Mandrake Root and White Myrtle

        Abigail Williams is, frankly, a little witch (though not in the way the Salem citizens view the term). In Act Two, Scene 2 (the scene in the Appendix), she really shows her true colors and what, exactly, her ‘identity’ is within this text. In fact, through this scene, the reads can see both her individual and social identity.

            The first would be her individual identity. She paints herself to be nothing more than a victim. The saddest thing is, however, she really seems to believe herself to be entirely preyed upon. We see her delusional mind in two places here: first, when she complains that she “ought be given Godly looks when [she] suffer for them as [she] do” (149). This sounds just like something the famous Ebony Way stated once in My Immortal. She is complaining that men find her attractive, and more than that she’s comparing her appearance to that of God’s, which is probably a huge NO-NO for these people. The second peek into her psych comes from when she pulls her dress up to show Proctor her ‘wounds.’ When she finishes speaking, Proctor’s next line is started with a stage-direction that says, “seeing her madness now” (149). This direction implies that there is nothing there. There are no “holes from…damned needles and pins” (149). It’s in her head, and Proctor realizes this; after this, he goes on to try to catch her in her delusion.

            Her social identity does partial come from the point made before, that Proctor sees her as crazed and lying b…witch, but she continues to show her true self throughout the rest of the scene. Basically, her entire reason for spewing lies (as well as likely making herself actually believe them) is because she’s jealous. She wants Proctor to herself, and hates that he’s married. She will do anything to make him hers. She wants his wife hanged for witchcraft. She even says “I will make you such a wife when the world is white again” (150). The problem is however, she got herself all wrapped up and confused, thus slipping up. When Proctor tells her that his wife is going to be tried the next day, she acts like she wasn’t entirely aware of it. This does not match her previous statement about being with him once everything was good. Having said that implied that she knew that Mrs. Proctor was on her way to being “gone.” Abigail is a squirmy-slippery-worm that has both a nasty individual identity as well as a social one (even if only Proctor sees it).  

          Oh, and a side note that I found to be interesting…The witch in the first Witcher is named Abigail. Only now do I know that it’s a reference to the actual Salem Witch Trials.