In The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, would u view Abigail as evil??

Essay by margofargoHigh School, 10th gradeA+, March 2004

download word file, 4 pages 4.0

Downloaded 21 times

When the Greeks founded the theatre in ancient Greece they expected the story plot to always follow as such: The protagonist, who was an honest and brave hero, makes the world a more just place. He does this by fighting evil, with his just ways, and always is victorious. However, in ancient Greece they never imagined that people like Arthur Miller could take such a twist on things. Miller's play The Crucible shows us that the protagonist isn't always the hero that we had been taught as children to look up to. On the contrary the protagonist, Abigail Williams is evil, deceitful, and wicked. The question arises: How is Abigail Williams presented as the most evil force in the play?

Abigail first shows her evil character when she threatens to kill the girls if they tell the truth. From what it seems to us, Abigail is a sweet Puritan girl, but she quickly shows her dark and dangerous side.

The girls all want to tell the truth, for example Betty tries to screams out "You drank blood Abby...you drank a charm to kill Proctor's wife" Abigail terrorizes the girl to never repeat what truly happened that night. "...and mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you...I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!" Instead of Abigail telling the truth, she begins a series of lies and accusations that the other girls are forced to follow. Out of her own wickedness, she puts the lives of the other girls on the line, and is responsible for the execution of innocent people.