Abigail in The Crucible Essay

The Crucible: Abigail Williams

Abigail is a mischievous girl who can persuade anyone into lying. Abigail is a static character proven from her hiding the truth and convincing others to lie. In Act 1 Abigail and her friends were dancing in the forest. Abigail and her friends are always getting into some sort of trouble. Abigail fixes the problem by telling her friends to lie. In the end of the story, Act 4, Abigail still has the same traits. She is still trying to run away from everything but this time she really did run away. Abigail is one of the most interesting and also one of the most static characters.

As The Crucible started out, Abigail was introduced as a manipulative girl. Abigail and her friends were in the forest attempting witchcraft. They were dancing naked around a fire in the middle of nowhere. In that case, the main event that took place in the forest was the fact that they were drinking of the blood. Abigails reasoning for drinking blood was to try to steal Proctor away from Elizabeth so that she can have him all to herself. Many people, like Parris, were questioning about the witchcraft done in the forest. Abigails response to her uncle was, We did dance, uncle (pg 138). She later stated, We never conjured spirits. (Pg 138). Abigail, being manipulative, convinced the other girls into lying and so none of them got accused of attempting witchcraft. She warned the girls, No, hell be comin up. Listen, no; if they be questioning us, tell them we danced-I told him much already. (Pg 143). They were all asked questions but since Abigail scared them into lying, they did twist the truth and followed her lead. In the this case, Abigail needs to own up to what she did instead of making its worse.

Abigail was not present in Act 2 but in Act 3, she continues to deny all of the actions of her and her friends in the forest. Abigail turns the blame onto Mary Warren by saying, I-I know not. A wind, a cold wind, has come (Her eyes fall on Mary Warren) (pg 188). Abigail is trying her hardest to avoid the consequences, which is her best interest, by blaming Mary Warren. Abigail and the girls claim that Mary is sending spirits to them that moment. Abigail and the girls are screaming at Mary and blaming her for the witchcraft incident. Later on in another situation, Abigail has a confliction with Proctor and Danforth. Abigail, trying to prove her point that she was all for God, yelled, (crying to Heaven). Oh, Heavenly Father take away this shadow! (Pg 189). John Proctor, furious, shouted back, How do you call Heaven! Whore! Whore! (Herrick breaks Proctor from her.) (Pg 189). Abigail realized she dug herself a deep hole and did not know what to do, so of course she was telling Danforth, he is lying! (Pg 189). As Abigail was overwhelmed with the situation, she started pleading for God to help her. She also prayed for help to try to prove she loves God and does not want anything to do with the Devil and his deeds. At the end of Act 3, as you can see, Abigail is still trying to hide the truth and has the other girls go along with her lies.

In the end of The Crucible, Abigail is not just sneaky, but is a thief. Abigail felt that there was too much going on with the witchcraft and dealing with the Devil, so she ran away from her problems. Once again, it seems like she is hiding from everything so she does not have to deal with it. She decided to leave her friends, her town so she can run away. She broke into his strongbox and took thirty-one pounds. Reverend Parris, Abigails uncle was sobbing, Thirty-one pound is gone. I am penniless. (Pg 199). Yes, Abigail Williams stole all she could from her uncle so she can run away from the chaos. Once Abigail left, no one has heard from her since but there has been guesses and stories roaming around about Abigail Williams. It was not right to leave everyone in midst of a chaotic situation, especially when it is her fault. Abigail needs to grow up and take responsibility for her actions, even at the risk of being hung.

Throughout the whole story, everything Abigail did, usually led to trouble. She and her friends got in trouble for attempting witchcraft, mainly, which was too much for them. Abigails reaction was manipulating her friends into lying and hiding everything. In the end Abigail had to leave everything behind, especially the witchcraft case she was involved in. From dancing in the forest and attempting witchcraft, to blaming and denying, to running away from her problems, Abigail always had a way of being mischievous and manipulative. Abigail Williams, nobody really knows where she is, and how the people around her were affected by her voice.