Abigail Williams was an intelligent and manipulative young woman from Salem during the 17th century, who single-handedly started the Salem witch trials as does her controversial real-life counterpart of the same name. She is the main antagonist of many stories based on the event, namely Arthur Miller's 1953 play The Crucible. Abigail is described as "seventeen with a remarkable capacity for dissembling" who covets Elizabeth Proctor's husband John Proctor and tries to get Elizabeth killed in the Salem witch trials.