Abigail and Attention
Gigi Domine
Some people will do anything to get attention, and it shows. Written by Arthur Miller, The Crucible is a play script about the 17th century Salem witch trials. The story follows Abigail, Betty, and others as they cry witchcraft and make claims of dark sorcery in the small Massachusetts town. The young women in Salem accused others of witchcraft because most of them were devoid of a proper parental figure, and were desperate for attention.
At the start of the play, Betty is just a teenage girl without a mother, and it affects her. She needed someone there to guide her and steer her in the right direction in life, and Proctor hardly did that for her. Near the beginning of Act 1, Betty falls “ill”, and calls for her mother. “I want my mama!” (p.18), she cries. Betty is obviously supposed to be delirious in this scene, but reading the text, it doesn’t seem like feverous, meaningless chatter, especially considering that her state of incapacitation was theoretically witchcraft-induced, and the sorcery in question wasn’t real. Without a mother, Betty didn’t have as much of a firm, motherly role in her life. She stayed with her father, Parris, and Abigail. With the influence of a sometimes mischievous older teenager as her only motherly or sisterly role, Abby doesn’t really have anyone there to teach her to do what is right, and think for herself, rather than just getting sucked into these schemes and plots from her friends that influence her.
Abigail is desperate for attention, and makes these outrageous accusations of witchcraft because of it. When Abigail is released from her job under Goody Proctor, she says, “She hates me, Uncle, she must, for I would not be her slave”(p. 11). This sentence shows how Abigail needed validation and attention from others, and when she was forced to actually work, rather than just sort of act like she was working, she couldn’t do it. She wanted to be the lead role of a narrative that wasn’t about her. In another part of the play, John Proctor refers to her as a child. “How dare you call me child!” (p. 22), Abigail cries in response. She hates to be lessened and looked down upon. She even has a tantrum in which she attempts to kill Elizabeth. When Proctor ends their affair, she immediately accused his wife, Elizabeth, of being a witch. Abigail was jealous that attention once devoted to her was gone, and she didn’t have anyone looking at her in the same loving way that Proctor once did.
After the town is fully caught up in their witch hunt and the girls are getting the attention they desperately want, they band together to create a greater uprising from the townspeople. In Act 3, all of the girls start having these so-called visions about a giant bird up on the rafters. They then continue to repeat everything Mary Warren says. “The wings! Her wings are spreading! Mary, please, don’t, don’t-!”, Abigail calls out. Abigail is the ringleader of sorts, the girl who brings everyone together and convinces them all to do things that maybe aren’t the best idea, or could get them into lots of trouble. But the other young townswomen enjoy the attention the court shows them when they tell their stories, and Abigail has influence with other girls in Salem, and they’re inclined to listen to her when she suggests that there may be unnatural happenings in town.
The young women of Salem all need something they don’t get enough of or don’t have- like attention, or a more supporting parental figure. Not having a mother, getting enough attention, or being under the influence of daring or risky friends drove the young women of Salem to do things they might not have ordinarily done. Because of that, they accused other women of their own of being witches hoping to get their needs fulfilled.
