Abigail is the wicked force behind Salem’s chaos, and yet the audience never feels real hatred for her. We seem to feel that Abigail is not entirely to blame for the turmoil she has caused. She is justified for her behaviour as she is merely mimicing as the ‘idealic’ adults in her society.
Her actions seem almost understandable after we learn how she became an orphan She is unmarries and therefore remains on a low rung on the Putrian social ladder. The only people below her are the slaves and social outcasts. When Abigail says to Parris:
“I will not black my face for any of them.”
(pg 21)
She means how she will not allow herself to slip down to the social status of slaves. With our growing pity for Abigail, Miller can easily keep her at the centre of our attention and the play’s action.
There is another dramatic side to Abigail. She is fiery and fierce with her friends; the girls that joined her when the ‘dancing’ took place in the woods. In Abigail’s speech Miller reveals the true Abigail for the first time and the tension is enormous.
“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.”
(pg 26)
This is probably the most dramatic speech in the whole of the play and is a brilliant way of keeping her at the centre of the action. Abigail knows that she must be mean and strict to keep the girls silent and she definitely achieves this.
It is at this point in the play that we can see through Abigail’s innocent mask and discover that she is not what she has appeared to be. It is now becoming clear that she is extremely manipulative and selfish. Through Abigail’s changing character the audience want to find out more and more about her. Miller has used an extremely effective device to keep her at the centre of attention and it works dramatically.
As a young woman, Abigail is extremely headstrong and powerful. The witch trials transformed the previously powerless Abigail who was shunned and scorned by the respectable townsfolk, into someone who with a mere accusation had the power to incarcerate and convict the most well respected inhabitant of Salem. She not only used her power to control her friends, but also to manipulate the action within the story.
Another way in which Miller keeps Abigail at the centre of the action is through the mystery which suurounds her. Abigail does not let anyone within the play or the audience ever truly know what her intentions truly are, but a lot of information can be pieced together from speech of other characters.
“You’ll only be whipped for dancin’, and the other things”
(pg 26)
Much of the plot is implied. With so many contradicting stories from different characters, Abigail’s word becomes very mysterious making her an extremely interesting and involved character. This mystery about the truth, is one of the devices that Miller has used based around historical fact to keep her at the centre of the action.
Abigail herself also uses such implication; especially when she meets John Proctor and gently attempts to remind him of the love that they once shared together. When he rejects her she is hurt and angry. This is a side of her that we have never seen before.
“You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet.”
(pg 30)
We know that Abigail loves Proctor through what she says and stage directions given by Miller. This new, tender side to Abigail, helps her remain at the centre of our attention, but this time with love and affection.
By the time the naive witch-hunter, Reverend Hale arrives to examine Betty, Abigail appears to be in even more of a dilemma with the religious authorities. Abigail is kept at the centre of the action by new evidence that has been discovered. It now appears that Abigail has been lying, and her, ‘dancing in the woods’, is beginning to sound a lot more like witchcraft.
Miller then reveals another side to Abigail; a victim. She has been raised in a very hypocritical community and the townsfolk are now blaming and condeming her for following their rules and examples. Miller uses this attention on Abigail to help her remain at the centre of the action. Abigail blames Tituba; a black female slave from Barbados for everything that has occurred.
“She made me do it! She made Betty do it!”
(pg 45)
A now bewildered Abigail is extremely important in Hale’s investigations and is at the heart of the action. She has presented a new story that people are more inclined to believe and therefore a vital part in the play.
Hale is desperate to know who else was in league with the devil and so Abigail starts accusing various townsfolk of consorting with the devil so that she might avoid punishment. The tension here is enormous and Abigail is extremely powerful and remains at the centre of the action through this clout.
Tituba and the other girls are ready to follow her,leading to the extra-ordinary commotion of the final moments in the act, in which Abigail is incredibly compelling. Miller uses great tension and her chaotic behaviour to keep Abigail at the centre of our attention.
“I want to open myself! I want the light of God… I danced for the devil; I saw him; … I go back to Jesus… I saw Sarah Good with the devil…”
(pg 49)
Abigail is then neglected in the play until Act 3-the trial scene. This neglect is a brilliant technique used by Miller to build up tension and suspense over Abigail’s future. She reappears when Proctor introduces Mary Warren to the court, to tell them that the accusations made by Abigail and the other girls have been mere pretence. All the focus is on Abigail to see what her reaction will be. Miller uses the confusion over the truth to keep Abigail at the centre of our attention and the action.
Proctor is desperate for Mary Warren’s evidence to clear his wife’s name. Abigail has said that Elizabeth made a poppet and that her spirit stabbed a needle into her belly.
“…She testify it were your wife’s familiar spirit pushed it in.”
(pg 70)
Mary is vigorously interviewed by Danforth who then begins to doubt Abigail’s word. This causes Abigail to get angry that she is not being believed, and fearful that if they find that she has been lying, she will surely be hung. Abigail feels that she is being denied the trust that she deserves and through this agitation; Miller keeps the tension rising.
Danforth confronts Abigail about his doubts. Here Miller uses speech very well and this is particularly important at this point because Danforth truly believes that Abigail may have been lying to him.
“Abigail… search your heart and tell me this… is it possible, child, that the spirits you have seen are illusional only?”
(pg 96)
Miller makes a great use of tension and confusion to keep Abigail at the centre of the action. There is even more mysteriousness here, as even the Judge doubts his decisions and the ‘victims’ word.
Immediately following this there is a great dramatic climax. Miller makes Abigail appear too powerful and angry for even Danforth to control.
“Think you to be so mighty that the power of hell may not turn your wits?”
(pg 96)
Abigail then turns to Mary Warren, in a desperate attempt to make Mary appear as though she is the liar. Abigail and the other girls imply that Mary is trying to bewitch them in front of Danforth and various witnesses.
“A wind, a cold wind, has come… Oh, Heavenly Father, take away this shadow!”
(pg 97)
This trickery is a very dramatic device that Miller uses for Abigail to remain at the centre of the action, even with Proctor and Mary Warren presenting a contradicting story.
This trickery indirectly forces Proctor into another of the play’s most dramatic moments. Proctor calls Abigail a whore and so confesses to his adultery to the court. With his confession, he put his reputation in Salem in ruins. He has made the decision to try to persuade the court of Abigail’s reasons to manipulate the court.
“She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave.”
(pg 98)
Once again, Abigail is at the centre of the action through her direct actions and their consequences. Miller has made a crucial point in the play extremely dramatic. Abigail is finally being doubted. Mary Warren has testified that she is lying, and Proctor has put his reputation in ruins so that he may, too, prove her real actions and incentives to do so.
This scene is immediately followed by the ‘trial’ of Elizabeth who is brought into the courtroom in order to support or deny Proctor’s allegations. In another moment of great dramatic tension, she attempts to support her husband by denying that he was ever intimate with Abigail and as a consequence, Proctor himself is accused of attempting to undermine the court and being a servant of the devil himself!
Miller has made brilliant use of tension and through this tension Abigail is held at the centre of the action. She is not speaking, but it is the consequence of her actions that have caused this chaos.
Miller closes the act, again, with Abigail orchestrating another terrifying bout of hysteria. Abigail claims to ‘see a bird’ in the roof and conducts the girls to persuade the court that Mary has lied. We are beginning to see another side to Abigail; a desperate girl willing to attempt anything to save her name. Miller keeps Abigail at the centre of the action this time, by her sheer hysteria. Abigail is deliberately drawing attention to the fact that she is bewitched so that Danforth will believe her.
“Oh, Mary, this is a black art to change your shape… Oh, please, Mary! Don’t come down.
(pg 101)
Abigail has great determination to prove that Mary is lying. She knows that Danforth and especially Hale are doubting her word and is desperate to prove to them that she is speaking the truth. It is through this great will power and determination to save herself that Miller keeps Abigail at the centre of the action at this bizarre point in the play.
It is at this point that Mary surrenders to Abigail. She has realised just how powerful Abigail and the other girls are, and so she says that Proctor is in league with the devil.
“Don’t touch me – don’t touch me!… You’re the devil’s man…Abigail I’ll never hurt you more.”
(pg 104)
We can tell that Abigail is slightly shocked that Mary has surrended herself, but rushes to comfort her. Miller has shown that Abigail has immense manipulative power over the action, and the other characters within the play.
Abigail was never seen again. We hear that she ran away with Mercy Lewis and thirty-one pounds belonging to her uncle Parris. In the film screenplay, written by Miller, she goes to the jail to plead with Proctor to run away with her, although this scene does not appear in the play.
Abigail’s motivations never seem more complex than simple jealousy and a desire to have revenge on Elizabeth Proctor. She had a frustrated need to be loved and cared for in her community, of which before she has been denied.
Although Abigail is at the centre of the action for most of the play, Miller does not appear to want to blame her. Miller persuades us to feel sympathy and pity for Abigail. She is the villain of the play driven only by a sexual desire, jealousy and a lust for power, but yet we feel she should not be held responsible. She drives the chaos along, but it is the authoritative Parris, Putnam and Danforth; the respected elders of Salem town that we are meant to despise and bear the moral responsibility for the tragedy.
