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There are many evil characters in the play The Crucible, but Abigail Williams is the most prominent. Not only is Abigail unkind and malicious, but the character will get what she wants regardless of the consequences. Despite being a pathological liar, Abigail will try several options to achieve her ambitions (Abbotson, 2019). Throughout the entire play, the character accuses several people of her misdeeds. John Proctor and his wife Elizabeth were her bosses, yet she secretly had an affair with John. Despite her defensive nature, Abigail Williams is the character most responsible for the tragic events in Salem, a town in Arthur Millers The Crucible.
The protagonist, Abigail, depicts her evil character from the onset of the play. She tries to kill Elizabeth with a curse so that John Proctor would marry her (Mulyanto et al., 2019). When Elizabeth discovers the relationship, she dismisses her but Abigail tried to restart their affair. In the first Act, the character denies the affiliation when she is confronted by saying, I never sold myself! Im a good girl! Im a proper girl! (Miller, 2015, p. 25). Furthermore, in the woods when Betty, Reverend Parriss daughter, falls sick due to Abigails and her friends dark powers, she lies about witchcraft to protect her reputation. However, Reverend Parris, Abigails uncle, refuses to believe her as she whispers Not I, sir Tituba and Ruth (Miller, 2015, p. 9). When further interrogated, Abigail confesses that there was a ritual happening in the forest but she did not participate in it (Sheikh-Farshi et al., 2018). Abigail frames Tituba, her friend for all the bad things that happened.
Further, Abigail is willing to kill the man she supposedly loves. The characters psychological problem is evident throughout the play because she killed 20 innocent people and ruined John Proctors marriage (Koorey, 2019). Her personality was motivated by her troubled childhood, in which the characters parents were killed as she watched. Other characters in the play understood her problems since when necessary, Abigail would restate this fact to protect herself. In one instance in Act One, she says I saw Indians smash my dear parents heads on the pillow next to mine (Miller, 2015, p. 20). Nonetheless, this is the excuse she uses to justify her misdeeds.
Abigails witchcraft tendencies are her way of fulfilling her needs and she would promptly accuse others to protect her reputation. Even after her supernatural killings, she would defend herself by saying Abigail: Dont lie! To Hale: She comes to me while I sleep; shes always making me dream corruptions! (Miller, 2015, p. 41). She claims that her accomplices in supernatural acts are to blame for what she is accused of doing.
Moreover, when the character realizes that she could face huge consequences if people discover that she slept with a married man, she pretends that she is being accused falsely (Miller, 2015, p. 12). However, there is enough evidence to implicate her adultery, such as John Proctors confession to his wife. Additionally, during the witch trials, Abigail threatens to kill people if they continue accusing her of witchcraft. An example of one such threat is when she is heard telling Mr. Danforth that Let you beware, Mr. Danforth. Think you to be so mighty that the power of Hell may not turn your wits? Beware of it! (Miller, 2015, p. 100). This is after an altercation in court between the two characters during the witch trials.
The way Abigail behaves reveals the characters malevolent nature, as she is willing to kill other people if they make her uncomfortable. Abigails wicked actions, such as sleeping with Elizabeths husband, threatening, and killing people make her the evilest character in the play. These acts prove that despite other characters wicked actions, Abigail is the most responsible for the tragic events in Salem. Her actions led to the deaths of others in the play and ruined the marriage of her employers.
References
Abbotson, S. C. (2019). Prospects for the study of Arthur Miller. Resources for American Literary Study, 41(1), 1-26. Web.
Koorey, S. (2019). Critical insights: The Crucible by Arthur Miller. The Arthur Miller Journal, 14(2), 133-135. Web.
Miller, A. (2015). The Crucible. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Mulyanto, M., Fabiola, M. P. D. P. D., & Kurnia, D. (2019). Pragmatic analysis of the dialogues in Arthur Millers drama The Crucible . Journal of Literature Languages and Linguistics, 61, 53-67. Web.
Sheikh-Farshi, S., Ghorban-Sabbagh, M. R., & Sharifi, S. (2018). Studying characterization in Arthur Millers The Crucible: A cognitive stylistic analysis. Pragmatics & Cognition, 25(2), 310-336. Web.
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