Abigail Williams Character Analysis

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Abigail Williams: Abigail Williams is arguably the main antagonist of “The Crucible”, her decisive motives and actions clearly project one of a main story’s antagonist. Abigail Williams, the niece of Reverend Parris and former servant of John Proctor. Abigail is an orphan, and an unmarried girl, which virtually signifies no respect and no power in Salem. The actions and motives of Abigail are mostly fueled by her desire to be relevant and powerful in Salem, amongst the ministers and other high authority figures in Salem. The Salem witch trials prove to be a grand opening for Abigail to take advantage of the spooked and ignorant citizens of Salem, as she manipulatively influences the other irrelevant and powerless girls in Salem to abide by …show more content…
Even the most highly respected and loved figure of Salem could be convicted of devil-worship, a law under Salem’s theocracy that could not be justified in any way, color, shape, or form. Abigail views herself extremely highly once she realizes her potential in the Salem community, she talks with an arrogant, flaunt attitude, “What look do you give me... I’ll not have such looks!” (Miller 111) is just one of her main examples of her inner attitude once she rises to power in Salem. Abigail ends up getting her enemies convicted for witchcraft, and even brings a couple of people down with her as well. John Proctor, one of the main characters of the story, ends up getting hanged from the gallows, mainly because of Abigail’s influence in the court. Abigail is a power-hungry fool, with no remorse of her vengeful acts, this character ends up being one of the main causes of the story’s …show more content…
John Proctor falls ill to the mass hysteria once Abigail’s courtroom spectral evidence overcomes his plaintiff, getting him seen as the “devil’s man” and thrown into jail. John Proctor’s motive in the play truthfully is to keep his name pure and wholesome, and to snuff out the lies that are built in Salem, but everything seems to be too much for John, and to no avail, he succumbs to theocratic law. In the last breathing moments of John Proctor, he confesses out of enmity to Danforth, but in respect for his good name, he refuses to let Danforth to publicly reveal his confession. John explains to Danforth that, “[he] is no Sarah Good or Tituba, [he] is John Proctor…[and that] it is no part of salvation that you should use me” (Miller 142, 143), expressing his everlasting ability to retain his good name and his loyalty to

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