The Crucible
by Arthur Miller
Table of Contents
Cast of Characters
Reverend Samuel Parris—The recently installed minister in the town of Salem, he feels that his authority is constantly being questioned, and comes to see the witch trials as an opportunity to solidify his position.
Betty Parris—The Reverend’s 10-year-old daughter, she is suffering a mysterious illness as the play opens. Later she becomes caught up in the group of girls accusing various townspeople of witchcraft.
Tituba—Reverend Parris’ Negro slave, and originally from the island of Barbados, she is caught in a difficult position. Ann Putnam asks her to “conjure” the spirits of seven babies who died shortly after childbirth, in an effort to find out why the babies died. However, the reverend discovers her conjuring and dancing with the girls in the forest, landing her in the middle of the controversy over witchcraft and forcing her to go along with the anti-witch crusade in order to save herself.
Abigail Williams—An attractive but slippery 17-year-old girl, she is both Reverend Parris’s niece and the former employee of John Proctor, with whom she had an affair. She perceives Tituba’s conjuring as an opportunity to put a curse on John’s wife Elizabeth, and ends up becoming the leader of the group of girls whose testimony is the basis for the entire witch-hunt.
Suzanne Walcott—One of the young girls caught up in the witch trials, she is younger than Abigail, and is described as nervous and hurried.
Thomas Putnam—A wealthy landowner in town, he becomes, along with Abigail and the young girls, one of the central accusers in the witch trials. He seems driven in part by religious conviction, but also seems to see the crisis as an opportunity to acquire additional land from those charged with witchcraft.
Ann Putnam—Thomas’s wife, she has seen seven of her eight children die soon after birth. The trauma and...
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