Characterization in Arthur Miller's The Crucible Essay

Submitted By smdickerson7
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Shayna Dickerson
September 25, 2014
Honors English 3 Arthur Miller, the author of The Crucible, weaved many different characters into his story about the Salem Witch Trials. Abigail Williams is really the main important character of the story. She was the niece of Reverend Parris who was a godly man. Abigail was not the sweet, innocent girl that Arthur Miller made her out to be in the beginning of the first act when she says to Reverend Parris, “Why, I am sure it is, sir. There be no blush about my name.” Rather than being the great young woman everyone in town thought her to be as in the beginning of the play, Arthur Miller revealed her true colors as the play went on. In The Crucible, Abigail Williams was the antagonist of the story and had several personal frailties because she was a deceiver, manipulative, and obsessive. Anyone who had anything to do with the Devil in The Crucible could be considered a deceiver. Reverend Parris and other judges of the court like Deputy Governor Danforth believed all those who have been accused had an encounter with the Devil. In the beginning of act one, Reverend Parris becomes aware of Abigail and that she had many of the girls in the forest dancing around a fire. Abigail says to Reverend Parris, “We did dance, uncle, and when you leaped out of the bush so suddenly, Betty was frightened and then she fainted. And there’s the whole of it.” Abigail lied and said that all they did in the forest was dance, when really one of the girls were naked and they were drinking charms and blood from a chicken. Abigail
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