Arthur Miller generally portrays Abigail Williams in a very unflattering light. She is a psychologically damaged young woman who seems incapable of telling the truth if she can provide a lie instead. Abigail manipulates the other girls of Salem, makes damaging accusations of innocent people, and seems determined to ruin as many lives as she can. She steals from her uncle, who has taken her in. She attempts to curse her former employer, as her friend Betty points out: “You drank a charm to kill John Proctor’s wife!” It seems, on the surface, that there is no ambiguity.
Miller has both provided a backstory and some dialogue for Abigail that help us understand how her life got so out of control in only 17 years. Abigail was severely damaged by witnessing her family’s brutal murder: “I saw Indians smash my dear parents' heads on the pillow next to mine….” Since that time, she has had to make her way as an orphan. Although she is by nature proud, which was not a good fit personality-wise with working as a house servant, much of her defiance of authority may result from the precarity of her situation, working and living in different houses from a young age. Although in those years 17 was an adult age by which time many people were already married or parents, she is not primarily responsible for her “affair” with John Proctor; as a much older man and her employer, he took advantage of her youth and innocence. Even afterward, she knows he has been watching her. “I have seen you looking up, burning in your loneliness.” In sum, the playwright offers numerous reasons for understanding the moral complexity of Abigail’s character.
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
What makes Abigail Williams morally ambiguous? Need to be specific and use quotes from the book.
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