What Are Abigail's Motives In The Crucible

Improved Essays
During the Puritan Era, in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, it began with a group of girls who wander off into the wilderness. While dancing, they were caught by the town minister Reverend Parris. One of the girls, Betty, who happened to be the daughter of Reverend Parris, descends into a coma. Moments later, a crowd begins to form around Parris’ home while rumors about witchcraft spread through the town.
In the play, The Crucible, many of the characters have their own personal motives that go on throughout the story. Abigail Williams, is one of two most acclaimed characters in the play who show an abundance of traits. She is the one who takes account in the play. She carries the largest amount of responsibility for the girls who meet with Tituba in the woods, but once Reverend Parris observes their shenanigans, Abigail tries to conceal her own behavior or else it will expose her affair with Proctor, if she confesses that she unleashed a spell on Elizabeth Proctor. Abigail’s creativity portrays her age. She is a young girl daydreaming for a perfect ideal male. Nonetheless, she acquires an ingenious vision and a maximum quantity or strategies that show her maturity ahead of other characters. She lied her way and got a lot of innocent people dead and in
…show more content…
In fact Abigail is different from Elizabeth. Abigail appears as the oppressed aspirations — sexual and material — which all of the Puritans hold. The contrast is that Abigail does not hideaway her desires. She finds Proctor attractive while working in the Proctor home. According to the Puritan attitude, Abigail's appealingness to Proctor creates an evil sin, but one that she could regret of and refuse to acknowledge. Abigail does the opposite. She goes after Proctor and finally seduces

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    After her affair with John Proctor, Abigail, is sure the John loves her and this desire to become his wife and to win his love drives her to the extreme, going against all the Puritan beliefs and the norms of the society. “John—I am waitin’ for you every night” (22). Her affair with John is one of the biggest sins that she could commit in the Puritan beliefs and yet she continues to act upon the feelings that she has built for John and what she thought they had. Abigail goes…

    • 1102 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abigail Williams Jealousy

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Abigail told John Proctor “I know how you clutched my back behind your house and sweated like a stallion whenever I come near!... I saw your face when she put me out, and you loved me then and you do now!” (Miller 23). Abigail tried to get John to accept her and have feelings towards her because of their affair. John denied her and told her to forget him.…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In The Crucible, you notice that Abigail Williams and John Proctor had an affair while she was the Proctors servant. Abigail says: “It's she who put me out, you cannot pretend it were you, I saw your face when she put me out, and you loved me then and you do now!” this shows how eager Abigail…

    • 223 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The girls push her to the point where she turns on Proctor in order to save herself from being accused. “You’re the Devil’s man!” (Miller 110) She knows she’s doing an evil sin by accusing John Proctor and by taking back what she confessed. Abigail sure did a great job at manipulating her in doing bad things, while John was only trying to help her do good things.…

    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He turns to her and watches her. A sense of their separation arises” (Miller 1268). Abigail has already ruined the Proctors marriage when she has an affair with John Proctor. Since the affair, the Proctor’s have grown distant from each other and converse less with each other because of an action Abigail…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Crucible Essay “Whore! How do you dare call Heaven” (Act 2 Scene II). This quote caused quite a stir in the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Proctor, one of the main characters, is yelling this at another character named Abigail, who, along with Danforth, is to blame for the witch trials. The characters in the play that are most to blame are Abigail and Danforth because Abigail makes false accusations throughout the whole play, she causes all the hysteria that feeds the witch trials, and Danforth fails to act to stop the hysteria.…

    • 740 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It’s she put me out, and you loved me then and you do now!” (I). This proves that Abigail is a rebel because Proctor was married and a good puritan man, however this opens the door that Abigail stole him from his wife and broke the standard rule of who he could have a relationship with…

    • 1029 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Proctor reveals that Abigail’s true motivation is revenge. Once Elizabeth is out of the way, Abigail can resume her affair with John. Proctor explains this in an attempt…

    • 879 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    During her time with the Proctor family, she began an affair with John Proctor. His wife, Elizabeth Proctor, soon finds out about it and fired Abigail. This leads Abigail to become angry with Elizabeth, as she believes Elizabeth stands in the way of what she wants, a relationship with John. This anger serves as the motivation for Abigail’s actions throughout the rest of the play. Abigail’s, “...illegitimate desire for Proctor fuels her actions against innocent townspeople” (Bovard, 82).…

    • 1560 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, expressed many different characters with dissimilar intentions and motivations in great length. These dramatic emotions tied along with greed and desire allowed this playwright to come to life and create an overall exhilarating read for the audience. Most characters in this play have important roles that demonstrate their true incentive in what they will get out of this huge mess of hysteria. The character of Abigail is very interesting to touch upon.…

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abigail then used this opportunity to kill Goody Proctor so she can be with John. Abigail was a victim in this whole…

    • 843 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She pursues Proctor and eventually seduces him. Abigail is vengeful, selfish, manipulative, and a great liar. Abigail seems to be…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    John wants Elizabeth to forgive him, but he still feels attracted to Abigail. Abigail recognizing John Proctor’s attraction, “you clutched my back and sweated like…

    • 1272 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Overall, Abigail Williams has created a sexual strain between her and John Proctor and greater infidelity among the entire town of Salem by allowing sexual repression to affect her actions. During a conversation between Abigail and Reverend Parris, Abigail exclaims, “I look for the John Proctor who took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In that time Proctor grows anxious and develops a lust for Abigail, a teenager who once did household tasks for the Proctor family. The scandalous relationship between John Proctor and his previous servant, Abigail Williams first started seven months prior to the beginning of the play. Susan Abbotson describes the relationship and says, "Proctor and Elizabeth love each other, but seven months before the play began, Proctor had an affair with their serving girl, Abigail, while his wife was sick. We do not know how long this would have continued had not Elizabeth…

    • 1469 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays