Abigail Williams
Christian Fitzgerald
Abigail in the Crucible
During the time of the Crucible Abigail was 14. She moved in with her Uncle (Reverend Parris) and Beatty Parris (Rev. Parris's sick daughter) after watching her parents being brutally murdered by Indians in their own bed while asleep. She aquires a job working for the Proctors but it soon fired by Elizabeth Proctor due to the affairs her husband was having with the young girl. After being casted away she turns to Tituba (Parris's servent) to cast a spell on Elizabeth while they are in the woods. Rev. Parris catches them but chooses to keep it quiet. Ruth Putnam and Beatty Parris suddenly get sick and are stuck in a comatose state. The girls abandon church one morning to go look at Beatty. After she tries to jump out of a window unwanted attention is brought and Abigail is forced to tell what is wrong with Beatty. She blames Tituba for which craftand that is when things get out of hand. "Abigail Williams is the car that drives the play" (Mifflin). This means that if their was no Abigail then there basically would be no plot since Abigail is the main antagonist. Abigail meets with John Proctor after things are already out of hand, she admits to how she's doing this just to get his attention because she is in love with him, but he does not feel the same way towards her. She gets frustrated and acuses Elizabeth Proctor of whichcarft. After things progress to even worser conditions she flee's from Salem Village. Where did she go? "She became a prostitue in Boston"(Abbott)
Abigail Williams in Real Life
During the time of the Crucible Abigail Williams was actually 11 or 12 years old. Also I found out that there wasn't a serious connection between John Proctor and Abigail Williams. As for what they did have I'm not sure of but this is only found from the information in which I have gathered. Based on what I did find Abigail was a much more interesting character in the Crucible then in real life.Even in real life she still spearheaded the group of girls that saw spirits and pointed out Salem's witches. This just means that although there were some differences between real life Abigail and Crucible Abigail this similarity remained the same in both stories. "She gave her last testimony on June 3rd 1692" (Melissa). After giving her last testimony she up and disappeared just like in the Crucible.
Sources
- Marilynne K Roach,. "That Child Betty Parris," Essex Institute Historical Collection s Col. 124, no. 1 1988: 1-27 Bernard Rosenthal, Salem Story, 1993