Character Description

John Proctor: On the surface, John Proctor is an upstanding, honest man. A pillar of strength. But John Proctor is a character of contradiction. He constantly wavers between displays of strength and weakness. His very first lines shows a man of strength and steel as he scolds Mary Warren for not doing her job: 'I forbid you leave, the house, did I not? Why shall I pay you?' He also seems to display strength in repelling Abigail's advances: 'I will cut off my hand before I'll ever reach for you again.' And John's seeming moral strength is shown when he vehemently accuses Reverend Parris for his greed and for failing to mention God in his sermons.

Abigail Williams: Abigail is a young woman with many obsessions. She is obsessed with John Proctor to the point that she would do anything to get rid of Elizabeth. She is obsessed with her anger - Abigail hates Salem, what it represents, and how the community's beliefs beliefs have kept her down. While most of her actions in the witch trials centre around hurting Elizabeth, Abigail also wants to hurt every person in Salem. She is obsessed with power, and more specifically with having people do whatever she wants. ABIGAIL: Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam's dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. 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. And you know I can do it; I saw Indians smash my dear parents' heads on the pillow next to mine, and I have seen some reddish work done at night, and I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down! She goes to Betty and roughly sits her up. Now, you-sit up and stop this!
But Betty collapses in her hands and lies inert on the bed. (I.113-132) We learn the true motives behind Abigail’s actions, even as she tries to get the girls to agree on a story to protect herself. She uses the threat of violence, and their belief that she might know some real witchcraft, to keep them in line.