The Crucible Abigail Motives Essay

Abigail Williams is probably the least complex character in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Once desired but now spurned by John Proctor, the object of her lust, she uses the community’s fear of witchcraft to tear through every obstacle, including Proctor’s wife, in order to get him to love her again. Although Abigail's actions in the play are definitely understandable, as her motive and background are not complex, they are certainly not excusable.
Abigail’s motivation for everything that she does is to eventually marry John Proctor. The lone obstacle to this goal is Goody Proctor, John’s wife. Betty Parris claims that when they were dancing in the woods in the beginning of the play, Abigail “drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor.” This fits Abigail’s …show more content…
Of course, her motive is the most villainous of all the characters’, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s just an instinctive drive to use whatever one can to achieve one’s objective. In a completely vanilla context, if one has an intent or a goal, but one starts out powerless, then when one suddenly is empowered to act on that intent, then that’s the logical course of action.
However, while the results of her intent are a logical course of action, this intent is basically her Electra complex (the female version of an Oedipus complex): wanting to kill Goody Proctor, and marry John Proctor. Her actions, being the instinctive and logical course of action, are the excusable part; the motive is not. The motive is what caused the actions to be murderous and vindictive. With any other motive, it would be excusable. Perhaps if the play were told more from Abigail’s perspective, it would be easier for a reader or viewer to see the plot from her viewpoint. All she wants is John Proctor; unfortunately Goody Proctor is in her way. Abigail is a determined woman, openly in sexual pursuit of John Proctor, and she will do anything, including murder, in order to make it