Reverend Hale
Changes his mind on the trials and quits the court because he realizes the corruption of the court.
Ann Putnam
Had seven children die, Ruth's mother.
John Proctor
Doesn't attend church regularly, tells the court about his affair, hangs.
Judge Danforth
His signature is responsible for 400 people being in jail and for 72 people being condemned to hang.
Elizabeth Proctor
Wife of John Proctor, denies John's adultery, cold to John.
Thomas Putnam
Rich man bitter over land, father of the seven children who died shortly after birth.
Reverend Parris
Preaches hellfire, Abigail's uncle, Betty Parris's dad.
Betty Parris
Reverend Parris's daughter, comatose at the beginning of the play.
Ezekiel Cheever
Arrests Elizabeth Proctor, assists in court proceedings.
Mary Warren
The Proctors' present servant, gives the poppet to Elizabeth.
Francis Nurse
Tries to defend his wife in court, Rebecca Nurse's husband.
Abigail Williams
Leads the girls in accusations, Reverend Parris's niece, drank blood.
Tituba
From Barbados, servant to Reverend Parris.
Rebecca Nurse
Seventy-two-year-old woman, respected in Salem, refuses to confess.
Giles Corey
His wife is accused, he refuses to confess and is crushed with rocks.
Abigail Williams
She is blackening my name in the village! She is telling lies about me! She is a cold, sniveling woman, and you bend to her! Let her turn you like a—
Ann Putnam
Reverend Parris, I have laid seven babies unbaptized in the earth. Believe me, sir, you have never saw more hearty babies born. And yet, each one would wither in my arms the very night of their birth.
Elizabeth Proctor
Spoke or silent, a promise is surely made. And she may dote on it now—I am sure she does—and thinks to kill me, then to take my place.
Elizabeth Proctor
I think you must go to Salem, John... I think so. You must tell them it is a fraud.
John Proctor
She thinks to dance with me on my wife's grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore's vengeance, and you must see it now.
Reverend Hale
Excellency, I have signed 72 death warrants; I am a minister of the Lord, and I dare not take a life without there be a proof so immaculate no slightest qualm of conscience may doubt it.
Mary Warren
My name, he want my name. 'I'll murder you,' he says, 'if my wife hangs! We must go and overthrow the court,' he says!... He wake me every night, his eyes were like coals and his fingers claw my neck, and I sign, I sign...
Judge Danforth
I tell you straight, Mister—I have seen marvels in this court. I have seen people choked before my eyes by spirits; I have seen them stuck by pins and slashed by daggers. I have until this moment not the slightest reason to suspect that the children may be deceiving me. Do you understand my meaning?
John Proctor
In the proper place—where my beasts are bedded. On the last night of my joy, some eight months past. She used to serve me in my house, sir. A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you—see her what she is. My wife, my dear good wife, took this girl soon after, sir, and put her out on the highroad. And being what she is, a lump of vanity, sir. Excellency, forgive me, forgive me... I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore's vengeance, and you must see it; I set myself entirely in your hands, I know you must see it now.
Elizabeth Proctor
Do what you will. But let none be your judge. There be no higher judge under Heaven than Proctor is! Forgive me, forgive me, John—I never knew such goodness in the world!
Allegory
A story in which characters and events symbolize deeper meanings and convey a message
McCarthyism
A period in the 1950s when Senator Joseph McCarthy led a campaign against suspected communists marked by fear, accusations, and unfair investigations
Arthur Millers Purpose
An allegory for McCarthyism highlighting the dangers of hysteria and accusations