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Crucible Essay: Color's Effect in Abigail Williams Character
by Aria (crune@coqui.net)




	In the movie "The Crucible", Abigail Williams is a sixteen-year-old 

girl belonging to a strict Puritan community.  Due to the deaths of her 

parents, she is taken to live with the Proctor family, where her liaison with

John Proctor, the head of the family and a married man, gets her thrown out. 

The character of Abigail Williams is greatly enhanced by the use of color.  

Specifically, color helps greatly in portraying Abby's traits and her growth 

throughout the movie.   

	One example of how colors portray Abby's traits is the fact that 

Abigail is alienated from the Puritan community because of her being an 

orphan.  Also, because of  her relationship with Proctor, Abby is more mature

and less naïve than the other girls of her age group, which makes her the 

leader.  The colors of her dress reflect these characteristics, since Abby 

stands out, wearing a light brown dress in contrast to the other girls, which

wear blue and red ones.

	Another trait that can be shown through the color of her dress is 

that, while Abby may be more mature than the other girls and less naïve, she 

is still somewhat innocent and childish.  Instead of wearing a darker color 

such as black, which can convey total seriousness and maturity, Abby wears a 

light brown dress at the beginning, as mentioned.  Her childishness is shown 

in her first encounter with John Proctor, after being thrown out.  She 

behaves like a child throwing a tantrum, going to the point of pleading 

desperately for him to stay with her and even insulting his wife.
	
	In the actual opening scene of the movie, color helps foreshadow a 

side of Abby, which will later come to light.  While she may not be wearing a

dress in a radically different color this time, her hair is loose and framing

her face.  Other girls might have their hair loose, but Abby's dark hair 

makes her face look even paler than usual.  That in particular adds in her an 

appearance of recklessness as well as a touch of evil.  
	
	As mentioned before, colors also aid in the portrayal of Abby's 

growth, her changes throughout the movie. The bit of innocence she had at the

beginning starts to fade away with Abby's desperation and obsession with 

Proctor and this is reflected by her the colors she wears from the middle to 

the end.  She wears darker colors such as navy blue.  Even her eyes, which 

are called the "windows to the soul", gain dark circles underneath, giving 

the viewer a clue about her state of mind, she seems to be consumed by her 

desire for vengeance on Proctor's wife. By the middle of the film, during 

Mary's trial, Abby actually looks evil.
	
	The pleading desperation she once had regarding Proctor is gone in 

her second encounter with him.  Once again Abby's hair is loose and framing 

her face, much like in the opening scene.  She is also wearing a navy blue 

dress, which seems black due to the lighting used in the scene.  Abby looks 

fearless, even while Proctor threatens her.  Her innocence and naïveté gone, 

in that scene Abby seems almost as old as Proctor himself.

	There is no doubt that Abby, like the other characters in 

"The Crucible", undergoes a certain growth or change.  In her case the change

 consists of her completely losing the remaining bit of innocence she had.  

Abby is shown to be the antagonistic character since the beginning--but only 

a young woman on a whim, but as the film progresses, though, she becomes a 

force to be reckoned with.  Colors are the means by which the viewer can 

focus on this changes and which can highlight important characteristics.  

They also play an important part in the characterization of Abby--emphasizing

 on those traits, which define her role in the movie.




End 

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