How Does Arthur Miller Use Abuse Of Power In The Crucible

In The Crucible by Arthur Miller a girl named Abigail Williams is a young teenager that lives in the town of Salem and she is in search of power and is willing to lie to get there. “I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osborn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!”(Penguin). This quote shows how Abigail accuses all of these women in the town after she clears herself from sin by saying that she has written in the devil's book and that she wants God in her life. Once she says that she is on God’s side This shows that Arthur Miller creates power hungry characters that lie to succeed as a symbol for the destructive nature they bring to the environments that live in.
One example of Abigail’s power hungriness is when she is talking to John Proctor About how Elizabeth is ruining her name. “She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her!”(Act II pg.26). Abigail makes it look like she's mad at Elizabeth for ruining her name but really she just wants John to leave her so she can have him all to herself. This is a prime example of Abigail’s power hunger and consistent lying because …show more content…
When Abigail says this she is able to go around the town accusing people of witchcraft. When she does this, she forces her friends to join in and brings the women she accused to court. “ Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And you know I can do it…. I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!” (Act IV.pg 113). This quote shows Abigail’s power over the girls and her ability to sway people and control them by threatening