Salem Witch Trials, Poe's Gothic Stories & Transcendentalism Key Figures

Abigail Williams

The main antagonist; Parris's niece; a former servant of the Proctors; instigator of the witch trials.

Elizabeth Proctor

John Proctor's wife, known for her honesty.

John Proctor

A local farmer; the protagonist who struggles with his conscience.

Reverend Parris

The town minister; greedy and insecure.

Reverend Hale

A young minister and expert on witchcraft, called in to investigate.

Giles Corey

An elderly, feisty farmer known for filing lawsuits. He refuses to enter a plea.

Martha Corey

Giles Corey's wife, accused of witchcraft for reading books.

Francis Nurse

A respected man in the community; husband of Rebecca Nurse.

Rebecca Nurse

A wise, pious, elderly woman, widely respected, who is accused of murder/witchcraft.

Judge Hathorne

One of the judges presiding over the witch trials.

Deputy Governor Danforth

The presiding judge/official for the trials; convinced he is doing God's work.

Mary Warren

The Proctors' current servant; a member of Abigail's group who tries to expose the fraud.

Tituba

Parris's slave from Barbados; the first person accused.

Betty Parris

Parris's daughter who falls ill after dancing in the woods.

Mercy Lewis

A servant in the Putnam house and one of the girls in Abigail's group.

Ann Putnam

A local woman who has lost seven babies at birth and believes they were murdered by witchcraft.

Thomas Putnam

A wealthy, influential land owner who uses the trials to get more land.

Susanna Walcott

One of the girls in Abigail's group.

Ezekiel Cheever

A man appointed clerk of the court during the trials.

Herris

The town marshal who often guards the prisoners.

Ruth Putnam

Ann and Thomas Putnam's daughter; she also falls ill.

Sarah Good

A homeless woman often ridiculed in Salem; one of the first two people Tituba names.

George Jacobs

A man accused of witchcraft by the Putnams to gain his land.

Bridget Bishop

A tavern keeper and one of the first people hanged in Salem.

Narrator of 'The Pit and the Pendulum'

The unnamed prisoner/victim of the Spanish Inquisition.

Narrator of 'The Fall of the House of Usher'

The unnamed, rational friend of Roderick Usher, who comes to visit.

Roderick Usher

The mentally and physically ailing master of the House of Usher; a hypochondriac.

Madeline Usher

Roderick's twin sister; severely ill; buried alive.

Reverend Hooper

From Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Minister's Black Veil, known for wearing a mysterious black veil.

Elizabeth

From Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein's adopted sister and fiancée.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A key leader of the Transcendentalist movement; author of Self-Reliance.

Henry David Thoreau

A prominent Transcendentalist; famous for Walden and Civil Disobedience.

Frederick Douglass

An escaped slave and prominent abolitionist orator and writer.

Hugh Auld

The man who bought Frederick Douglass; his wife taught Douglass to read briefly.

Sophia Auld

Hugh Auld's wife; initially kind but was corrupted by slavery and stopped teaching Douglass.

Edward Covey

The brutal slave master and 'slave-breaker' to whom Frederick Douglass was sent.

Effia Otcher

The half-sister who marries a British slave trader; her descendants remain primarily in Ghana.

Quey Collins

Effia's son, born in the Cape Coast Castle, who is sent to England for school.

Ness Stockham

The daughter of Maame (the other half-sister) and James, sold into slavery and brought to America.

Kojo/Kopeena Freeman

Ness's son; a runaway slave who finds freedom in the North.

Abena Collins

Effia's great-granddaughter, who tries to farm but eventually leaves her village.

Akua Collins

Effia's daughter; Quey's child; has mental health struggles and a baby taken from her.

Willie Black

Kojo's great-granddaughter; a jazz singer who moves North.

Carson 'Sonny' Clifton

Willie's son, a struggling jazz musician and heroin addict.

Marjorie Agyekum

A Ghanaian immigrant attending Stanford; descends from Effia's line.

Marcus Clifton

Sonny's grandson (descends from Kojo's line); a sociology graduate student.