Thursday, October 18, 2012

Listen up, Abigail!




Abigail Williams, is the orphaned niece of Reverend Parris. She was taken into his care after her parents had died from an attack from local Native Americans. Although, she had been kindly accepted with open arms, she grew to be cunning and clever. The character of Abigail is very scandalous and alluring, which brings readers to learn more about her. She is very disliked by readers due to her evil personality, manipulated mind, and egotistical self. On a certain level, I obtain similar traits as Abigail Williams, both of us are stubborn, can get extremely furious and be filled with animosity. However, I do not have all the same personalities that Abigail has, a very renown criminal does, Casey Anthony. Anthony was convicted of killing her young daughter. Both Anthony and Abigail, have been in court for a crime, they both made up stories to make judges believe they were innocent, and the extremely upsetting and unjust similarity they have, is the fact that both of them got away with the crime. 
Readers can tell at the beginning of the novel that Abigail is sneaky and does mischievous things. To begin with, Abigail had an affair with John Proctor, a married man who does not fit in with the rest of Salem’s society. She knows right from wrong, and she chooses to continue persuade John to leave his wife because she is in love with him, “I look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart!...and now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me” (The Crucible). This shows that she is openly willing to tear a family apart just because of selfishness. Another example of her coldness towards others is how she threatens the girls if they gave up their act of being possessed by the demon that she will:
“I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy that will shudder you. And you know I can do it; 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!”(The Crucible).
Her character initially comes off to be evil hearted and there is no good that can come from her. 
By the course of the novel, her lies keeping going and nothing of a change of heart occurs from her. Her stories only become more crazy and unthinkable. Her change of story telling only got worse for the people she blames. She accused her slave, Tituba, of conjuring up spirits, “She sends her spirit on me in church; she makes me laugh at prayer! She comes to me every night to go and drink blood!”(The Crucible). The alterations in her story, predict that she is afraid that her phony tales of witchery will soon be discovered as false pretenses. Also, she becomes more religious as the plot moves on. Abigail believes that if she is more devoted into God “saving her soul”, than the church members and judges will put pity on her and be convinced of her story. 
By the end of the novel, Abigail realizes that she has put the man she loves in jail and will be put to death. Due to her guilt she leaves Salem, without word, the next morning Reverend Parris, dashes into the court rooms shouting “My niece… I believe she has vanished” (The Crucible). Her leave is a sign to show her falseness. Abigail never changed herself, but only grew eviler. Not only did guilt build in her, but she realized that she was not loved by anyone. Abigail deserves not to be loved, she the primary reason of the hanging of many. 
In the future, Abigail should move to a far place south of Salem, so that no one will ever find her. She should change her name, and her family story. Her leaving Salem, was because there was nothing there for her. She will lie about her new life to build relations with others. Her days of perjury are over with because she has clearly learned what one story can do to people. 

*****The Crucible By Arthur Miller

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