Abigail Character Analysis

This essay sample on Abigail Character Analysis provides all necessary basic info on this matter, including the most common “for and against” arguments. Below are the introduction, body and conclusion parts of this essay.

Through Abigail and Elizabeth Miller is showing the theme of good versus evil and light versus darkness in which they are also extremes on the scale. Elizabeth is representing the good and the light by standing up for herself and her friends. She also strives for the truth to be told although the revelations will affect her name and John’s.

quote Abigail is representing the evil and the darkness by telling lies and abandoning her friends. Quote mw Throughout the play Abigail’s actions have been engineered to produce maximum effect and to shock the audience.

Her strength of personality and stamina are used to control people’s feelings and behaviour both on the stage and in the audience. Much of her language is exclamatory, RELATE THIS TO THE SOCIETY SHE LIVES IN which adds to the tension and violence in the consequences of many of her actions.

The exclamatory language used by Abigail has a greater impact because of the strict Puritan society she lives in. Nevertheless her actions are not always that of hate. There is one section in the play when she shows some affection and compassion. This is when she is talking to John near the very beginning of the play.

Character Of Abigail

Here she is desperate to have John back and becomes very emotional when he will not take her back.

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‘And you must. You are no wintry man. I know you John. I know you . I cannot sleep for dreamin’; I cannot dream but I wake up and walk about the house as though I’d find you comin’ through some door. ‘ This is the one place where the audience is allowed by Miller to feel sympathy towards Abigail as he has made us think that she really is showing genuine emotion to him and she is truly upset. This section of the play though does not affect our overall judgement of Abigail but provides a reason for her motive of revenge for later on in the play.

Abigail’s manipulative skills are first seen in use when she is talking to her uncle Parris at the beginning of the play. She manages to answer the questions without actually telling lies but leaving out part of the truth. quote Arthur Miller has also created her as an excellent actress so that her actions always seem credible. She manages to convince the court that Elizabeth Proctor’s spirit pushed a needle in to her. ‘… stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw a needle out. And demandin’ of her how she come to be so stabbed, she testify it were your wife’s familiar spirit pushed it in.

‘ This along with her leadership qualities provides the secret to her success in the play in commanding and ordering. An excellent example of this is when Abigail pretends to see Mary Warren in the form of a bird sitting on the rafters. All the girls spontaneously burst into screaming and shouting at her command and follow her cue. ‘(ABIGAIL with a weird, wild, chilling cry, screams up to the ceiling) You will not! Begone! Begone, I say! Another example of Miller indicating her control over people is when she dares to threaten Danforth. ‘(In an open threat) Let you beware, Mr Danforth.

Think you to be so mighty that the power of Hell may not turn your wits? Beware of it! There is-… ‘ . USE OF SUPERSTITION AND HYSTERIA – THEME For the people in the audience watching the play the scenery and atmosphere on stage would be that of Salem in 1692 in a Puritan society. The characters in the play would therefore react in slightly different ways than we would expect. The effect of Abigail’s actions would be different set in present day than in 1692. The NATURE/ESSENCE of the religion being Puritan meant that what the audience would see as small actions which were forbidden at that time would shock the characters in the play.

Even if Abigail and the girls had only been dancing in the wood and trying to do witchcraft it would have been frowned upon. Elizabeth’s actions in the play are usually planned carefully with thought. They aim not to produce pain and suffering but to improve the situation, as she is sensitive and aware of the feelings of others. quote Although she reprimands people for wrong doing it is not with the violence or cruelty of Abigail. In her first entrance Miller demonstrates how Elizabeth tries to make the best of a bad situation. She quietly encourages John to tell the court of Abigail’s actions.

‘God forbid you keep that from the court, John. I think they must be told. ‘ Elizabeth has a tendency to blame things on herself. She believes that John’s affair with Abigail was due to her own coldness. ‘It needs a cold wife to promote lechery. ‘ However Miller seems to present the cause of her coldness as being attributed to John’s lack of openness. Like many characters she suffers a degeneration throughout the play and this is the low point in Elizabeth’s character as her behaviour shows reserve and an edge of restraint.

She does manage to partly return to her original status and takes on a more central role towards the end. quote expansion Whatever Elizabeth is doing or saying her language is always refined and civil and she rarely shouts. She obviously has little self-confidence, especially at the beginning of the play, since she lacks aplomb to even to tell Mary Warren not to go into town. As Elizabeth says herself, ‘She frightened all my strength away. ‘ It is at the end of the play when Elizabeth regains her compassion and clear-sighted opinions. Here she is able to eventually forgive John and allow him to take his decision.

Elizabeth also takes on a more central role towards the end of the play… Miller displays Abigail and Elizabeth as being very competitive towards John. In every act there is an emotionally charged scene between one of the and John. Should I keep this? In conclusion Miller has created Elizabeth to be a good, kind person and has challenged her, testing the extent of her morality. As an audience we are made to feel sympathetic towards by Miller her as he presents her as the victim. As Miller presents Abigail as one of the causes or certainly an acceleration of the hysteria, the audience is persuaded to feel no concern about her by Miller.