Sunday, September 2, 2012

How does Abigail Williams in The Crucible show that she values power over justice?

Abigail Williams is portrayed as an unscrupulous, malevolent young woman who propagates the witchcraft hysteria throughout Salem's community in order to avoid being punished for dancing in the woods. After Abigail initially uses Tituba as a scapegoat, she proceeds to name other citizens of colluding with the devil and notices how Salem's authority figures begin to revere her. As a young woman who is marginalized by Salem's austere community, Abigail Williams is often overlooked and dismissed by the male population. Once Abigail begins making accusations, she earns an elevated status among her neighbors and enjoys her newly gained authority. Abigail manipulates the community members by falsely accusing innocent citizens of witchcraft and enjoys being the center of attention in Salem's court.
She has absolutely no concept of justice and callously imprisons numerous innocent citizens. In order to maintain her elevated status and authority, Abigail continues accusing citizens of witchcraft until John Proctor and Mary Warren challenge her authority. Before John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse are publicly executed, Abigail flees Salem to avoid the impending pushback from the citizens. Overall, Abigail completely rejects the idea of justice and falsely accuses innocent citizens in order to maintain her newly acquired elevated status in the community.

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