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Mean Girls In The Crucible

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Mean girls. Everybody knows one. They are the ones that take advantage of others, yet they get away with it. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Abigail Williams is one of those mean girls. The Crucible displays the chaos of the Salem Witch Trials, during which, an accusation meant time in jail and a trial. If the indicted person admitted to practicing witchcraft and repented, he or she was set free; but if the accused did not confess, that person lost their life. Abigail is one of the girls that charges many people of witchcraft, which leads many of those people to their hanging. She especially has it out for John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, because Abigail would love to replace her. Ever diabolical, Abigail accuses Elizabeth of witchcraft …show more content…
While the girls are getting their story straight about the events in the woods, one of them wants to admit to everything that happened, but Abigail will not let that happen, “...let either of you breathe a word… about the other things… and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. And I know I can do it.” (1.355-359). To get her way, Abigail threatens the other girls. If the girls were to tell the truth, it would catch Abigail in her lie. Once again, Abigail looks out for herself and intimidates the other girls into being silent. Sometimes, Abigail does not have to even be there to enforce her threats. Elizabeth is arrested for witchcraft on the account of the poppet situation. Mary Warren is a girl who works for the Proctors, but she is also friends with Abigail. One day, after coming back from court, Mary Warren gives Elizabeth a poppet she sewed that day. Later, Abigail goes into dramatics and claims that she was stabbed by a needle by Elizabeth through witchcraft and a poppet. When the needle is discovered inside Elizabeth’s new poppet, she is arrested. A confession from Mary Warren to Proctor reveals that she put the needle in the poppet, and Abigail saw her do so. Proctor then tells Mary she must confess that in court. Distressed by this news, Mary Warren says, “She’ll [Abigail] kill me for saying that!” (2.986). From this, it is clear that Abigail’s hold over Mary Warren is impressive. Knowing that an innocent woman may be hanged does not compare, in Mary Warren’s eyes, to what Abigail will do to her if she tells the truth. By intimidating others to achieve her selfish goals, Abigail reveals that her manipulation skills are

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