Anyone else find Abigail interesting?
Okay, I just deleted my entire entry...so I'm going to try my best to type it again? Sorry if it's incoherent.
Just to go along with Dan's post, I'd like to discuss Abigail a bit.
Upon her entry into the play, she seems likes a traditional Puritan girl. Within the first several scenes of Act one, however, Abigail has revealed that she is also something else, from her dancing in the woods, threatening Mercy and Mary, and her previous affair with John Proctor. It's interesting, I think, to see Abigail in such a seemingly ascetic and austere environment. While Puritans are trained to repress their desires for a married man, death of his wife, etc., Abigail acts on them. She isn't completely open with them, but instead of ignoring them altogether, she uses seduction and duplicity to get what she wants: John Proctor. Abigail seems to represent the more realistically flawed and humane side of Puritans. (Puritans are people too, after all). All humans possess a desire to sin for their own pleasure, and Abigail is a perfect represenation of what happens when you give in to them.
I don't see acting on one's whims as necessarily a bad thing, but when your capriciousness results in an affair, threats, and perhaps murder...it has the possibility of resulting in complications , especially in such a strict atmosphere as Salem's.
I think why I find Abigail so interesting is because she symbolizes ostensibly contradictory things. She embodies the underlying and repressed desires of the Puritan people released through accusations of witchcraft, the tenaciousness one could possess in pursuit of a pleasure/power, and the arguable "badness" (I cautiously say "evil") of human nature. Miller obviously intended for Abigail to be seen in a rather negative light. The purpose of this, I'm not so sure, but the fact that Abigail is presented in such a way from the very start, definitely foreshadows more cringe-worthy acts on her part, and further suggestions of the consequences of xenophobia, impulsiveness, and pursuit of power can result in.
(For some strange reason, I have a feeling that...none of that was coherent)
--Tina
Just to go along with Dan's post, I'd like to discuss Abigail a bit.
Upon her entry into the play, she seems likes a traditional Puritan girl. Within the first several scenes of Act one, however, Abigail has revealed that she is also something else, from her dancing in the woods, threatening Mercy and Mary, and her previous affair with John Proctor. It's interesting, I think, to see Abigail in such a seemingly ascetic and austere environment. While Puritans are trained to repress their desires for a married man, death of his wife, etc., Abigail acts on them. She isn't completely open with them, but instead of ignoring them altogether, she uses seduction and duplicity to get what she wants: John Proctor. Abigail seems to represent the more realistically flawed and humane side of Puritans. (Puritans are people too, after all). All humans possess a desire to sin for their own pleasure, and Abigail is a perfect represenation of what happens when you give in to them.
I don't see acting on one's whims as necessarily a bad thing, but when your capriciousness results in an affair, threats, and perhaps murder...it has the possibility of resulting in complications , especially in such a strict atmosphere as Salem's.
I think why I find Abigail so interesting is because she symbolizes ostensibly contradictory things. She embodies the underlying and repressed desires of the Puritan people released through accusations of witchcraft, the tenaciousness one could possess in pursuit of a pleasure/power, and the arguable "badness" (I cautiously say "evil") of human nature. Miller obviously intended for Abigail to be seen in a rather negative light. The purpose of this, I'm not so sure, but the fact that Abigail is presented in such a way from the very start, definitely foreshadows more cringe-worthy acts on her part, and further suggestions of the consequences of xenophobia, impulsiveness, and pursuit of power can result in.
(For some strange reason, I have a feeling that...none of that was coherent)
--Tina
posted by L Lazarow | 5:10 PM
10 Comments:
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(Found something that was completely wrong, so I had to fix it!)
Tina: I understood all of it and I completely agree about Abigail and her actions. I found it very interesting that she was able to use the Puritan church in such a way and at some point they are almost portrayed as "saints" (I cannot remember where it was but it had to do with Mary Warren bringing up the trial in Act II.) Her ability to turn an entire town upside down at the age of 17 caught me off guard because it did not seem at all possible. Then I slowly realized that her success was based in men believing that women were inferior and more susceptible to temptation or witchcraft and thus there was a need to rid the town of all evils to protect the young girls.
Another thought on the confessions is how easily some of the women folded. I understand that Tituba was obligated to because she was afraid of all of the whites because back then, as a black slave and woman, she faced horrible punishment (probably worse than just being hanged. It is harder for me to understand why many of the white women confessed. For the less affluent, there names are already tarnished, but for the farmers’ wives and others, wouldn’t they want to wait to see if the fuss died down? I know if I was in the situation, I would probably confess. It just seems that they gave in almost too quickly.
In Act III Proctor, Giles, and Francis storm the court and they have signatures for a testament about the good opinion of their wives. I found it interesting that Danforth listens to Parris, the town pastor, and agrees to call all 91 people who signed to court. If he is such a well-known and accomplished judge (as he portrays) why is he listening to someone who has no legal credibility? It makes me wonder about how confident they really were running such a court hearing.
Okay, my babbling is done!
-Rachel
I agree Rachel, and i think the reason he calss everyone into court is because he is puritan. Puritans know the world is just a trail before heavan and they know how flawed the human race is. And since puritans are supposed to be the elect and better than everyone else, he may have felt that they ahve a certain standard to uphold that is higher then the rest. he may have wanted to evaluate these people and see if they really were part of the elect and knew what good really was supposed to be. Plus he's going to follow the pastor like a sheep (hehe biblical analogy) as anyone who is religious will, because of the hierarchy of a religiuos organization where the priests are ranked above the general congergation of said religious establishment. sorry if this makes little sense i just got to that part in the book and am a little confused myself
Abby.....that whore! She is such a liar but shes smart. She does not seem attached to the church like any other Puritan in Salem. Definitely not a general of the devil but she does not believe like the others. She is smart because she knows that these Puritan men will hang anyone who looks guilt or into witchcraft.
In Act 3 she easily gets the other girls to go along with the plan of making Mary Warren look like a liar. They act tremendously and they actually frustrate Mary so much she gives in and goes back to the girls' side. She then says Proctor is following the Devil and all due to his frustration he says some things that will definitely hurt him in the long run.
The point is, Abby knows how to play this court game. As long as her story looks more believable and better she was going to get out of this without any trouble. She turned herself into the victim and put the trouble upon unsuspecting folk who could only confess just not to get hung.
I hate you Abby...I HATE YOU!!! You turned Proctor into a man who is now a "lecher."
Abigail is very interesting. It seems that Miller does not have a favorable view towards women in power. Abigail has possesses control over the entire town and the fate of its citizens, but she is evil. Not only is she morally corrupt, but she actually is a whore. I guess gender equality still had not quite caught on by the fifties.
I think that John Proctor is the most interesting character in the book. He is a confused protagonist. I like that he must struggle to separate right from wrong. Miller does a great job portraying the doubt and agony in his decision to confess his adultery. I also think that it was strange Elizabeth and John discussed his infidelity so frankly in act two. Not exactly what I pictured in a Puritan household...
Which brings me to my final comment. Does anyone else feel like Miller is trying to hard to incorporate Puritan elements into this play? The characters come off as slightly awkward, especially when conversing. Maybe it is because I have a different preconceived image of the time period, but the play seems a little over the top. The drama of the plot is exaggerated to capture the reader's interest. I do not think Miller is always effective when trying to balance modern interest and Puritan history.
Theresa: I felt the same way about the dialougue because it doesn't always seem to flow naturally. When reading, it feels as if words are just sort of thrown in to make it seem almost better than it actually is. This topic reminds of the class discussion we had either Monday or Tuesday about how the Puritans padded the language so that you couldn't actually find the main point. Some of the references are confusing as well.
-Rachel
One more thing about Miller's language- did anyone consider his attempts at dialogue a little awkward? Miller used grammar and speech as a measure of social class. This makes sense, considering the higher classes would be more educated than the lower classes. There is a notable difference between Reverend Hale's speech and Mary's speech. To me, however, this seems to be slightly exaggerated. I am certainly not an expert on Puritan communities, but I suspect Miller's take on speech of social classes reflects the values of his society, not the Puritan towns. How would he even know what lower class Puritans sounded like? I suppose you can infer that they did not differ much from lower classes in England. It is not like Miller had any evidence. I do not think anyone wrote about poor Puritans. Or did they?
Sorry, I am rambling. It is late...
One more thing about Miller's language- did anyone consider his attempts at dialogue a little awkward? Miller used grammar and speech as a measure of social class. This makes sense, considering the higher classes would be more educated than the lower classes. There is a notable difference between Reverend Hale's speech and Mary's speech. To me, however, this seems to be slightly exaggerated. I am certainly not an expert on Puritan communities, but I suspect Miller's take on speech of social classes reflects the values of his society, not the Puritan towns. How would he even know what lower class Puritans sounded like? I suppose you can infer that they did not differ much from lower classes in England. It is not like Miller had any evidence. I do not think anyone wrote about poor Puritans. Or did they?
Sorry, I am rambling. It is late...
QUESTION: What did Abigail mean on p.23 when she said "I have a sense for heat, John, and yours has drawn me to my window, and I have seen you looking up, burning in loneliness." ?
I couldn't decide whether this quote is metaphorical or partially literal. I thought it could refer to John lusting after Abigail (similar to the expression about a female dog during a mating season: "dog in heat."
And when Abigail says that she has a "sense for heat," is she only speaking in regards to a sense for John's heat, or some general characteristic of hers?
I know that passage was obscure, but I found it interesting because it could have so many layers of meaning to it.
Elizabeth: I couldn't find the part you mentioned about Proctor telling Abigail that her actions would condemn her to hell...
If he did say such a thing, perhaps committing adultery with Proctor and then "witch-hunting" his wife afterward is not what condemns Abigail to hell, but rather, what reveals her predestination.
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