Abigail Williams Vs The Crucible

Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams are both extremely important characters in The Crucible who help us get insight into the Salem Witch Trials. Although they are opposing characters, you’d be surprised to find out how similar they actually are. Today, I will be discussing their personalities and how they compare and contrast each other. While reading The Crucible we learn that Abigail Williams is the antagonist. Abigail is portrayed this way because she is a manipulative liar.

Does their thirst for power always drive corrupt individuals, or can self-interest be just as dangerous? In this essay, we will look at Abigail Williams and William O'Neal, two characters from different stories but driven by their self-interests. Abigail Williams is a young woman in the play 'The Crucible' by Arthur Miller. At the same time, William O'Neal is a real-life character portrayed by LaKeith Stanfield in the movie 'Judas and the Black Messiah. Abigail Williams and William O'Neal are portrayed as corrupt because of their motivations and methods of achieving their end goal.

In the play, The Crucible, a story told where the reader learns about lies, deceit, and hypocrisy. The play highlights how the puritans viewed witch trials in 1692. The character that was the most to blame for the Salem Witch trials and dreadful hangings, is Abigail Williams. There are two reasons Abigail Williams became the cause of all the Witch trials and hangings, the first being that she refused to admit to what she was doing in the forest with the other girls, the second was that she was resentful of the Proctor family.

Written by Arthur Miller, The Crucible was inspired by the true event of the Salem witch trials. The Salem witch trials was the killing of many innocent people accused of being witches. Abigail Williams was the main accuser and the rest of girls that danced in the woods along side her, which was strictly forbidden in the Puritan religion, followed her lead. At the time she lived with her uncle Samuel Parris who was the reverend of the town’s church. Parris called a witchcraft expert, Hale, to come look over his daughter whom he believed was taken over by witchcraft because she would not wake up from a faked sleep.

Winona Ryder stated that Abigail Williams is not the villain in Miller’s play, The Crucible. In reality, Abigail definitely portrays the villain by her manipulative and evil deeds. For example, Abigail accused Goody Proctor of witchcraft because Elizabeth suspected lechery between Abigail and her husband, John, which allowed for Goody Proctor to dismiss her. In Act III, Mary Warren confesses to the court that Abigail Williams was the one to accuse Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft. In which Elizabeth replies, “Question Abigail Williams about the gospel, not myself.”

Abigail Williams of The Crucible was one of the main characters of the story. After Reverend Samuel Parris witnessed Abigail, his niece, along with his daughter Betty and their slave Tituba dancing in the woods at midnight, he accused them of performing witchcraft. However, this was a misunderstanding, but due to the reverend's

Abigail Williams’ Influence Is it okay for a person to lie and hurt other people just to keep him or herself safe? In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, Abigail Williams lies, a lot, to keep herself safe. Throughout the story, many people are accused of witchcraft. When a person is accused of witchcraft, it is very easy for them to get out of the accusation if they lie. The lies that are told shifts the belief of who knows witchcraft, and Abigail Williams uses those lies to gain influence over other people.

In the play, the Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Salem, Massachusetts was a place of constant hysteria in the 1600s because of what would come to be commonly known as the Salem Witch Trials. This was a full-blown witch hunt for people found to display signs of witchcraft. Abigail Williams was the main person to blame for this pursuit of witches in Salem because, first off, she was the one who caused hysteria about witchcraft just to cover up the fact that

In The Crucible, there could be many suspects to blame for the innocent deaths that happened in Salem. Proctor could be blamed for the innocent deaths because he lied about his affair with Abigail. Speaking of Abigail... in my opinion Abigail Williams is the one to blame for the innocent deaths because of the lies she told, the accusations she made, and the affair she had with John Proctor. Abigail Williams told many, many lies in The Crucible. The reason the witch trials began in the first place was because of the lie she told about being in the woods.

In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Miller demonstrated that it was Abigail William’s flaws: lust, vengeance, and jealously that led her to be responsible the most for the tragedy of the witch hunts in Salem. Abigail Williams started the entire suspicion of there being active member of witchcraft throughout Salem, Massachusetts. She did this for her own benefits and used trickery to get what she wanted. Abigail was corrupt and only cared for her own desires. There are many reasons that these flaws are crucial to the outcome of the play.

Abigail defies all judgements against innocence as she is the driven evil force in The Crucible. Arthur Miller shows Abigail Williams to instinctively defend herself, as it is the humane reaction when accused of wrongdoing. It is common to tell a lie but, the intention of sabotage is a different story. Abigail had many tricks up her sleeve to manipulate the court. Her purpose to convince the town of her innocence was one of many.

Abigail Williams is not your typical teenage girl. She is a girl that will drink blood to kill someone, accuse people of witchcraft, and have a affair. By looking at The Crucible, one can see that Abigail Williams develops the theme of reputation, which is important because people who fear losing their reputation spread hysteria. Protecting her reputation motivates Abigail Williams to accuse others of being a witch.

Abigail Williams was the goody two shoes that kept her reputation high, until she turned on many with a single lie. In The Crucible By Arthur Miller, is set in the year of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts where a witch outbreak has jailed many of the women from a fault of one girl named Abigail. It causes havoc in Salem that will lead to death in the village. Abigail has shown many transformations and showed that she is very dynamic from her emotions, to her actions, and to her experiences throughout the story of The Crucible. Abigail has shown that she has grown mentally and emotionally.

As time has passed, throughout history, during different periods of time there are parallels. There are three eras that we are focussed on, where there are three types of people during each era. The three different eras that we’re focusing on, are The Salem Witch Trials (1600s), The McCarthy Era (1950s), and Today (2000s); the three types of people are the people who are the reasons why there’s accusations towards the accused, the accused, and finally the accusers.     In The Crucible, or during the Salem Witch Trials, the person that’s the reason why characters were accused is John Proctor. The accuser in the play, who decides to point fingers at everyone, is Abigail Williams.

Nicole Schaefer Mr. Becker American Literature October 29, 2014 Two Women for Two Different Worlds In the novel the crucible, Elizabeth, wife of John Proctor, and Abigail Williams, mistress of John Proctor are two main roles. Elizabeth, a woman who is loyal and true, or manipulative and ruthless liar, Abigail. She pretends to see spirits and commands the other girls to pretend as well.