The Deadly sins of Abigail williams the character traits that she portrayed in the play., Essays (high school) of English

Download The Deadly sins of Abigail williams the character traits that she portrayed in the play. and more Essays (high school) English in PDF only on Docsity! Nelson 1 Alicia Nelson Mrs. Holston English 11 30 November 2023 The Deadly Sins of Abigail Williams The Crucible is a play about revenge and power. Abigail Williams lies to her town, wanting to save her name, and to be able to finally have John Proctor all to herself. Abigail becomes the main antagonist of the play through her selfish ways. Abigail’s weaknesses are obvious throughout the play. Weakness in this play is portrayed as revenge, adultery, and madness in the town of Salam. Overall Abigail is a weak character when she manipulates, has an affair, and runs away from the truth and here are examples listed below as to why. When the play begins, Abigail is found in the forest by her Uncle Parris. She is with his daughter Betty, who faints in the forest. Abigail’s manipulative ways are shown early in the play when she talks with her uncle. After asking her about what went on in the forest, Abigail admits to dancing and that Betty only fainted because she was startled by him. Then she says that she would never hurt Betty and that she loves her. She later says these words, "Let either of you breathe a word or edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of the terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you”(148). After this quote it clearly shows you that she is manipulative to others. Throughout the entire play, Abigail is angry at John for not loving her back after the affair which happened before the play began. This affair is the main reason why Abigail is a weak character. She still believes that there is unfinished business between her and John. I think begging for love or lust is a sort of weakness in a person's character. As Abigail stated in the Nelson 2 play, “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart. You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is you love me yet!”(150). I think since she is alone with no parents, it makes her want to be loved by someone other than her uncle. In the play, Abigail describes how she watched her loved ones get murdered. The affair with Abigail and John could have been a solution to her having to witness pain and losing love. As the maid of the Procter’s, John may have sensed pain from her, and one thing led to another. The final weakness is Abigail leaving Salem with Mary Warren and robbing her uncle Reverend Parris. In Act 4 Parris stated, “I think they have boarded a ship. My daughter tells me how she heard them speak of ships last week” (203). After reading this quote, this means Abigail has been planning to leave for a while throughout the story. I think she knows that her lying had caught up to her, and Proctor being hanged for witchcraft. I think overall Abigail running away was fearful of getting caught in lies, and being sentenced to hang like the others in the town. Abigail Williams is an example of why The Crucible is a play of power and revenge. Over the course of the play, I would not have thought Abigail could be the villain of the entire play. All the things that Abigail did during this play caused pain, chaos, and death to the man she onced loved. In general, I think all of Abigail’s vengeful power comes from how her parents were killed in front of her. Her weakness is consequently an outcome of losing people she loves.