The Power of Abigail in The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Power can take many different forms and meanings in life. Often times, people have more power than could be imagined. Going against such people can result in them showing what they are truly capable of, whether it be hurting someone directly or manipulating others against him or her; it is dangerous to underestimate those who felt they have been wronged. In Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible, a great example of this is displayed. The character of Abigail Williams holds more power than anyone else in the village, regardless of the fact she holds no place in political office or the court.

The first instance of Abigail's power shows up at the end of act two, when she is heavily questioned about the activities in the woods. She starts out by answering the questions, but soon reveals that she will not go down alone. When Abigail is asked if she called the devil, she responds by saying, "I never called him! Tituba, Tituba...". By saying this she has brought Parris's servant into the equation and Tituba is now the focus of attention. Abby continues to say how Tituba asked her to drink blood and make a pact with the Devil. Everyone takes her word and questions Tituba more and more to get the answers they want to hear. Finally, she admits that she has seen the Devil, but does not want anything to do with him, because she knows he is evil. After this, Abby adds the final blow by saying, "I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus".

By doing this she has convinced everyone that she has no evil in her and that she loves God. This was a smart move on her part, because in those times if a person were to admit that they want and love God, they gain credibility. People who led a religious life were looked upon as good, wholesome people. Abigail then begins to call out people's names, people she has "seen with the devil". After her little speech about wanting to see the light of God everybody in the room had successfully been manipulated. She is obviously telling the truth since she just proclaimed her love for God and wants to inform the public of those who might practice witchcraft. That is what the people in the room thought of course, but little did they know they had just been manipulated. Manipulation is definitely a form of power, one that is often abused. In this case Abigail uses it to shift any blame and suspicion off of herself and on to others. These might be people she has something against and they also might not be. At that point she just wanted her name to leave the minds of the people around her.

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Another instance of Abby's power shows itself toward the latter part of act two. Mr. Cheever enters Proctor's house, goes through the usual greetings and then asks if Elizabeth Proctor keeps any poppets in the house. There is a poppet on the mantle that Mary Warren had brought into the house, but the Proctor's make it clear that it does not belong to them. Mr. Proctor asks Cheever what is so significant about a doll and that is when Abigail comes into play. He takes the poppet off of the mantle, lifts up the little dress it has on and discovers a needle is it's stomach. The Proctors do not understand what the fuss is about until Cheever says, "...Abigail Williams, sir. She sat to dinner in Reverend Parris's house tonight, and without word not warnin' she fall to the floor... And he goes to save her, and, stuck two inches in the flesh of her belly, he draw out a needle...she testify it were your wife's familiar spirit pushed it in". Although it is impossible for such a thing to happen, once the needle is discovered in the poppet everyone believes Abigail's story.

The court does not doubt Abby for a second and immediately issues a warrant for Mrs. Proctor's arrest and to appear in court. The charge of being a witch is taken very seriously even if it is a complete lie, such as in this instance. Elizabeth's reputation is very credible and the entire town knows that she is a devoted Christian woman, but it does not seem to matter anymore. Abigail again uses her powers of persuasion to convince people she is telling the truth. One would think that the people would realize how unrealistic Abigail's accusations are, but in this time of panic even the worst evidence can be used to hang someone. With Mrs. Proctor heading to trial, there is a good chance she will be killed. This pleases Abigail because she assumes that she will be able to be with Mr. Proctor, just like she always wanted. The plan does not work out as planned however, and then Mr. Proctor becomes the target of Abby's rage.

After Mrs. Proctor is taken away John Proctor and Mary Warren head out to the trials themselves to prove Abigail is a fraud. Mary starts out doing well in proving that Abby has been lying to the court, but her courage does not hold up for very long. Abigail is brought into the room to defend Mary's accusations that she is a fraud. She is very cool, calm, and collected which makes her defense more believable. Even more important than her attitude is how she gets Mary back on to her side and away from Proctor's defense. The most single important thing she says is, "Why-? Why do you come, yellow bird"? The color yellow represents cowardliness and Mary Warren is quite familiar with that.

She is being called a coward by Abigail, which greatly bothers her. Abby also mocks everything that Mary says, as if Mary has some sort of spell over her and she can only repeat her. By this point Mary realizes that Abigail is turning attention away from herself and over to Mary. The people in the room begin to believe that Mary has taken the form of this yellow bird and is going to attack Abby. Mary has the belief in her mind that if she betrays Abigail for much longer something bad will happen to her, so under the pressure she starts saying how Mr. Proctor has tried to get her to do the Devil's work.

Toward John she says, "You're the Devil's man"! She goes on to say that he has tried to get her to sign the Devil's book and threatened to murder her. Now, all the attention has turned away from the girls and onto Mr. Proctor who is in complete shock. Abigail has once again manipulated the mind of a key player and got her way. At this point Proctor has nothing left to do but confess to practicing the Devil's work, since all odds are stacked against him.

It is likely that in the play, The Crucible, Abigail is the single most powerful character. Everyone underestimated her, which made her even more dangerous then anyone thought she could be. People that think they have been betrayed can often times so more damage then those who are assumed to be powerful. Power can also take on many different forms and meanings, which can make it harder to pick out the people with true power.

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