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What are the strengths, flaws, and motivations of Abigail Williams in The Crucible?

Abigail's strengths include determination and intelligence.  She is determined both to win back her former lover, John Proctor, as well as to exact revenge on any in her community who have impugned her reputation.  It seems likely that, once Abigail saw the power granted to Tituba to make accusations, she realized that she, too, could possess such a power, as she began, cleverly, to make accusations immediately afterward herself.  She is dedicated to John, so much so that she attempts to rid him of his wife, Elizabeth, by accusing her of witchcraft.


Abigail's flaws include dishonesty and selfishness.  Out of her dedication to John and her determination to justify herself to the community, Abigail tells  lies that result in the death and imprisonment of many people.  She selfishly puts her desire to be with John over the well-being of countless others, essentially murdering them to gain power for herself.


Abigail is motivated by love/lust and a desire for power.  When Parris asks her, at the beginning of the play, if her name is entirely "white" in the town, Abigail becomes instantly angry and defensive, insisting that there is no "blush" on her reputation (a lie).  She wants to gain power in the community so that she can punish those she believes to have wronged her as well as to eliminate those who she believes stand in the way of her relationship with John.

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