crucible essay In this essay I will be examining the personalities of Abigail Williams and Mary Warren

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Compare the behavior of two characters in the play and examine how they change through the play

      In this essay I will be examining the personalities of Abigail Williams and Mary Warren. I will be comparing their behaviours and looking at how they change throughout the play. Abigail Williams was once the servant for the Proctor household, until Elizabeth Proctor fired her after she discovered that Abigail was having an affair with her husband, John Proctor. She is a very demanding and powerful character, who likes things being done her way. Mary Warren was also a servant, but had a weaker personality than her friend Abigail Williams, and is easily influenced by those around her.

      During Act 1, both girls were caught dancing without any clothes by Parris. This was an illegal offence at the time of 1692, so they did have to face the consequences. However, Abigail and Mary tried to lie their way out of it. This was the point where they both started to change; Abigail kept strong about her words, while Mary just fell to pieces.

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      Abigail was clearly the villain of the play, more so than Parris or Danforth: she told lies, manipulated her friends and the entire town, and eventually sent nineteen innocent people to their deaths.

In Act 3 Abigail accuses her friend Mary Warren of witchcraft, and working for the devil. She says, “A wind, a cold wind has come”, then her eyes fall on Mary. This shows that she was very cold hearted, and would do anything to stay out of trouble. I believe that Arthur Miller has cleverly developed Abigail’s character. Right from the beginning of the ...

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