Hi Everyone:
As preparation for tomorrow's in-class essay, identify a character from The Crucible that you found to be particularly interesting and complex, and explain what kinds of insight you may have into this character's situation. In other words, what do you understand about this character that others may not understand. Keep in mind that tomorrow's question, like almost all MCAS long composition questions, is character-based.
Since this is an overnight assignment, a response of approximately 100 words is acceptable. Thank you, Mr. Telles.
Throughout the Crucible, the character I found to be most complex and interesting would have to be Abigail Williams. In the beginning of the book, not only was she was a helpless teenager who had an affair with John Proctor, but she also began to have control over the girls that she “danced” in the woods with. She refuses to go down without a fight and that was really interesting to me. Why was she so afraid to have the blame put on her? Was it because she had no parents to teach her right from wrong? I have so many questions regarding Abigail's past. I like her character because of all of its complexity. I like having to depict why she did certain things and why she wont just tell the truth. However, I do not like the content of the character she portrays. The sneaky, deceitfulness that she lets off leaves an uneasy tension.
ReplyDeleteOne character in The Crucible that I found to be complex is Abigail Williams. She is a teenage girl that had an affair with a married man. Did she really expect him to give up everything for her? I do not have insight or really understand this character, I just found her the most interesting. She thought by getting rid of Elizabeth, John’s wife, that he would go to her after. Abigail was clever. Somehow she had a way to get herself out of every situation she ran into in the book. How she never gets caught in her lies is strange. Abigail is a really good actress. She somehow pulls everyone into her lies and tricks.
ReplyDeleteIn the Crucible, one character that I found particularly complex was John Proctor. Throughout the play, the one thing that Proctor tries to hold on to is his name. Why would his name be so important to him? Maybe it was because it seemed to be the only thing left in his life. After John’s affair with Abigail, Elizabeth turned away from him. From the reader’s point of view, it always looked as if there was a barrier in the way of their relationship that would never go away. This was apparent to John and lead him to believe that no one else cared for him. Although Proctor may have felt alone, some may argue that he still had Abigail, but in reality, John could never reconnect with her. In my opinion, John could never bring himself to hurt Elizabeth with another affair because he regretted everything that he did with Abigail. Even though on the outside it looked as if John Proctor had everything, by the end of the book all that he had left to hang onto was his name, and even that was damaged. John Proctor’s confession to the court may have seemed heroic in the sense that he was protecting everyone in the village, but it left him with nothing in the end.
ReplyDeleteThe character that I’ve found to be most complex and mind-blowing would be John Proctor. Sure, Elizabeth, Giles, even Abigail had deep traits, but I find John to be the possess the most admirable ones.
ReplyDeleteJohn is a sincere and honest man who fell victim to his man-parts. Having a young, beautiful girl such as Abigail practically throwing herself at him is bound to make a man weak at the knees and hard at the… well you know. Of course, I am not excusing or defending him, for how John betrayed Elizabeth is unforgiveable, and John himself knows that.
However, I find the way John faced the world after doing what he did to be so compelling for most men would cowardly hide behind some sort of facade that it was not their fault, or just forget that such a thing didn’t even happen.
Also, his pride cost him his life, something that he was fully aware of. Actually, the movie helped me understand this scene better, just throwing that out there. John, desperate to hold onto his name, the only thing he had left, refused to sign the document stating his confession but instead doomed himself to be hung. However, this was a good thing because he was finally guilt free and felt that he had reddemed himself as a man.
In The Crucible, a character I found stood out and was more complicated than the other characters was Reverend Hale. I think that Hale stood out to me in multiple ways because of the situation he was put in. Hale came to Salem with the intention of driving out pure evil from the community, but when he arrived he realized that the accused “witches” were being used as pawns in the accusers personal game. I think Hale is the most complex person in the book because you see him struggling to seek out innocence in the accused, yet trying to find out if the devil is doing his bidding in Salem. When he finds out that Abigail is a fraud and leading the other girls into her lies, he fights against the court that he helped establish to try and bring justice to those who he wronged in the name of god. In Act four you see him trying to save John's life even if it means him confessing to the lie. I think that Hale’s character was the most complex character in The Crucible because he is the character that is in the constant battle between right and wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe character whom I believe to be the most intriguing in The Crucible is Abigail Williams. Throughout reading, I often pondered why Arthur Miller would choose such a reckless teenage girl to essentially drive the whole play. I then realized that without her lack of conscience and her childlike fantasies of true love there would be no play. Abigail does not hide her desires like Elizabeth and most puritans of that time. She expresses them fully and will do whatever she can in order to get her way. While some people may believe that this symbolizes her immaturiy as character, her extreme ability for strategy and her vindictiveness proves this to be incorrect. Abigail has the ability to get herself out of almost any situation, thus giving her a sense of power that a woman would not usually possess back then. I have concluded that this newfound power is what drives her obscene actions. Her lack of conscience is most likely driven by the fact that she hasn’t received much guidance as to what is right or wrong. In addition, her sense of vengeance is probably fueled by the murder of her parents. Abigail has truly convinced herself that Proctor will want to be with her eternally after Elizabeth is gone. She is obsessive and delusional, which only adds to the excitement of the play. However, in the end Abigail Williams is still a teenager. When she realizes that she will not get her way, and her carefully thought-out will not work, she flees. I personally find it extremely interesting that a character has the ability to be so different in so many ways.
ReplyDeleteIn the Crucibles, a character that is interesting and highly represents complexity is definitely Abigail Williams. Abigail seems to have that trait that is very stern and bold. Abigail strives very hard to get what she wants, even if it puts people’s lives in jeopardy, like how she wanted Elizabeth Proctor killed so she could have John Proctor. Also, it is black and white on how she likes being powerful and superior to everyone in the town. Abigail controlled the girls and their actions as well, and those actions led to executions of innocent people. Abigail takes a huge advantage into “stealing the spotlight” in all the court when she lies about Mary Warren’s actions. To sum it up, it seems to be that Abigail Williams has a very negative personality and portrays herself as someone would not want to be around with.
ReplyDeleteThe character I found the most interesting in The Crucible would without doubt be Abigail Williams. She uses manipulation to achieve what she wants throughout the novel, which sets her aside from the townspeople. A good amount of the citizens of Salem lie to save themselves but no one does it like Abby. Even though she is a teenager, Abigail had much power over people. She never showed any remorse for all the lies she made up, which is one of the reasons why I believe Abigail is the most complex and diabolical character in the book. Some may think that Abby was a selfish, lying backstabber because she was traumatized when she was younger. This may be true, but does that mean that someone can have that much hate in their heart that they want to see others die also? Abigail is very intelligent by taking peoples weaknesses and using them to her advantage. Abigail Williams is a very complex antagonist that uses skill and wit to obtain what she wants.
ReplyDeleteIn The Crucible By Arthur Miller the most complex character in the play is by far Abigail Williams in the story she often fakes being conjured by spirits too get attention away from her at first. But as soon as she realized she was the center of proof people committed witchcraft she used it her to advantage. The big confusing thing was she changed people who thought she was a witch at first we thought she was in it so she could get rid of Goody Proctor so she could get John but then she accused others and started to abuse her power. Abigail portrayed herself as an innocent working class young adult but what she did in The Crucible is the complete opposite which completely threw our judgment off.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most complex characters in The Crucible is Abigail. Throughout the play Abigail is portrayed as a ruthless, power hungry character who doesn't care about the lives of anyone but herself. However, there is more to Abigail than what meets the eye. Abigail has had her heart broken many times, after the death of her parents and the loss of her love, John Proctor. Abigail has never had full control of her own life. When the idea of witchcraft is mentioned in the town Abigail sees an opportunity and jumps at it. Abigail was a misguided character who hurt people that she cared about while going after one of the most basic human desires: the need for control.
ReplyDeleteA character that I find particularly interesting was Reverend Parris. I find him interesting because he appeared to be very against witchcraft in the beginning of the book. But upon finding out his reputation that he held among many of the townspeople he instantly put up an ignorant and defensive shield to keep him from trouble and targeting many people in the town as he went. I think that his situation was just as bad as many of the people in the town if not better, yet he took refused to think that. He took advantage of being able to speak in court and accused many people that were on trial so that he could help to protect himself. I found him so interesting because his character seemed to change throughout the book very often so that he could protect himself from something that was barely even threatening him. He was so caught up in trying to protect himself instead of stopping and thinking about what was actually happening in the town. He was an ignorant and selfish character in the book that used the church as his protector and took advantage of his position to accuse many of the people that had been living in the town with him for years.
ReplyDeleteThe most interesting character that i found in the play was definitely Reverend Hale. The way he goes from a prosecutor to a defendant amazed me. It was a big plot twist because in the beginning he was bent on destroying all the witches he found and pretty much accepted Abigails work as gospel. Towards the end though he begins to question her credibility as a witness and eventually tries to defend people from her. this is especially evident in when he keeps trying to tell John Proctor to confess, this is because he realizes that the trials are a sham but the judge will not dismiss the case. He tries to get Proctor to confess because he knows that even though it may not be honorable it is the only way to save himself.
ReplyDeleteI think the most interesting character in the play is John Proctor. I thought it was strange how he gave up his life just because they wanted to put the deposition on the church door. Yes it would ruin his name but I don't understand why it was worth giving up his entire life. If I was John Proctor, I would have let them hang it because his wife is sentenced to death in a year so who is going to take care of the family? Plus, he has a new born on the way. All of his children will have to take on many responsibilities to survive. I thought it was very selfish of him to think his name is more important to his family.
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