Mary is very subservient and naive which Abigail takes advantage of by making sarcastic and threatening comments.
When Betty awakes Abigail smashes her across the face and threatens all the girls that if they reveal anything about what happened in the woods she will come in the night with a dagger and kill them.
“ I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.”
She is very convincing when she says this because she claims that she has seen Indians smash her parents’ heads on the pillow next to hers and she can do that to them because she had seen it herself.
When Mary is defending Elizabeth against the judges, and is explaining that she had been making up false accusations. Abigail becomes very aggressive and domineering because Mary had disobeyed her, and was saying what really happened in the woods and how all of them were pretending. Abigail then repeats what Mary says to frighten Mary and then the next time Mary pleads Abigail to stop. “Abby you mustn’t!” The rest of the group duplicate Mary “Abby you mustn’t!” This shows that all the girls are frightened, and do whatever Abigail does. It shows that she can help the progression of the play because whatever she wants someone to do or say she can usually persuade or force him or her to do it.
Abigail also manipulates and has control over John Proctor. When we (the audience) first see them meet, Abigail teases with him and tries to get him to say he likes her, which he admits he does after a short time of persuasion.
Abigail: “Do you tell me you’ve never looked up at my window”
Proctor: “I may have looked up”
In this play most of the people thought that children were innocent and they would never lie. When it was put forward to the court that all the children were being untruthful, Danforth was astonished and replies by saying that God speaks through the children and they could not be telling lies.
But only Proctor knew the real truth about Abigail. Paris, was the uncle of the protagonist of the play, was blind to his niece’s actions, and never knew her as well as Proctor. This was because Proctor knew that Abigail was not a virgin, and in the 1600’s sex before married was against their religion. It was considered a great sin and not tolerated. It shows that Abigail was not as innocent as everyone thought she was.
Arthur Miller had to change Abigail’s age from twelve to seventeen, because it is illegal for a girl to have sex before the age of sixteen. This would make the character more believable and Arthur Miller thought his audience simply would not believe that a child of her real age would behave in the way she does. However, at that time lives were shorter so people got married earlier.
Abigail had a huge passion for John Proctor. She wanted to have him for herself and in the woods, she drank a charm that was meant to kill Goody Proctor that was so Abigail could then be his wife.
In “The Crucible” Abigail convinces many people that what she had claimed had happened was true but she does not convince Mr. Hale. He even quit the proceedings because of his believes and he believed that proctor was innocent to witchcraft and that Abigail and the girls were pretending and lying.
“I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court!”
Abigail meddles with the truth or blames things on other people. What she says is sometimes true but she exagerates it to make herself sound innocent. For example, that time when Hale is first questioning her she begins to feel pressurized incase she would be found guilty, so to protect her “innocence” she blames everything on Tituba.
Hale: “Why are you concealing? Have you sold yourself to Lucifer?”
Abigail: “I never sold myself! I’m a good girl! I’m a proper girl!”
(When Tituba walks in, instantly Abigail points at her)
Abigail: “She made me do it! She made Betty do it!”
She always manages to get herself out of trouble by changing the subject or blaming someone and being manipulative which develops the play along. Like when she was in a difficult situation in court and was feeling the strain from the questions raised to her she claims to see a yellow bird. She begins to have a genuine conversation with it and tries to talk it out of attacking her as if it was real. She also informs the judges that it is Mary Warren spirit. Therefore, this “yellow bird” distracts the judges from what was happening before. Abigail was an aggressive leader because what she said or acted the other girls followed.
Abigail’s behavior changes when men are present in the room. For example, when Paris and Mr. Putum are in the room she is very submissive and conservative, as soon as they leave she is left alone with the girls she immediately takes the leading role. In the 17th century, women did not have any status in society. They were there to produce children and were property of their father or husband. In 2001, women can take full time jobs instead of being housewives. Women in this society were supposed to be submissive and helpless. You can tell this because none of the women had important jobs in the play. For example, all the judges were male. But Abigail was not like a typical 1600’s woman because she had control over the girls and wanted power of John Proctor so that is why she named Elizabeth Procter as being a witch so she could have the authority over John Procter
She controls how the play progresses by influence over people and events. She had a massive influence over Mary. Foe example in Act 3 when Mary finally gives up trying to prove that Abigail and the rest of the girls were frauds.
Mary: (pointing at Proctor) “You’re the devil’s man!”
When Abigail left with her uncle’s money to aboard a ship, the witchcraft frenzy calmed down and eventually left Salem. When Abigail left there was no leader to make up the stories. This proves that there were no witches in Salem at all, and I think it was a confused child trying to get herself out of trouble, but by doing it the wrong way. I would go as far to say that not only is Abigail very significant to the progress of the play. The play is about her character and how one disturbed, frightened, but manipulative character can wreak such devastation in one place.
Abigail created the witchcraft frenzy in Salem and was essential for the Crucible to be such a hit. She had to make things up immediately if she felt something was mistaken or went wrong to make the judges believe what she was saying. She was a much-hated character and created a hostile environment. Abigail progressed the play along. The play would have been slow and boring if Abigail was not in it.
