Published Paper Details:

Louka and Abigail Williams, the daring women of modernist plays, rise from their servile positions to knock down patriarchy. Louka, the self-dignified maid of the Petkoff mansion in Shaw's Arms and the Man, scoffs at the servile attitudes she is expected of. If Bluntschli is the mouthpiece of Shaw then the dramatist makes Louka his weapon to crush the blisters in the society that have blinded people since time immemorial. On the other hand, set in the solemn Salem in the sixteenth century, Arthur Miller's The Crucible, presents Abigail Williams, the pretty and vengeful seventeen year old who strives to win her lost reputation back. Though Abigail has gained her place ever since as the one who have garnered criticism, it is striking for a teenager to toss the glaring reproach of society and throw her heart out to the man she loves. Both Sergius Saranoff, the devotee of higher love and the already married John Proctor, the soi-disant responsible husband, are devalued the moment their admirers attempt the insurmountable. This leaves the chivalrous men with a momentary lapsed phase, standing numb. The existence of both the men are marred by the rebellious personas of their female counterparts. The repeated cries and outbursts they receive from the damsels actually shake the inert minds of the men making them realise that they harbor a soft corner for the girls. Yet the societal wall bars them from expressing their love. For Louka, it costs her a tight grab that earns a bruise whereas Abigail is threatened and labelled a whore. It is the lack of education which prevents the ladies from being aware of class distinction. This helps them take the deceitful means to blatant truth rather than the more civilised ways of concealment and reserve, the traits women were expected of. The present paper attempts to compare both Louka and Abigail Williams as women who step beyond their class and gender constrictions to achieve what is rightfully their own as femme fatales.