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Abbie is a foil for the other characters in the play, her vibrant personality and youthful desires acting as a contrast to Cabot and an enticement to Eben. She plays an important role in the events that transpire by creating conflict. She also brings vivaciousness and energy to the household and the play itself.
Abbie has had a difficult life filled with hard work and largely dvoid of love. She and Eben both have similar desires—for affection and a home—but since the text sympathizes most with Eben, Abbie is cast as a suspicious character from the start. For much of the play, it is unclear if she is genuinely in love with him or using him for her own ends. She is naturally cunning, using both Eben and Cabot for her own desires and goals. But in her relationship with Eben, it becomes apparent she also yearns to love and be loved, and her affection for him grows throughout the play. What may have started as a game of seduction or jealousy becomes something stronger and more tender.
Her tragic action at the end of the play is borne out of her love for Eben and, perhaps most of all, her fear of losing him. In a frantic and misguided desire to please him, she does what she thinks he wants. At the beginning of the play, she had the most power, but in the end, she cedes that power, becoming catastrophically desperate to hold onto Eben.
