The Crucible: Character Flaws

  

 The Crucible is an American Playwright that is based around the Salem Witch Trials.  These trials and the playwright took place during the 1600s. The playwright followed the same theme as the historic event, when considering accusations people made of each other. These accusations caused major conflict, and brought out each character's flaws. In The Crucible I define a flaw as a sin that a character has made. There are seven major characters within the playwright that each have flaws. (Some more than others.) 

    Reverend Hale is the least flawed character in The Crucible. Hale is considered a spiritual doctor, and he tries to help people recover from their sins. Hale’s greatest flaw is his lack of clarity within his morals. In Act 4 Reverend Hale stated, “I come to do the Devil’s work. I come to counsel Christians they should believe in themselves. There is blood on my head! Can you not see the blood on my head!!” With this, the audience can clearly see Hale is questioning his own morals. Even with that, Hale realizes that John Proctor is telling the truth and Hale reveals his guilt. His guilt shows his empathy and this weakens his overall flaws. 

Mr. Putnam shows that he is more flawed than Reverend Hale with his greedy tendencies. Although the trials proved to be destructive to the town of Salem, Mr. Putnam encouraged the trials. He did this with the motive of increasing his property. When talking about Mr. Putnam, in Act 3,  Giles Cory stated, “If Jacobs hangs for a witch he “forfeit up his property—that’s law! And there is none but Putnam with the coin to buy such a great piece.” From this Giles Cory is able to comprehend that Mr. Putnam is killing his neighbors for land. His flaw of greed is weakened because he is one of many who are accused of witchcraft. This doesn’t make it okay or less sinful, but instead it takes the focus away from Mr. Putnam. 

Judge Danforth ranks right after Mr. Putnam on the list of flawed characters in The Crucible. When the trials began he showed the audience his true colors. Danforth refused to accept the truth. He knew that he would be humiliated if he went back on his previous judgement. In fact, in Act 4 Danforth stated, “Hang them high over the town! Who weeps for these, weeps for corruption!” In this, Danforth is condemning both the proctor and other innocent lives to death, just because he can’t get over his own reputation. This does present a major flaw, but Danforth’s flaws don’t contribute to the overall tragedy until the end of the play. 

Parris is an additional character in the play that shows his reputation is his flaw. In the beginning of the play, Parris’s daughter Betty was faking being possessed. All Parris thought was that his daughter was taken over by witchcraft. Instead of being concerned about his daughter, he showed that he only cares about his reputation. He even stated, “I have fought here three long years to bend these stiff-nerved people to me". Here he is inferring that he has come so far with his reputation, and he doesn’t want his daughter to ruin it for him. This proves that his biggest flaw is how blinded he is by his reputation.

Mary proved to be more flawed than Parris because of how weak she was. In the beginning of the play Mary was only seen as a follower. She followed the other girls under Abby’s rule. By the time the trials came along, Mary had more power. This power decided the fate of both of the Proctors. Originally she fought for the Proctors, but her biggest flaw of being weak came through. She spread false information when stating, "You are the Devil's man!", to John Proctor. It is not that she has fallen under Abigail’s spell, but instead she is weak and afraid of Abby. 

Abigail follows Mary Warren as the next most flawed character in the play. Abby is more flawed than Mary because Mary lacks the maliciousness of Abigail. Before the play began, Abigail and John had an affair. This brought out Abby’s worst flaws. This being her jealousy and how easily blinded she was by vengeance and lust. Jealousy is her most prominent flaw. When speaking to Reverend Parris Abby states, “It’s a bitter woman, a lying, cold, sniveling woman, and I will not work for such a woman!” Here Abby is speaking about Elizabeth, and her tone solely roots from jealousy. Abby’s jealousy caused the entirety of the witch trials to begin. 

Finally, John Proctor is the most flawed character in the play. As previously mentioned, John had an affair with Abigail. Months after the affair John even stated, "I may think of you softly from time to time. But I will cut off my hand before I ever reach for you again.” At this point Abby is brainwashed. John gave Abigail false hope and he led her on. Moreover, multiple other characters showed that their biggest flaw was their reputation. John Proctor keeps his reputation in mind. He doesn’t confess right away because his reputation sticks with him. He doesn’t want his confession to ruin his name in his life as a farmer, and he also realizes that it will ruin his family's reputation.