The Crucible Character of Abigail Williams

The Crucible Character of Abigail Williams

Abigail Williams is the most detrimental character in the Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller in the early 1950s about the Salem, Massachusetts Witch Trials in 1692. She is very influential over other characters. She instigates most of the drama between the citizens of their village and is driven to get her way. Most of the events leading up to the arrests and false prosecution of “witches,” can be traced back to Abigail. Abigail has the most impact because of her influential abilities, her nature to instigate conflict, promiscuity, and selfish, vengeful personality. Abigail is very manipulative and influential over other people. She uses violent threats and extortion to get others to play a role in her sick games. Since Titiba’s master was Parris, Abigail’s uncle, Abigail had power and influence over Titiba. Therefore, Had Abigail not made Titiba and the other girls participate, they would have never been accused of “conjuring.” After she began crying witchcraft, in order to save herself, the other young village girls who were with her while dancing followed suit in making these accusations. The other girls lie because they threatened by Abigail. She said “I’ve seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!”(1223)

Abigail instigates a lot of drama and panic within the village. Her lies and acting were so frequent and so often told by others as well, that people started believing them.

The more people believed, the more vulnerable they became to Abigail. After others started to believe these accusations, they themselves started becoming paranoid and began