Homework - 2nd May 2012

Abigail Williams is one character that is portrayed in the play through quite a negative light. Not only does she lie and manipulate her friends but she is also quite violent, easily angered and vindictive, as is evident in the scene where she denies the claims made by Reverend Parris that they where summoning spirits in the wood right before saying to the other girls; “Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam's dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. Let either of you breath a word, or the edge of a word, about those other things, and I will come to you to you in the of lack of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.” This is also demonstrated in Act I where Betty accuses her of drinking a charm to kill John Proctor's wife and in reply Abigail smashes her arm across Betty's face. In addition to this, she takes advantage of the situation and its accompanying hysteria to shift the blame and attempt to get rid of Goody Proctor as well as fulfil her lust for power, because as an orphan she sits on one of the bottom rungs of Salem's social ladder. 

On the other hand Rebecca is one character that is portrayed in quite a positive light for throughout Act I she remains calm, sensible and refuses to subject to the growing hysteria associated with the claims of witchcraft. This is illustrated in the scene where she states; “Pray John, be calm,” before going on to request that Reverend Hale be sent back in order to prevent dispute in the community. Another redeeming quality is her refusal to agree that Betty is bewitched, rather she maintains that; “...She will wake when she tires of it. A child's spirit is like a child, you never catch it by running after it; you must stand still, and for love, it will soon come back.”