Crucible Characters, least to most flawed.

  Throughout The Crucible all of the characters that were presented throughout the play all had flaws. Whether they were liars, selfish, or just wanting all the power/attention. No one was perfect and did everything right, there was constant conflict throughout. From least to most flawed I list the people in the order of: Reverend Hale, Mary Warren, John Proctor, Mr. Putnam, Reverend Parris, Judge Danforth, and Abigail Williams. Within the next few paragraphs I will discuss my reasoning behind the order from least to most flawed characters. 

 Being “flawed” in my opinion is defined as a person who has an undesired quality that they have within him/ herself. 

Starting off with Hale, I feel that he is the least flawed because he is easily manipulated by others, which yes is a bad flaw but compared to the other characters he is the least in my opinion.Later on in the play his personality has changed for the better.  A quote that he said was “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!!” This quote is showing he isn't certain of anything anymore. He tries to get the people to confess so that their lives are saved.

    Mary Warren is a naive young girl, she is weak, and is prone to drama. Abigail said to the court “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.” This exposes Mary’s weaknesses yet again, which resulted in John Proctor getting put in jail. All she wanted was to be on Abigail's good side.

John Proctor’s main flaw is his excessive pride within himself. He says “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies!” This is showing an example of his pride, in this quote he confesses (falsey) to witchcraft. He expresses during this that his name has to stay precious. John ends up becoming a victim due to his mistakes, by him refusing he was sentenced to death. 

Mr. Putnam is next on the list for having a good amount of flaws within himself, he is a greedy man that promotes false accusations. A quote that was said by him is “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 so great a piece.” This quote is showing him make false accusations in Act 3 so he can buy abandoned property. His family is the wealthiest in Salem, therefore, he can only buy the empty land.

    Reverend Parris is flawed due to his lying, selfishness, and being a greedy person. A quote that he said that can back this up is “Abigail, I have fought here three long years to bend these stiff-necked people to me, and now, just now when some good respect is rising for me in the parish, you compromise my very character.” He then proceeds to tell the court that he saw no naked girls dancing in the woods, but he told Abigail that he did.

Abigail is the second to most flawed due to her dishonesty and causing turmoil throughout the play. Her obsession with John  Proctor adds onto this as well. “  Look for John Proctor that took me from my sleep and put knowledge in my heart. I never knew what pretense Salem was, I never knew the lying lessons I was taught by all these Christian women and their covenanted men! And now you bid me tear the light out of my eyes? I will not, I cannot! You loved me, John Proctor, and whatever sin it is, you love me yet!” Due to her obsession she was willing to go after Elizabeth proctor. Her insanity is unreal.  

Judge Danforth has the worst flaws out of everyone presented in the Crucible as well as I blame him for the whole tragedy that occured at the end. The death and unfairness within the court is all on his hands. Danforth says in act 3 page 97 “ A person is either with this court or he must be counted against there is no road between.” This helps show Danforth's ignorance, his only concern is who is with him and who isn't. If there had been a different judge in the Salem witch trials they would have been over without death and Abigail's deception would have been brought to light. Another quote that was said by danforth was in act 4 one of the last things said was on page 146 “Hang them high over the town! Who weeps for these, weeps for corruption.” He condemns John to death for taking back his false confession.  Danforth is a corrupt judge that only cared about being right on the witch trials, nothing more and nothing less. 

To Conclude, after reading the crucible and learning about all of the characters and their own problems/ flaws that they have within themselves, it is clear that every single one of them  have flaws, some worse than others but they all were selfish and liars throughout the play.