The Crucible Characters

Proctor's ProblemJohn Proctor, The Crucible's protagonist, has some major issues. We can see why. Back in the day, he had everything your average Puritan man could want: a goodly farm to ceaselessl...

Villain Extraordinaire Abigail is vengeful, selfish, manipulative, and a magnificent liar. This young lady seems to be uniquely gifted at spreading death and destruction wherever she goes. She has...

Elizabeth's positive qualities are also her negative ones. She is a virtuous woman who is steadfast and true. These traits also make her a bit of a cold fish. When we first meet her, she's especial...

Parris is a wormy little character. Miller says in his notes that he found nothing redeemable about the historical Parris. As a result, he evidently felt no need to make his fictional version any b...

Mary is a likeable enough character, but ultimately proves herself to be a bit spineless. She's one of the girls who was caught in the forest with Abigail, dancing and conjuring spirits – tho...

With notable exception of John Proctor, Hale gets our vote for most complex character in The Crucible. We say so, because Hale goes through a major personal journey over the course of the play. He...

Tituba, the Reverend Parris’s slave, is a woman from Barbados who practices what the Puritans view as “black magic.” Of course, it's mainly because the conniving Abigail manipulates her into...

Giles Corey is a strong old man and has only recently converted to Christianity. He's likeable, but is not too bright. His biggest bumble in the play is when brings up the fact that his wife reads...

Betty, Reverend Parris’s daughter, falls sick after the girls are caught dancing in the forest and conjuring spirits. Though her sickness is feigned, it spurs on the witchcraft rumors and ope...

Deputy Governor Danforth oversees the witchcraft trials in Salem, as in other parts of Massachusetts. He likes to think of himself as fair-minded, so it disturbs and angers him to discover that peo...

Thomas Putnam is a greedy man who urges Reverend Parris to be strong and face up to the witchcraft in their midst. He uses his daughter to accuse people whose property he covets. Miller, and most h...

To be fair, Mrs. Putnam might not mean any harm – she just wants to find out why her babies have been dying, and she’s sad and angry about it.

Rebecca is a pillar of the community, a devoutly religious woman in her seventies. When she is accused of witchcraft, it makes the Reverend Hale pause and reconsider whether the proceedings are jus...

Francis Nurse is a good man and a good husband who has the courage to stand up to the court and say that the judge and governor have been deceived.

Cheever is appointed by the court to arrest those accused of witchcraft. He is purely obedient to what he is told to do and doesn’t seem to consider whether he’s part of a false and unj...

We don't know much about Marshal Herrick, except that he's a marshal and his name is Herrick. He does show some kindness to Sarah Good by giving her a swig of his hard cider not long before she's a...

The judge presiding over the Salem witch trials along with Deputy Governor Danforth.

Mercy is the Putnams’ servant and Abigail’s most faithful friend. Mercy is with Abigail throughout the court proceedings, and the two of them run away from the village together when thi...

Susanna is one of the girls under Abigail’s spell (pun intended!). She joins in condemning various villagers as witches.

Sarah is a mentally unstable homeless lady whom Abigail accuses of witchcraft. Like the slave Tituba, she's an easy target because she is one of the bottom most rungs of society.

Martha Corey is accused of witchcraft after her husband, Giles, states that she reads strange books, and that her reading keeps him from praying. When she is arrested, her husband regrets talking a...

Hopkins appears briefly in Act IV as the jailer, but he doesn’t have a speaking part.