The Witch Trials: Why is Abigail to Blame in The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Introduction

In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, a group of teenage girls begin accusing people of witchcraft. Abigail Williams, the girl who is in charge, likes the popularity that she gains from her accusing and she is willing to do anything in order to make sure she keeps it. Everyone accused by the girls becomes a victim of society because their friends and neighbors turn against them. Therefore, Abigail Williams, a character in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, is to blame for the witch trials because of past and present experiences. She cannot be excused from her actions since she is not a victim of society.

Abigail Williams is to blame for the witch trials as a result of accusing others. Abigail constantly lies throughout The Crucible to make sure she does not get caught. When one of the girls, Mary Warren, testifies against the others, they turn on her. The girls act as if Mary has sent an evil spirit onto them and Abigail exclaims, “But God made my face; you cannot want to tear my face. Envy is a deadly sin, Mary”. Abigail knows that if she accuses someone, the court and adults will believe her. She feels in charge when accusing since people truly believe her. However, Abigail blames others due to the fact that she is selfish and self-centered. Judge Danforth takes Abigail and the other girls’ side by stating, “Mary Warren! - Draw back your spirit out of them!'. This suggests that the girls, especially Abigail, are to blame since they always accuse others and made the accused victims. Abigail is not a victim of society because she initiated everything. She blatantly knew that it was wrong but did it anyway since it benefited her. Towards the end of The Crucible, Abigail’s uncle, Reverend Parris’s “strongbox is broken into”. The group of girls stole from Parris and fled Salem considering they knew their secret was going to be discovered eventually. Abigail’s past and present experiences fueled her actions and allowed her to gain power from those actions.

Abigail’s past affects her as a result of witnessing her parents’ deaths. In act 1 after Betty, Abigail’s cousin, is calling out for her dead mother, Abigail yells, “I saw Indians smash my dear parents' heads on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!”. Abigail witnessing her parents’ deaths makes her change in a negative way. She constantly threatens others to make sure they listen to her and trust her. Even though her past affected her tremendously, current experiences affect her too. Abigail and a man named John Proctor have an affair, which makes Abigail feel more powerful and convinces herself that he is equally as in love. Abigail continually tries to get rid of those who are in her way by accusing them. When Elizabeth, John Proctor’s wife, gets accused, Abigail tells John that he is “singing secret Hallelujahs that your wife will hang!”. Abigail Williams cannot be excused for the purpose of her actions since she caused chaos and affected hundreds of lives. She is at fault for the witch trials that occurred since she began the accusing. As a result of her actions, many people were murdered, hundreds were accused and almost everyone’s lives were negatively changed. An abundance of people lost property and their reputation because of Abigail and her group. Nonetheless, Abigail’s past and present experiences caused the witch trials and consequently, she is to blame for it.

The Crucible’s Abigail Williams is to blame for the circumstances that occurred. She had past and present incidents that generated her actions. However, she cannot be excused and is not a victim of society. Abigail saw her parents’ deaths, had an affair with John Proctor, and threatened those who stood in her way. In spite of Abigail’s hard beginning, she should not resort to accusing people of being witches. Abigail Williams, overall, is a manipulative, self-centered person. Even though she is only seventeen, she still was able to make right, good decisions yet chose negative actions. Overall, Abigail’s life experiences affect her in a negative way, which prompted her to make terrible decisions.

Why Abigail Williams is to blame for the Witch Trials

Is there to blame an underrage girl who has caused a lot of major chaos for the village in The Crucible? At the beginning of the story Abigail may seem like an innocent little girl but as the story went on she was viewed as a little devil after causing not just one but a significant amount of deaths. The main events that triggered the rest of the other terrible events were the affair that Abigail Williams had with John Proctor who is married to Elizabeth Proctor. Elizabeth is viewed as an angel by John Proctor but because of Abigail, she goes through a lot and leads to a horrible end. Ms.Williams lies to the court or even the village in general by accusing Elizabeth to being involved with witchcraft. Abigail then threatens John Proctor that she will expose their secret affair that no one knows. Keep in mind that laws in salem were very delicate so, therefore Proctor had committed Adultery and Abigail had broken the law by dancing in the forest. Abigail tells Hale that Tituba had been messing with her mind. She also blames others to dance with the devil or even communicating with him.

To begin with, In act one after Parris discovers that Abigail had danced in the forest with her niece, Abigail claims that they were just dancing which is true but then concerns Parris because her daughter had just broken a sin. “ And what shall I say to them? That my daughter and my niece I discovered dancing like heathens in the forest?”. This action caused the village to believe parris’s niece (Betty) has been involved with witchcraft because dancing was not permitted along with feeling joy, so the villagers were suspicious that witchcraft was being set. Abigail tries to confess, “We did dance, Uncle; let you tell them I confessed and I’ll be whipped if I must be. But they’re speaking’ of witchcraft. Betty’s not witched.” There was suspicion of Betty being witchcraft after being seen dancing in the forest with Abigail. So now this little event caused a chain reaction to the other events as it really concerned civilians in the village that led to the point where people were certain that witchcraft was going on in Salem.

Abigail then tries to blame Tituba that threatening her because she believes that Tituba has been messing with her mind as she has a hint that she had conjuring the spirits. “Don't lie! She comes to me while I sleep; She always making me dream corruptions.” She tries to cover herself by arguing that Tituba had been the reason she can't sleep peacefully and has terrible nightmares. Abigail then mentions that her nightmares have appeared ever since Tituba had arrived. Moments later Abigail also says that Tituba had been forcing her to drink blood. “She makes me drink blood!”. These accusations make it really hard for Tituba since she had just noticed that Abigail is trying to get her jailed or hanged for something she hadn’t done.

The final and most important action Ms. Williams had executed successfully was accusing random people of being involved with witchcraft. “I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! “I saw Bridget Bishop with the devil!, “ I saw Goody Sibber with the devil!”, “I saw Goody Hawkins with the devil!”, I saw Goody Booth with the devil!”. Abigail had started shouting random names of innocent people for no reason and it began a lot of chaos. A lot of people's lives were being put at risk for something they had not done. She was targeting the most she hated. She was trying to cover herself from the lies she had been telling.

Conclusion

Abigail is to blame for all of this because she put a lot of people’s lives at sack and could have been killed and most were, leaving their families alone with no one to take care. As Well with their property and livestock. At the end Abigail fled the scene because everyone began noticing that she was lying. She left without even noticing what others were going through and that is very non-human.

References

1. Schissel, W. (1994). Re (dis) covering the witches in Arthur Miller's The Crucible: A feminist reading. Modern Drama, 37(3), 461-473. (https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/50/article/499367/summary)
2. Carson, N., & Carson, N. (1982). The Crucible. Arthur Miller, 60-76. (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-16735-7_5)
3. Morris, H. (2021). Bewitching the Blame: The Crucible’s Legacy of Appropriation and Sexual Shame in Popular Culture. Illinois State University. (https://www.proquest.com/openview/e99ee7995042b2bfc83a2d3a76d7a7b4/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y)
4. Rodgers, J. (2010). Moral Absolutism in Arthur Miller's The Crucible (Doctoral dissertation) (https://soar.suny.edu/handle/20.500.12648/6296)
5. Huidrom, S. (2019). Neuroticism in The Crucible. Attention! Attention!, 88. (https://www.academia.edu/download/61329195/Cyber_Lit_Dec_1820191125-126347-6shawh.pdf#page=88)