The Crucible Character Flaws.

 The Crucible Character Flaws

The Crucible is a play riddled with characters that are flawed in many ways. The way that I define having flaws is characters that have committed a crime or something that is looked down upon and continue to commit these crimes. .If I were to list the characters that I believe to be the least to most flawed the order that I would choose would be Mary Warren, Reverend Hale, Mr. Putnam, Reverend Parris, Abigail Williams, and then John Proctor, then Judge Danforth 

Mary Warren is the least flawed character on my list because although she helped in the accusation of witchcraft on the women in Salem she is also a kid and was threatened by Abby to tell a lie and help get Elizabeth proctor hanged. When she is on trial. Mary Warren does however accuse John of witchcraft when she states “You are the Devil’s Man!” But I still believe that because she is a child it is hard to blame her for making bad decisions.

Reverend Hale is a semi flawed character who is so caught up in religion being the only explanation to anything that he is blinded by the lies and hysteria that is being quickly spread around the village of Salem. Reverend Hale states”Here is all the invisible world, caught, defined, and calculated. In these books the Devil stands stripped of all his brute disguises. Here are all your familiar spirits – your incubi and succubi; your witches that go by land, by air, and by sea; your wizards of the night and of the day. Have no fear now – we shall find him out if he has come among us, and I mean to crush him utterly if he has shown his face!” This shows that Hale did mean good and he actually wanted to help out the town but he was so distracted by religion that he didn’t see the truth of the matter.

Mr. Putnam is next on my list because I think that his actions in the play were very bad and his actions were deplorable and many people died due to his accusations. A quote from him states “That is a notorious sign of witchcraft afoot, Good Nurse, a prodigious sign!” This shows that he believes in witchcraft. Also he is a very greedy man and accused people of witchcraft for his own personal gain.

The next on my list is Reverend Parris. I think that he is flawed because he continued to proclaim that Abigail was possessed by witchcraft instead of just stating the obvious that they were fooling around in the woods. A quote from him in the first act states “Now look you, child, your punishment will come in its time. But if you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know it now, for surely my enemies will, and they will ruin me with it.” This shows that he is a very greedy selfish person who doesn’t want his reputation ruined.

Abbigail Is next up because I think that her actions may have been some of the worst in the entire play but I also think that she is a child who definitely has mental problems so it’s hard to really blame her for her actions. I do still think that because she threatened to kill other girls that is a very flawed character trait. This quote shows an example of that "Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you."

John Proctor is a very flawed character for many reasons, he is a liar, a cheater and cares too much about his reputation. A good example of him cheating is when he gets accused of it by Elizabeth. Elizabeth says this about him “I do not judge you. The magistrate sits in your heart that judges you. I never thought you but a good man, John – only somewhat bewildered.” This shows that she knows he is a cheater and still stays with him; it also shows one of his flaws.

I believe that Judge Danforth has the most flaws out of any character in the entire play. Judge Danforth is a pretentious, selfish and greedy man who is so caught up in his own pride and reputation that he completely neglects the actual facts and evidence that were presented to him so that he wouldn’t look wrong. “You must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between.” Is a quote from Judge Danforth where he basically states that if you are not with him then you are against him no matter what you think.