Abigail is Parris’ niece - her parents were killed: “I saw Indians smash my dear parents’ heads on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down” and she thinks that this makes her harder and stronger than the other girls. She seems at first to be a quiet, good girl but later in the play you find that she had an affair with John Proctor and is still trying to take him from his wife “Give me a word John a soft word.” Even though he refuses, saying “No, no Abby. That’s done with.” She still tries - “John - I am waitin’ for you every night.” She does not appear to have a problem with lying at all not even when this causes many people to be hung “I saw Goody Sibber with the devil” “I saw Goody booth with the devil” “The girl, the Williams girl, . . . - testify it were your wife’s familiar spirit pushed it in.” “Oh Mary it is a deadly sin . . . it’s God’s work I do.” On stage she at first seems “[all worry and apprehension and propriety]” but she soon gains a “[…confidential, wicked air.]” she is a very confident and realistic liar and I think that if I were in the audience I would see her as a very nasty girl who has many hidden feelings.
Hale is - at the beginning of the play - someone who seems to enjoy hunting witches and being a specialist in witchcraft. “My, they’re heavy” “ They must be; . . .authority” However in act 3 he changes his mind and decides the accusations are silly and getting out of hand. “[Indicating ABIGAIL and the girls] “You cannot believe them!”” Hale is shown to be very authoritative and fair and I think if I saw him in the play I would have deep respect for him by the end.
John Proctor is a very strong and a respected farmer who has very high morals and a lot of pride, this is why he will not admit witchcraft: “Woman! It is pride, it is vanity.” “He is a sinner, a sinner not only against the moral fashion of the time, but against his own vision of decent conduct” He is seen to be very proud and “respected, even feared in Salem” but later in the play you see that he “has come to regard himself as a kind of a fraud” I think that his stage actions show him as confident but from some of his lines and emotions you see he is ashamed.
Mary Warren seems very timid at first but then becomes a lot stronger: “It is a mouse no more, I forbid her to go and she rises up her chin like the daughter of a prince and says to me ‘I must go to Salem, Goody Proctor; I am an official of the court!’” She finds her strength and tells John Proctor that she has saved Elizabeth’s life “I saved her life today!” “I am accused?” “Somewhat mentioned. Bu I said . . . they dismissed it.” John Proctor persuades her to go with him to the courts: “It were pretence, sir” “Ah? And the other girls? Susanna Walcott, and the others? They are also pretending?” “Aye, sir” However when Abigail accuses her of being a witch she panics and lies about John Proctor to get herself out of any trouble: “You’re the Devil’s man!” Her actions on stage show that she is very worried “[…subservient, naive, lonely girl.]”
Deputy governor Danforth has “exact loyalty to his position and his cause” and is though to be a “ weighty” and “wise judge” who tries to do what is best. He represents the law and is well respected “Unless you doubt my Probity” “I surely do not, sir.” However he could not really judge witches, as there were flaws in the law and he knew this “In an ordinary crime, how does one defend the accused? One calls up witnesses . . . we are most eager for all their confessions.” He likes to be in control - but this is understandable as it is his court “[He stands at the window. Now, having established that he will set the gait]”. He believes the liars - Abigail and the other girls instead of John Proctor and Mary Warren but that is an easy mistake to make as they are very convincing liars and there are a lot of them. Although he is only in act three he seems to be a fair judge, who tries to bring justice to those who deserve is, but he does not make the right choices.
Parris is quite new to the village, he represents religion (as he is the reverend) and this is very important to the village, what he says is what is done: “It is not good for you to say what it is good for you to hear” but he is not really liked by very many people “It must come out - my enemies will bring it out. Let me know what you done there. Abigail, do you understand that I have many enemies?” He seems to think that he is better than everyone else and deserves a lot because: “I left a thrifty business in Barbados to serve the lord.” He also thinks that Abigail will owe him a debt for the rest of her life that she will never be able to pay because he took her in and he uses this against her if she ever does something he does not like “Abigail, I have fought here three long years … Your name in the town - it is entirely white is it not?” He seems to be more worried about what other people think of him than what he is doing to other people and he “believed he was being persecuted wherever he went.” I don’t think the audience of this play would like him very much.
The main reason that the Salem witch trials became so over the top is that once the executions had begun, no one would accept that they had made a mistake and stop them. Although Tituba started the accusations of other people, certain people made the disaster even worse and I believe that these people were, Abigail, Mary Warren and Parris. All had a clear reason for this - Abigail began by telling these lies: “ no-one was naked! You mistake yourself Uncle” “I saw Goody Hawkins with the devil” “I saw Goody Booth with the devil” She makes mass hysteria in the village - accusing more and more people of witchcraft, to get herself out of trouble. When she accuses Elizabeth Proctor of stabbing her using a poppet her aim is to get rid of Elizabeth and be with John. Her lie about Mary Warren’s Spirit: “Why do you . . . yellow bird” “My face? My face?” “Oh Mary this is a black art to change your shape. No, I cannot, I cannot stop my mouth; it’s God’s work I do.” Is very believable because of her actions onstage and the girls catching on to what she is doing and following her lead. She does not appear to be worried about telling so many lies and causing so many people to be hung.
Mary Warren could have tried to show Abigail was lying but she stopped when there was the possibility of getting herself into trouble, then when she could have said John Proctor forced her to lie she instead said he was “ the devils man”
Parris did many things to make the disaster a disaster: he called Hale when the problem could have been sorted out within the village. He then hid from the court that he caught Abigail and the other girls in the wood dancing, (John Proctor tells the court this anyway). He also tried to convince the judges John Proctor and Mary Warren were lying about the witchcraft being pretence: “ Excellency, since I come to Salem this man is blackening my name. He-” “Your Excellency, this is a trick to blind the court.” He also preached hell and damnation a lot “I have trouble enough without I come five mile . . . you hardly ever mention god anymore” “can you speak one minute without we land in hell again? I am sick of hell!” and this may be another reason the accusations of witchcraft escalated.
Hale is also partly to blame in the disaster, as he forces Tituba into confessing for witchcraft: “Now Tituba, I know when we bind ourselves with hell it is very hard to break with it.” “open yourself, Tituba - open yourself and let God’s holy light shine upon you.” He then prompts her to name other people she has seen with the devil “who came to you with the devil? Two? Three? Four? How many?” However in act three he then decides he does not believe Abigail and tries to convince the judges that what they are hearing from Abigail is lies: “You cannot believe them” and referring to yellow bird: “ I see nothing, your honour” When Mary Warren accuses John Proctor of being the devils man he says “Excellency this child’s gone wild” However no-one will listen to him so he quits the court. “ I denounce these proceedings” “I quit this court!” At the end of the play he tries to get Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor to confess to witchcraft and so keep their lives.
John Proctor tries to show everyone Abigail is lying by getting Mary Warren to go to the court and say it was pretence “You will tell the court with me, Mary. You will tell it the court.” “” You will tell the court how that poppet came here and who stuck that needle in.” This then turns into him being questioned for trying to undermine the court - “Have you ever seen the devil?” “ You are in all respects a gospel Christian?” Abigail says Mary Warren is sending her spirit to child her, so he confesses his affair with her to prove she is a liar: “How do you call Heaven! Whore! Whore!” However, when questioned about it, Elizabeth Proctor does not realise that the truth has been told and denies that she sacked Abigail for having an affair: “Is your husband a lecher!” “No Sir” John Proctor is hung at the end of the play as he will not admit witchcraft.
I think that there are two quotes, which sum up the play, showing the unfairness and injustice of the Salem witch-hunt. John Proctor said exactly what the trials achieved: “ You are pulling heaven down and raising up a whore!” and Hale was very right when he said “I may shut my conscience to it no more - private vengeance is working through this testimony!” Because this is what Abigail and the other girls were doing, accusing people who they did not like or wanted to be hung, because everyone believed them.
