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The Crucible

 

            In The Crucible, Arthur Miller displays Abigail Williams as a frustrating character with a strong desire for power, very similar to that of Joseph McCarthy. Miller also displays Abigail as a ruthless, resentful and deceitful individual.
             Joseph McCarthy and Abigail Williams both did wrong things in order to gain power. Each of them believed that if they threatened and accused a few people, the majority of the people left would be scared of being accused as well and believe their false accusations. Abigail created a fear of witchcraft for many people in Salem, while Joseph McCarthy created a fear of communism for many people in the United States.
             In Puritan society, Abigail Williams was considered lower class because she was an orphan and unmarried. The only people that were considered lower than her were the social outcasts and slaves such as Tituba. Even though Abigail seems to be friends with Tituba at the start of the play, she swears in order to save herself from being charged of witchery that, "She [Tituba] made me do it." (40) .
             Abigail feels she has some form of superiority over Tituba, and shows her deceitfulness by selfishly shifting the blame to someone even less fortunate than herself, "she comes to me every night to go and drink blood." (41) She is also selfish because she wanted John Proctor all to herself, no matter how many innocent people's lives she would ruin. Abigail didn't even realize who she was actually hurting. She destroyed John Proctor's family, reputation and life. .
             The townspeople of Salem once shunned Abigail for the suspected affair that took place with her and John Proctor. Once Abigail sees the opportunity to gain back respect and ultimately power, she takes full advantage of it. .
             Without any hesitation, Abigail gains power by manipulating and threatening first her own friends and then the rest of the town, "I saw Indians smash my dear parents" heads on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down.


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