Abigail Williams Manipulation

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Malicious Manipulations Revenge, jealousy, and just like the title of this essay, malicious manipulations, are all very particular intentions and feelings that Abigail Williams displays. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Abigail plays a crucial role as a vengeful trickster. A trickster, like Abigail, is a person who uses their abilities to gain success by going outside social norms and behaviors. Abigail shows no mercy on Elizabeth Proctor, constructs the Salem Witch Trials, and eventually deceives and lies to the entire town of Salem. All of this together has brought Abigail to be one of the most malevolent tricksters in common literature. The most primary tricks played by Abigail are on Elizabeth Proctor. In The Story of the Dress that …show more content…
Not only does she lie to her uncle about casting spells on Elizabeth, but she lies to conceal her affair. The affair is the lie that drives this play, therefore, it is the most important. Without the affair, the lies Abigail tells would not exist. Abigail’s schemes are intelligent and foolish, just like a trickster. She lies and when she almost gets caught, she creates more and more until eventually it is too much to overcome, and that is where the foolishness comes into play. She first lies and accuses the town drunk, knowing that society is already lead to convict them. Each arrest strengthens her position, and increases her authority even more. Abigail thinks nothing of the fact that she is condemning innocent people to die; those people merely serve as necessary instruments for her use in the fulfillment of her plan. Like Anansi, her schemes do not follow through. She is left with nothing once John Proctor is condemned to death, just like how Anansi is left with nothing when the chameleon humiliates him in front of everyone. In essence, Abigail Williams fought to get her way no matter whom she hurt. She paves the way through the play as a vengeful trickster, very similar to many other tricksters we have read about, like Anansi. With her hatred towards Elizabeth Proctor, being the cause of the Salem Witch Trials, and lying to the entire town of Salem, Abigail has made a plethora of people suffer from her actions.
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