Can you imagine threatening to kill someone just to keep your reputation clean? In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Abigail Williams wields power more effectively than others by manipulating people to stay on her side and doing anything to keep her reputation clean.Abigail is seen by Reverend Parris dancing in the woods and conjuring spirits with other girls, and she threatened to hurt the girls if any of them said a word that went against her. When she is being questioned by Reverend Hale about sending her spirits on the Minister's daughter, Betty, she uses Tituba as a scapegoat, so she can make herself look better. Shockingly, Abigail threatens the highest man in town, Judge Danforth, without any status, when she feels that her new-found …show more content…
Abigail Williams effectively displays power by manipulating and threatening others to keep them on her side so she can keep her reputation pure. Before the play started, Abigail and other girls go to the woods at night to dance and conjure spirits. When Parris leaves, Abigail threatens to kill the girls if they ever mention anything against her or what happened in the woods. Abigail threatens to kill the girls by saying, “Let either of you breathe a word… 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 saw Indians smash my dear parents’ heads on the pillow next to mine” (Miller 19). This exemplifies that Abigail will do anything to make herself look better, and that she has power over the girls because she knows this threat really alarmed them. Additionally, when Abigail says, “And you know I can do it ”, this shows that she has power and is threatening the girls with death. They know she is serious about the threat because they are now aware that she has seen the murder of her parents. The death of Abigail’s parents really affected her because has such a vivid memory of it happening to people so close to her. Abigail telling the …show more content…
In Act 3, Abigail is seen to be getting questioned in court by Judge Danforth because he has reason to believe she has something to do with all of the girls becoming sick and conjuring spirits. Abigail then manipulates Danforth into thinking she did nothing wrong and that the least he should do is thank her by saying, “I have been hurt, Mr. Danforth; I have seen my blood runnin’ out! I have been near to murdered every day because I done my duty pointing out the Devil's people– and this is my reward? To be mistrusted, denied, question to like a–”(Miller 100). This suggests that Abigail wants Danforth to pity her. Abigail is shown manipulating Danforth into making him feel bad just so her reputation can seem clean, making her not in the wrong. Shortly after this, Abigail is seen threatening Danforth. After Abigail tries to manipulate Danforth into pitying her, she threatens his power and tells him that he could also be accused of witchcraft, and that she should not be blamed. Abigail justifies that he could also be blamed by stating, “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 100). This demonstrates that Abigail, who has no high role in the town, is establishing power since she is threatening the highest man in town
Abigail is the young girl who leads the charge against the supposed witches of Salem. She uses her position as one of the accusers to manipulate and control the people around her. She is able to convince the court officials that the accused are guilty, and is able to turn the community against those who oppose her. Abigail's power over the other girls is demonstrated when she threatens them with physical harm saying “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 saw Indians smash my dear parents’ heads on the pillow next to mine, and l have seen some reddish work done at night, and l can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down” (575).
This is a Puritan village so people that do this are not labeled eccentric; they are labeled witches and killed. Abigail has always been afraid of getting caught since the beginning of the play. To defend herself she starts the finger pointing at everyone else besides the ones who deserve it, which in this case is no one. Abigail was not to careful and this whole thing starts to come tumbling down on her which it almost does. It doesn't take long before John Proctor and a few other sane people are on to her.
Abigail's presence is always along the lines of irony. In the story she constantly blames others for sin that she committed. When she is brought in for questioning and claims to see marys familiar spirit,she says ¨envy is a deadly sin,mary¨ Abigail herself has acted out of envy for the entire play. Her jealousy of elizabeth as john proctor's wife has lead her to attempted murder,first by the charm in the woods and then accused her of witchcraft. Act 4 is Danforth's turn for irony.
She was trying to convince the judge that other people are working with the devil. One person caused chaos in Salem and that person is Abigail
This moment demonstrates how powerful Abigail is because even though she is refusing to do an action ordered by the judge and lies multiple times, Danforth still stuck on to her like some
Abigail Williams is the niece of Reverend Parris she's described as “strikingly beautiful” with a talent for trouble. In the beginning we find out that Abigail and the other young girls in Salem had been dancing in the woods with Parris’s slave Tituba who is from Barbatos. The people of the town start to find out and accuse the girls of witchcraft. Abigail doesn't want her name ruined so she gets all the other girls to follow her lead, and throughout the play they accuse people of being working with the devil so they don't get in trouble. Later it is revealed that Abigail had slept with John Proctor, a Salem farmer and landowner in his mid 30s.
Abigail goes to any length without regards of the possible repercussions of her decisions. Abigail’s narcissistic character makes the reader wonder at what length will a person go to indulge their cravings. She terrorizes the town and forces the Puritans to both turn against each other as well as to burn themselves. Whether it is an obsessive love for another person or an intense hatred for a group of people, narcissism, grandiosity, and intolerance still plague our society. Whether it is in the late 1600s with the Salem Witch Trials, 1950s with the Red Scare, or just this month with ISIS attacks in Paris, they have gone, and will most likely keep going, to extremes to get what they want, much like what Abigail Williams did in Salem to get Proctor’s love.
The power that Abigail Williams has on the town of Salem, may be fatal. Abigail’s attempt to “defend” herself, comes across as a threat to many of the townspeople. By the third act in the play, Abigail has gotten powerful enough that she can threaten the Deputy Governor of the entire province without negative consequences. “Abigail, in an open threat: Let you beware, Mr. Danforth. Think you to be so mighty that the power of Hell may not turn your wits?
People in the village had power by influencing others to lie in order not to receive the consequences of witchcraft. Abigail shows power in the play by influencing the girls and what to say and do. She threatened all the girls she will hurt them if they open their mouth and say the truth. Abigail threatens, “Let either one of you breathe a word, or the edge of the other thing and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will being a pointy reckoning that will shutter you.”(Act 1). Abigail tells them she will shutter them with something that will hurt them in a dark night.
And mark this. 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” (317). Abigail is trying to convince herself that this is all she did with the girls even though, in reality, she knows they did much more. She does this in order to make herself feel less guilt towards the situation. She knows the trouble she will get into so she chooses to
This quote shows Abigail's manipulation as she uses fear to silence those who may speak against her, even threatening violence. Furthermore, Abigail's actions throughout the play cause the deaths of innocent people in Salem. As stated in "Abigail Williams as a Femme Fatale in The Crucible", Abigail Williams is thus, similar to traditional femme fatales of hard-boiled detective fiction and film noir in her transgression of sexual desire and in her desire for power. She is willing to risk everything, including others lives in order to achieve what she wants, in the same way the femme fatale is willing to risk her life and kill others to achieve sexual rewards or money.
Abigail intimidated the other girls and threatened them. She even told Mary, “Envy is a deadly sin”, as if she thought she was envious of her. She grew up without any love or nurturing plus experienced a traumatic event ( her parents killing) so it explains why she is the way she is. She pretended to see spirits and instructed the other girls to do so. “Let either of you breathe a word...about the other things and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night…..”
In the first Act, Abigail manipulates the girls into helping her lie about the forest “incident” in the beginning of the play. "Now look you, all of you we danced and Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam 's dead sisters, and that is all. Mark this let either of you breathe a word and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you." (Miller I, 20). In this quote, Abigail becomes aware of what she did in the forest along with the girl and threatens them to keep silence if they want to keep their lives.
Abigail is willing to accuse any one in her path of witchcraft even if it means taking the lives of those close to her. Abigail Williams’ emotional desire guides her actions even if it conflicts with morality. Abigail williams is driven to do unthinkable things because of her love for John Proctor. Abigail works in the Proctor’s home and while doing so she finds herself attracted to John. Abigail’s obsession with Proctor leads them to have an affair, which they try to keep
(Miller 12). This quote shows how Abigail has changed and what she’d do if she was confronted with such a situation. She made the decision quickly and opted to only save herself. Over the course of the book it gets represented pretty well that she is capable of doing everything to hold up her reputation: she wants to be a saint. Every decision she makes is like a little test that shows what kind of person and friend she is.