Abigail Williams from ‘The Crucible’ (Character Analysis)

Sometimes people think they know someone but not everyone is as honest as you think. Abigail Williams from The Crucible tricked everyone into believing her lies up until the end. In Miller's play, The Crucible Abigail is seen as a selfish person who only cares about herself and a big liar.

Abigail Williams only really cares about what happens to herself and what she wants, she is pretty inconsiderate of how her action may affect other people's lives. For example, one night, stuck by a pin, Abigail accuses Elizabeth Proctor, of creating a poppet and sticking a pin in it to harm her. Abigail is trying to get rid of Elizabeth so that she'll have John all to herself but that makes her delusion because John would never abandon his wife because he is a candid man. Abigail clearly isn't thinking about what her ex-lover would want because she only really him all to herself. Another example of Abigail's selfishness is when Mary Warren appears to renounce her involvement in the court proceedings, Abigail is given the chance to admit that she was pretending. Instead, she pretends that Mary had sent out her spirit to harm her. In this event, Abigail can't seem to let up her lies and act like a child by not telling the truth. She is so ignorant if she thinks that this won't come back to bit her. What a surprise that Abigail is not only selfish but a liar too.

There are many people who follow Abigail lies but in the end, Abigail is the one to start them. An example of this would be when Abigail confesses to dancing in the wood but she fails to reveal the incriminating information of it all. She fails to reveal the truth so that she can avoid a good old hanging at the cost of other people's lives. People say that words can kill and in this situation, Abigail’s lies do cause the death of innocent people. In addition, Abigail insists she's a good girl to Reverend Hale's and then admits that Tituba was conjuring spirits and made her drink blood. First of all, Abigail will always fail to act in a good nature, she will never mature enough to turn into a good person. Second of all, Abigail will never be able to face the consequences of her actions and she's just lying to everyone including herself. Cleary she needs a good smack of reality and common scene so that maybe she'll be able to comprehend that what you may have consequences.

Overall Abigail Williams from The Crucible is a horrible person who only cares about herself. She lies and deceives everyone causing the death of many innocent people such as her ex-lover, John Proctor. All of her lies were in vain as she never ended up with John. In fact, she even causes his death, maybe she'll understand that what she's done in the future. Abigail may or may not grow from who she was in the story but only the author knows what's become of her. 

Cite this page