THE CRUCIBLE



THE CRUCIBLE

Character Descriptions

|CHARACTER |DESCRIPTION |

|John Proctor |a farmer, the husband of Elizabeth Proctor and the father of three young boys |

| |sturdily built, plain spoken and does not suffer fools gladly |

| |suffers inwardly from guilt caused by an adulterous affair and counts himself a hypocrite for |

| |maintaining an undeserved “good name” |

| |contrite and solicitous in his wife’s presence and yearns to regain her respect |

| |a common man who behaves heroically under common circumstances |

| |redeems his honor by asserting his conscience before an unjust authority |

|Elizabeth Proctor |John’s wife and the mother of his sons |

| |has a clear conscience, common sense, and a lucid intelligence |

| |sometimes reticent and does not readily express her warmth |

| |decisive in crisis and stoic in the face of calamity |

| |unfailingly loyal to her husband despite his infidelity |

|Abigail Williams |a beautiful and willful seventeen-year-old orphan in the care of her uncle, Reverend Parris |

| |has been strongly affected by her illicit relationship with John Proctor and refuses to believe |

| |him when he vows it is over |

| |seeks to revenge herself against Elizabeth Proctor and pursues this goal relentlessly |

| |an audacious, cunning, and facile liar |

| |bullies the younger and weaker girls and cleverly manipulates those in authority |

|Reverend John Hale |the church authority on demonology who is summoned to Salem |

| |proud of his scholarly expertise |

| |too self involved at first to assess accurately either integrity or the duplicity of others |

| |the character who undergoes the greatest transformation in the play, his painful metamorphosis |

| |beginning as he awakens to the consequence of his actions |

| |ultimately breaks with the court and denounces the trials |

| |the only figure of authority to experience remorse or exhibit moral courage |

|Deputy Governor Danforth |the presiding judge at the Salem trials and the highest figure of authority in the play |

| |an imposing presence and supreme confidence that induces others to acquiesce readily to his |

| |authority |

|Judge Hathorne |Danforth’s cruel, vengeful deputy |

| |fawns on Danforth, even as he is ruthlessly contemptuous of the townspeople |

| |implacably determined to uphold the legitimacy of the court, even at the expense of truth and |

| |justice |

|Mary Warren |a lonely, impressionable girl who is servant to the Proctors |

| |timorous and easily manipulated because of her desire for acceptance |

| |embraces her mission to root out witches because it has transformed her dreary existence into a |

| |momentous drama of great consequence |

|Reverend Samuel Parris |a widower in his forties who has been minister at Salem for three years |

| |obsessed with securing his social position and material prerogatives |

| |an opportunist who acts solely from self-interest |

| |hypocritically adjusts his stands to accommodate shifts in the wind and the wishes of his patrons|

| |fawns on superiors and treats underlings with contempt |

|Giles Corey |83 years old, sturdy, mettlesome, and fiercely independent landowner |

| |can be unenlightened and pig-headed, but is also warm-hearted and undaunted |

| |made an avocation of asserting his rights in court by filing 33 separate suits against his |

| |neighbors |

| |reveals himself in the end to be a man of awesome courage and will |

|Thomas Putnam |a prominent landowner |

| |believes he is entitled to wield great influence and harbors deep grudges against those who do |

| |not defer to him |

| |arrogant and greedy |

| |exploits witch hunt hysteria to steal land from his neighbors |

|Ann Putnam |Thomas Putnam’s wife |

| |seven of her eight children die in infancy |

| |consumed by the need to find a scapegoat for this tragedy |

|Francis Nurse |a prosperous landowner and a member of the faction that opposes Parris |

| |highly respected and has served as unofficial arbitrator of local disputes |

|Rebecca Nurse |72 and the wife of Francis |

| |widely revered for her charitable works |

| |displays a gentleness and dignity that are immediately apparent to all |

|Ezekial Cheever |a tailor who has been appointed an officer of the court |

| |superstitious and credulous |

| |uses his newfound status to lord it over others |

|Marshal Herrick |lacks Cheever’s malice but unquestioningly carries out his orders |

| |automatically yields his conscience to authority |

|Tituba |a black slave in her forties whom Parris has brought with him from Barbados |

| |confesses under Hale’s badgering to being in league with the Devil |

| |loses her grip on reality as a result of her imprisonment and persecution |

|Betty Parris |the daughter of Samuel Parris |

| |suffers at the beginning of the play from an unexplained illness |

|Susanna Wolcott |one of the girls who join Abigail in the “crying out” |

|Mercy Lewis |another of the girls who join Abigail |

|Sarah Good |a poor, half-crazed, homeless woman |

| |among those arrested for witchcraft |

|Hopkins |a guard at the Salem jail |

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