Abigail Williams

Character Profile

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  • Abigail Williams
    • "Abigail Williams, seventeen, enters- a strikingly beautiful girl, an orphan, with an endless capacity for dissembling."
    • "She testify it were your wife's familiar spirit pushed it in."
      • "It is not a child."
    • An evil character-the villain of the play.
      • Can create hysteria
    • Motivated by her own self-interest, jealousy and revenge.
    • Does not have a very high status in society as an unmarried girl who will not be taken in by anybody to work. This could explain why Abigail would take any chance to gain power.
      • Abigail realises the unfairness of the theocracy in Salem towards witchcraft and uses it to her advantage.
        • She can accuse others of worse crimes than the one she has committed (adultery).
    • Abigail has no sincere relationships with any other characters in the play.
      • She frames Elizabeth for witchcraft in order to try and win Proctor back.
        • Although she seems to love Proctor, in the end she manages to damn him.
          • She is not friends with the other girls, only manipulating them in order to achieve her own goal.
    • Her attitude of pure evil and motives show the kind of position women would have had in society.
      • She is the initiator of the witch trials.
        • Abigail is an example of someone who used the unjust theocracy to their advantage.
  • "I will come to you in the black of some terrible night"
  • "I have seen some reddish work done at night."
    • "I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!"
    • Abigail Williams
      • "Abigail Williams, seventeen, enters- a strikingly beautiful girl, an orphan, with an endless capacity for dissembling."
      • "She testify it were your wife's familiar spirit pushed it in."
        • "It is not a child."
      • An evil character-the villain of the play.
        • Can create hysteria
      • Motivated by her own self-interest, jealousy and revenge.
      • Does not have a very high status in society as an unmarried girl who will not be taken in by anybody to work. This could explain why Abigail would take any chance to gain power.
        • Abigail realises the unfairness of the theocracy in Salem towards witchcraft and uses it to her advantage.
          • She can accuse others of worse crimes than the one she has committed (adultery).
      • Abigail has no sincere relationships with any other characters in the play.
        • She frames Elizabeth for witchcraft in order to try and win Proctor back.
          • Although she seems to love Proctor, in the end she manages to damn him.
            • She is not friends with the other girls, only manipulating them in order to achieve her own goal.
      • Her attitude of pure evil and motives show the kind of position women would have had in society.
        • She is the initiator of the witch trials.
          • Abigail is an example of someone who used the unjust theocracy to their advantage.
  • "Give me a word, John. A soft word."
  • "I have a sense for heat, John"
    • "Sweated like a stallion"
    • "Burning in your loneliness"
  • "I have known her,sir. I have known her."
  • "What look do you give me? I'll not have such looks!"
  • She manipulates Parris and steals his money- they are both motivated by self-interest.
    • Before she is accused of using witchcraft, she manages to blame it all on Tituba instead.
  • Does not express remorse throughout the whole play, making her seem like a one-dimensional character.
    • She was exposed to brutality and the attitude of Parris from a young age, making her actions more understandable.
  • Key Quotes
  • Traits
  • Relevance to the play

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