One of the most central main characters of the play is Abigail Williams. She is supposed to be about seventeen years old when the Salem Witch Trials takes place.
We are introduced to Abigail in the beginning of the book when her cousin, Betty, gets sick.
The reason why she won't wake up from her unconsciousness is unknown, but witchcraft is immediately suggested. The main reason for this accusation was that all the girls in the little town were caught dancing in the woods during the night. In the film version of the play, it is easy the see how superstitious the people are and that there is a huge lack of trust missing. Abigail, as the clever, but yet crafty girl she is, sees this as the perfect opportunity to get her revenge on John Proctor
John Proctor is a well-established man with a great reputation among is fellow citizen. He is married with a honourable woman, Elisabeth Proctor. Once, Abigail was working for the little family as a maid, but when Elisabeth discovers that she is having an affair with her husband she fires her without doubting. This makes Abigail furiously jealous because she has come to believe that John Proctor in in love with her, and only her.
When the rumours of witchcraft and girls having contact with the devil starts spreading within the city, people gets afraid. The not-easily frightened Abigail uses her twisted mind to make this an advantage for her. In order to get rid of Elisabeth Proctor she begins accusing people for having contact with the devil. As nobody wants to be accused of this, knowing that the punishment is execution, they choose to follow her lead. A lot of names are listed, but when Elisabeth's name occurs, Proctor decides that he has to prove to the town that everything is based on Abigail`s sick mind.
In my opin
ion Abigail is simply just a young girl with a lot of emotions going on. John Proctor chose to have sex with her which obviously confused her, and who could blame her for that? Messing with a young girls emotions like that actually can be very dangerous, as we clearly can see. The girl though he loved her and so she thinks she loves him back. When he tells her that it all was a mistake and that he only feels love for his wife, Abigail probably gets sad and disappointed, but at the same time it makes her angry. She obviously has a lot of anger inside of her that is just waiting for the right moment to explode.
After having convinced the jury of the General Court that Elisabeth Proctor is obsessed with the devil, the story reaches a turning point. Abigail`s plan of getting Elisabeth executed goes wrong, and instead the man of her dreams has to face the gallows. This shows how selfishness and vindictiveness easily can bite you back when you least expect it.
Abigail Williams can be described as a very manipulative and strong girl that clearly has her own opinions. Because she is so cold hearted, if I may say so, I believe she has the ability to set anyone up against each other, and obviously in the play we can see examples of that. However, it seems that some of the younger girls sees her as a strong individual, perhaps like a mother-figure, but this may be simply because they are intimidated by her. To a certain extent I actually believe that she is evil, but I can't say weather I`m quite sure if her plan was ment to go as far as it actually did. But if this was the case it is obvious that she to a certain point regrets is. This we can see in one of the final scenes were she apologizes to proctor, who has gotten his death sentence, with tears in her eyes.
We are introduced to Abigail in the beginning of the book when her cousin, Betty, gets sick.
The reason why she won't wake up from her unconsciousness is unknown, but witchcraft is immediately suggested. The main reason for this accusation was that all the girls in the little town were caught dancing in the woods during the night. In the film version of the play, it is easy the see how superstitious the people are and that there is a huge lack of trust missing. Abigail, as the clever, but yet crafty girl she is, sees this as the perfect opportunity to get her revenge on John ProctorJohn Proctor is a well-established man with a great reputation among is fellow citizen. He is married with a honourable woman, Elisabeth Proctor. Once, Abigail was working for the little family as a maid, but when Elisabeth discovers that she is having an affair with her husband she fires her without doubting. This makes Abigail furiously jealous because she has come to believe that John Proctor in in love with her, and only her.
When the rumours of witchcraft and girls having contact with the devil starts spreading within the city, people gets afraid. The not-easily frightened Abigail uses her twisted mind to make this an advantage for her. In order to get rid of Elisabeth Proctor she begins accusing people for having contact with the devil. As nobody wants to be accused of this, knowing that the punishment is execution, they choose to follow her lead. A lot of names are listed, but when Elisabeth's name occurs, Proctor decides that he has to prove to the town that everything is based on Abigail`s sick mind.
In my opin
ion Abigail is simply just a young girl with a lot of emotions going on. John Proctor chose to have sex with her which obviously confused her, and who could blame her for that? Messing with a young girls emotions like that actually can be very dangerous, as we clearly can see. The girl though he loved her and so she thinks she loves him back. When he tells her that it all was a mistake and that he only feels love for his wife, Abigail probably gets sad and disappointed, but at the same time it makes her angry. She obviously has a lot of anger inside of her that is just waiting for the right moment to explode.After having convinced the jury of the General Court that Elisabeth Proctor is obsessed with the devil, the story reaches a turning point. Abigail`s plan of getting Elisabeth executed goes wrong, and instead the man of her dreams has to face the gallows. This shows how selfishness and vindictiveness easily can bite you back when you least expect it.
Abigail Williams can be described as a very manipulative and strong girl that clearly has her own opinions. Because she is so cold hearted, if I may say so, I believe she has the ability to set anyone up against each other, and obviously in the play we can see examples of that. However, it seems that some of the younger girls sees her as a strong individual, perhaps like a mother-figure, but this may be simply because they are intimidated by her. To a certain extent I actually believe that she is evil, but I can't say weather I`m quite sure if her plan was ment to go as far as it actually did. But if this was the case it is obvious that she to a certain point regrets is. This we can see in one of the final scenes were she apologizes to proctor, who has gotten his death sentence, with tears in her eyes.
Sources:
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar