Examples Of Evil In The Crucible

The attribute of evil in something can be present in many ways, and different people have different opinions on what really qualifies something as evil. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, the town of Salem, Massachusetts is overtaken by the debatable presence of witchcraft. This fear of witches leads to chaos and innocent lives being taken. The most evil character in the story is Abigail Williams, the niece of the minister in the town. She displays this by threatening other girls and their lives, persuading John Proctor to commit adultery with her, and corrupting the court that condemns witches to hanging. Abigail is so evil that she threatens the other girls’ lives if they are not quiet about what happened. In the story she says, “Now look you. All of you… I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring some pointy reckoning…” (Miller 17). Abigail is very openly making a threat on the girls’ lives. The ‘pointy reckoning’ basically means that she will murder them if they snitch on her. She emphasizes many times that the other girls must support her or she will take action against them. This all shows that Abigail is so evil that she does not seem to …show more content…
Even after John Proctor breaks off the relationship, Abigail refuses to give up on the sin. She says, “Give me a soft word…” (19), but John tells her, “No that’s done with Abby” (19). John realizes that it is a sin to commit adultery but Abigail does not seem to care. She is only focused on her feelings, but does not think about Goody Proctor’s feelings. She refuses to let go of the past even when everyone else has forgotten. Abigail thinks that everything she does is the right thing to do, although most acts she commits are evil. She ignores the fact that having an affair with John Proctor is a sin and that it will hurt Goody Proctor, and these facts show the true evil in