Abigail's Involvement

Abigail is very relevant in The Crucible. Although she is not responsible to everything that went on, she is responsible for some of the major things that happened. In her past, she watched the murder of her mother and father. She watched as the Natives bashed their heads right beside her. She was helping at the Proctors home, where she had an affair with John. Elizabeth discovered this, and fired Abigail. These events could influence her in some ways; however, her behavior is inexcusable. She threatened the lives of Betty and Mercy so they would not tell of what really happened on the night they were in the woods. She tried, multiple times, to kill Elizabeth Proctor in order to take her place as John's wife. She used Mary Warren as a way to have Elizabeth accused. She pretended that Mary Warren was sending her spirit out to try to attack her. Abigail is very manipulative and truculent. She is a good liar, and since she is a child in the eyes of the people of Salem, she can get away with almost everything. She cannot blame "outside forces" for her behavior. She is responsible for her own actions. The readers and some of the characters can see straight through her façade. She stole money from her own family and fled Salem. She is completely crazy, and needs to be held accountable for her wrong-doings. In conclusion, Abigail is a conniving teenager who has committed serious crimes, and has accused others of committing serious crimes that will eventually have them killed. She is jealous and manipulative; however, she is a child, so she is completely free of sin. 

The Crucible: Act 4

Act 4 takes place in a Salem jail cell. Danforth walks in and asks when Hale is going to arrive. Herrick informs Danforth that, at the command of Parris, Hale prays with the inmates who are sentenced to hang. Parris admits that Abigail has fled Salem with Mercy Lewis. He thinks that they boarded a ship and Abigail stole 30 pounds from him. Parris begins to defend the accused people. He says that Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor are good people and do not deserve to hang. Elizabeth is brought in and is asked to convince John to confess to the crimes he has been accused of in order to spare his life. She insists that she will promise nothing. John is brought in to see Elizabeth. John asks Elizabeth if he should confess, and she tells him that she will not tell him what he should do. Elizabeth tells John that she cannot judge John's sins, because she feels as though the affair was partially her fault for acting so coldly toward him. Of course she wants him to live, but she cannot make this decision for him. John decides to confess, but when Danforth tries to make him sign a paper confirming his statement, John refuses. This is where John's morals are exposed. He has enough self respect to not give into the court. He will not let others take away his pride and ruin his name over a mere, false accusation. He would rather die with his morals and his principles than to live as someone he is not. He is not a criminal. He is not a bad person, and he will not let the court pose him as one. This shows great strength that is admirable and courageous.

The Crucible: Act 3

We just finished reading Act three in class the other day, and there was a lot going on. Abigail does not appear in Act three; however, she is mentioned very often. Act 3 is set totally in court where everyone is being questioned. Danforth learns that the girls danced in the woods; however, Reverend Parris denies that he saw any of them naked, which is a lie. Mary Warren confesses that she faked passing out in court. The people are taken back by this, because when she would faint, she would be cold. When asked to faint, she could not. Abigail insists that Mary Warren is sending out her spirit to try and harm the girls. Abigail claims to see a yellow bird that is coming to attack her. When Mary denies having anything to do with this, the other girls join Abigail in pretending that Mary has a hold of them, and they all start repeating everything Mary says. Proctor calls Abigail a whore in front of the whole court, and he confesses to having an affair with her. Elizabeth is then called into court. She is asked about the affair between John Proctor and Abigail Williams. Elizabeth decides to lie and said that it never happened. John hears this and begins yelling to Elizabeth that he had already confessed. Elizabeth is then taken away to be arrested. This is a very emotional scene, because Elizabeth was trying to protect her husband and his reputation. Danforth then asks John if he is involved with the Devil, and then he places him under arrest. Hale becomes extremely frustrated. He denounces the proceedings and quits the court. Act 3 is very intense, because everything is revealed, and timing proves to be one of the main factors.

Crucible Conflicts

There have been some major conflicts that have occurred in The Crucible. These conflicts have been over the true intentions of people, witchcraft, and reputations. Mr. Proctor does not like Reverend Parris. Proctor believes that Reverend Parris is a Reverend for the wrong reasons. He says he will not go to church if Parris is running the services. He thinks that Parris is mainly into preaching for the money, which is not entirely wrong. Parris is very concerned with his reputation, more than the well-being of his church and the members that attend, and Proctor is very aware of this. However, not going to church gets Proctor a bad reputation. Being a Puritan means attending church every Sabbeth Day and praying whenever possible. Another conflict is between the whole town of Salem. Everybody in the town is trying to figure if there are witches living in Salem, even though some people doubt the fact witches even exist. People are getting accused left and right, causing hatred for the court to grow. Reverend Hale is one of the people who is starting to believe that witches are not present. Another example of conflict would be the dispute between the Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams. The affair that happened between John and Abigail is becoming present once again. Abigail is extremely jealous of Elizabeth, and she wants to take her place as John's wife. Abigail has drank charms to kill Elizabeth, and when that did not work, she came up with a whole plan to frame Elizabeth Proctor of performing witchcraft to try and hurt Abigail. In conclusion, The Crucible is a play full of conflicts between everybody. However, this is what makes the play so interesting.

The Crucible: Act 2

Today, we started Act 2. It was not as action-packed and crazy as Act 1, but it had some stuff going on. Act 2 mainly involved conversation and tension between two to five characters. It involved: Elizabeth Proctor, John Proctor, Mary Warren, Reverend Hale, and Abigail Williams was mentioned quite often. John arrived home late, and he found out that Mary Warren had become an official of the court. The setting is very somber, cold, and dark. They are being very short with each other and making awkward small talk. Elizabeth is upset with John, because she knows that John saw Abigail alone. John and Elizabeth get in an argument about how Elizabeth should have faith in John's loyalty to Elizabeth, and that she should not judge him on his past mistake with Abigail. Mary Warren comes home and adds to the tension. John tells Mary that a good Christian girl should not be involved in deciding if someone should be hanged. This is yet another example of the hypocracy and irony in the story. John committed adultery, and he only goes to church about forty percent of the time, so how does he have the authority to tell Mary what a "good Christian" should or shouldn't do? Later, we find out that Abigail Williams has accused Elizabeth Proctor of performing witchcraft. We all know that this is another attempt to kill Elizabeth so Abigail can swoop in and take John Proctor for herself. Mary Warren assures Elizabeth that she made note of not witnessing any signs of witchcraft done my Goody Proctor. However, now that Mary is a court official, she believes that she does not have to answer to Elizabeth and John Proctor. Later that night, Reverend Hale stops by and starts questioning Elizabeth and John. He was in court that day and heard Elizabeth's name. He came over, trying to help and warn the Proctors of what could happen. Elizabeth becomes extremely nervous that she is going to be hanged, because she knows Abigail wants to take her place as John Proctors wife. She is then confronted by an official who has a warrant for her arrest, and is quickly searched. A doll that Mary gave her was found with a needle in the same place Abigail had a needle in her. She was quickly arrested. I believe that Elizabeth is being set up. I think that Abigail told Mary to give Elizabeth the doll so it would be found. Abigail may have something on Mary that we don't know yet. Act 2 did not have as much going on as in Act 1, but it was just as intriguing.

Act 1 Overview

We have recently finished Act 1. As I said in my last blog, it really got the story started. The author did not waste time in telling this story, instead, he got straight into the action. Everyone in the town of Salem has something to hide; however, they all judge one another when the secrets start becoming known. They are completely hypocritical. They all say how they are firm in their beliefs, and how they are all very pure. While in reality, they are having affairs, conjuring up dead souls, believing in witchcraft, judging, and blaming each other. This doesn't sound very pure to me. The Reverend is more concerned with his reputation and keeping his job, while his daughter is supposedly afflicted by witches. Why is the father not solely concerned with his daughter's health? It seems he is more worried about his next pay check and how much extra money he is getting for firewood. Ann Putnam seems awfully worried that witches may be present in her home town, but she is the one who sent her daughter to Tituba to talk to the souls of her seven dead babies. Abigail Williams is just a jealous and aggressive girl. She is so jealous that Elizabeth Proctor is married to John Proctor that she is willing to drink a blood charm to kill her. Then, she told her friends that if they spoke a word of anything that happened in the forest, she would kill them. She said she knows how to kill them, because she watched Indians come in and kill her parents. The story has only begun, and it has already intensely grabbed my attention. However, when you take a moment to reflect on the story and analyze it, you realize that the story line is not solely focused on witches. This story, so far, is about people using witchcraft as either a distraction, or an excuse. They all have something to hide, so when they know they can be punished, they accuse the first person that comes to mind of performing witchcraft. It is completely crazy.

The start of The Crucible

This week we are reading, The Crucible. This play is very long, considering my character does not even come into the scene until Act IV. However, it has already grabbed my attention. While sometimes hard to understand because of the different way they speak, I am intrigued and excited to read more. So far, some of the townspeople believe there are witches among the town of Salem. There were girls dancing in the forest, while Tituba was singing a song in a different language. Betty is acting very strange; however, her friends are aware that she is faking. Betty has her father and the parents of the Ruth very worried. Betty's father is the reverend, and he is solely concerned with his reputation with the rest of the Salem. He does not want to be associated with witches in anyway in fear of losing his new found job. Without even finishing Act I, we have already discovered that Betty was faking her sickness, Abigail watched her parents get murdered, and Abigail had an affair with her boss. The way this story grabs your attention is astonishing. I haven't been even been able to lose focus while reading. This play is already getting crazy, and I can't wait to keep reading. This is the kind of story that you are so invested in, that you can't wait to see the movie, because you actually want to see what the characters look like and how they interact with each other.

Human Worth

The question present now is, "is all human life worth the same?" I firmly believe that we all come into this world as equals with the same worth. We are all born with a clean slate, and we are able to make our lives into whatever we think is possible. After birth, you develop responsibility. We have the responsibility to stay on the right track and make our lives worth something. Everyone has worth, because everyone is able to change if they really want to. Our society has an image of how people "should" be. This image is mere opinion. Not everyone is equal, and they will never be perfectly equal. Every person has a different gift to offer than the next. Some people are very aware of their gifts from early on in life, while others take the long route to find what they have to contribute. This longer route can include a criminal lifestyle, dropping out of school, or poverty. However, every person is created with a gift and deserves a chance to prove that they want to change, and that they are willing to turn their life around and start becoming a relevant part of society. Even if the man in jail is a murderer, we must keep in mind that he was once an innocent child who came into this world with endless possibilities and opportunities, but somehow, he lost his way and went down the wrong path. We have more of a responsibility to at least try to make them aware of their wrong-doings, and try to give them a chance to change before killing them off with an injection, because, doesn't that make us murderers too? If we are just fine with taking someone's life and sentencing them to death, are we not all murderers?