Abigail Williams is the vehicle that drives the play. In the Crucible, Abigail Williams represents the main antagonist. She is uniquely gifted ad spreading death wherever she goes. Abigail has a scary and eerie sense of how to control and manipulate others, and her abilities in this are shown multiple times throughout the play. In Act One, her ability to manipulate others is put on full display. As soon as she's on the verge of being accused of witchcraft, she expertly maneuvers the whole thing on Tituba and other second-class citizens in Salem. After persuading Tituba to cast the spells, Abigail still stabs her in the back by pinning it all on her. The spells made were of course on Elizabeth Procter. Ever since Abigail had an affair with John Proctor, Abigail has sought out to get rid of Elizabeth and replace her. Abigail is the exact opposite of Elizabeth. Abigail represents all of the repressed desires-sexual and material- that of which all Puritans in colonial America possess. The difference is that Abigail does not suppress her desires, and as soon as she commits a sin of sleeping with John Proctor, she does not acknowledge it, and instead because the mastermind behind the chaos that has begun. It is shown that Abigail's main ability and skill is to find people's weaknesses and insecurities and to manipulate them, giving her all of the power. .
Abigail's malevolent ways are shown again in Act Two when she tries to accuse and frame Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft. Not only does she try to frame Elizabeth, but in Act 3 she unexpectedly betrays John Proctor, whom she claims to love. This is so surprising because her motives to the reader are suddenly changed. Throughout the play we thought that her main purpose of committing these awful sins and causing havoc and death in Salem, was just so she could have John Proctor to herself. The need for power and control over everyone we discover greatly outweighs her supposed love for John Proctor.
