Flawed Characters in The Crucible

     Every person has flaws, whether it is a minor flaw like a scar or an accent, a major flaw that can impair the individual mentally or physically, or a flaw in their belief/argument. Depending on the situation, people have more flaws in their argument than others. People tend to stick to what they believe is true/right and refuse to look at it from another perspective. Authors often create characters with both major and minor flaws so the character can seem more interesting and the reader can relate to the characters in some way. By definition, character flaws are imperfections, bias, phobia, prejudice, etc. These flaws influence their actions.

    In The Crucible, many of the characters have flawed arguments and beliefs about witchcraft in Salem. In the beginning of The Crucible, majority of the characters were one sided and refused to see it as anything but witchcraft, more characters towards the end of the play, like Reverend Hale and Reverend Parris, started to come to their senses and realize what they were supporting was wrong and harming innocent people. Some of the other characters, like Judge Danforth, got so caught up in their own ego, they couldn’t see the witch trials for what they really were.

Throughout The Crucible, many of the characters have lots of flaws in their beliefs and major/minor flaws. Between John Proctor, Abigail Williams, Reverend Hale, Reverend Parris, Mary Warren, Judge Danforth and Mr. Putnam; John is the least flawed. 

Although John Proctor did cheat on his wife with Abigail, towards the end of the play he confessed his sins. In act three he says “I have known her, sir. I have known her”. While many of the other characters have a lot of pride, John doesn't have much and the bit of pride he does have, doesn’t harshly affect the choices he makes. 

Mary Warren is somewhat flawed because of how she plays along with Abigail and the  the girls during the trials. Towards the end act three, Mary starts to come to her senses and tries to come forward and tell the truth about the girls falsely accusing townspeople of witchcraft. Eventually she cracked and thought that lying about the spirits would be better than being accused of witchcraft. When she cracks she points at John Proctor and says “You're the Devil’s man!” Then she goes on saying how Proctor wanted her to put her name in the devil’s book.

Reverend Hale’s biggest flaw is his pride. He has so much pride that it leads to his actions and makes him overconfident about his assumption of witchcraft in Salem. In act one, when Reverend Hale arrives, Reverend Parris takes some of his books and expresses how heavy they are. Reverend Hale responds with “ They must be; they are weighted with authority. Due to his pride, he automatically thinks that Betty is bewitched and that there are witches in Salem which leads to the witch trials and the hanging of innocent people. 

Mr. Putnam is pretty flawed and his biggest flaw is his selfishness. Although he has plenty of pride, his selfishness is what overcomes him. By the final acts of the play, he becomes so selfish that he uses his daughter to accuse his neighbors of witchcraft just so he can get their land. His intentions aren’t that clear until Giles Corey says “The proof is there! I have it from an honest man who heard Putnam say it! The day his daughter cried out on Jacobs, he said she’d given him a fair gift of land”. 

Reverend Parris didn’t have any other main flaws except his greed. Mr. Parris is so greedy that it affects everything he says and does while holding church. John Proctor saw through him and wouldn’t go to church because of him. John tells reverend Hale “and for twenty week he preach nothin’ but golden candlesticks until he had them”.

Jude Danforth is the second most flawed character. Like many other characters, his biggest flaw is pride. Due to his pride he refuses to see that the witch trials are a shame, while the majority of the other characters by act four have realized that. At the end of the play, when he won't see how the trials are bad and won’t let Proctor go, he says ”Hang them high over the town! Who weeps for these, weeps for corruption!”

Abigail has countless major flaws like selfishness, jealousy, and lust, which heavily influences her actions and causes her actions to be extreme. Because she had an affair with John Proctor, Abigail believes that John is in love with her but his wife, Elizabeth, is keeping him from her. Since she is so lustful in wanting him, when in the woods she wants another curse made. “You drank blood, Abby!” She gets so greedy and jealous of his marriage that she drank chicken blood in hopes to make a cure to kill Elizabeth. 

    In The Crucible, almost all of the characters have some sort of major flaw that affects their actions. Although all of these characters are flawed in some way, some are more flawed than others. Several of these characters are able to overcome their flaws while others cannot and it overcomes them. Even though John Proctor did commit adultery, he is the least flawed character, while Abigail Williams is the most flawed character.