How is Abigail presented in 'The Crucible'

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The Crucible – Arthur Miller

February 16, 2010

“How is Abigail Williams presented in Act 1 of The Crucible?”

The Crucible is a play which was written by Arthur Miller during the early 1950s. This play is based on the happenings in Salem, Massachusetts during the years 1692/3.  Apparently, this play was written as a symbol of America in the 1950s before and when Senator McCarthy was in power which in other words is McCarthyism. America was a capitalist country and Joseph McCarthy became increasingly obsessed with the impression that America had people secretly working for the Russians to make it a communist nation. There was a quite hysteria over this issue and Miller happened to be one of the people that were questioned by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Un-American Activities. Like The Crucible, there was a false claim of the spirit of witchcraft dwelling in natives of Salem and this seemed to cause quite a panic. Abigail Williams encapsulates the play because it seems as though every event that took place was as a result of her lies and unjust practices but we could also argue that it was a plot to get her lover John Proctor to herself. Abigail Williams is a girl of tentative morals because of the traits she demonstrates throughout the play. To be exact, Abigail behaves in ways that didn’t happen to be acceptable in the society. We are first introduced to Abigail Williams in Act one when she informs her uncle, the reverend Parris that a lady known as Susanna was there to see him to discuss Parris’ niece, Betty’s “ailment”.  

Abigail is questioned about the dance that she and a few other girls in the town were involved in. She is quick at an attempt to defend herself when she says “Uncle, we did dance...But they’re speakin’ of witchcraft. Betty’s not witched” and we are inclined to believe she is just an innocent girl who is falsely blamed but we are yet to discover a contentious side to Abigail Williams. Arthur Miller did quite a lot of research into the history of Salem and through this, he found notes and was able to present the language used in the play in a similar way to which the people of Salem spoke. Abigail finds ways in which she can conceal her devious acts as all her secrets would be revealed if anything she does goes wrong. As a result of this trait, she is portrayed as a shrewd teenager. Arthur Miller renders her as a dominant person in Salem because she influenced the occurrences which initiated the suspense and hysteria in the play. Some people believe that Abigail rebelled because the community in itself had a problem which was in the people as some of them liked to pretend and perhaps Abigail didn’t like this type of behaviour so she lived her life as she pleased.

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 She is an orphan who must support herself but Abigail Williams has a sense of supremacy over people in Salem and it appears as if she knows this especially when she’s talking about Goody Proctor who happens to be John Proctor’s wife. Abigail says “she hates me, uncle, she must, for I would not be her slave” and she goes on to insult Goody Proctor. We can argue that Abigail sees herself as prominent so no one has the right to treat her any less. In reality, the Abigail Williams is about 11 years old but Arthur Miller has increased ...

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