confess were killed and Tituba was spared and sold by the Parrises.