‘The Crucible’: Character Development
|
Act One |
Act 2 |
Act 3 |
Act 4 |
|
Reverend Parris’s house |
Proctor’s house |
Courtroom |
Jail |
John Proctor |
Proctor quarrels with Parris. He rejects Abigail’s advances. |
Proctor defends himself to Elizabeth and to Hale. He struggles against Elizabeth’s arrest. John gets Mary to recant. |
Proctor defends Elizabeth and neighbours’ wives, confesses to adultery, encourages Mary to recant and is arrested. |
Proctor confesses, to live and loo after his children, but tears up the confession and goes to die rather than besmirch his good name. |
Elizabeth |
Elizabeth is spoken of as ‘cold’ by Abigail. |
Elizabeth is cool towards Proctor, satisfies Hale as to her character but is arrested on Abigail’s word. |
We hear Elizabeth is pregnant and will not hang immediately. She is brought in to support Proctor’s confession of adultery but she will not shame him publicly. |
Elizabeth allows Proctor to make up his own mind about confessing. She supports him and refuses to try to influence him when he chooses death.
|
Reverend Hale |
Reverend Hale arrives full of pride in his knowledge. He soon extracts ‘confessions’. |
Hale has his doubts about the witch-hunt and makes his own enquiries, visits the Proctors and is shocked by Elizabeth’s arrest. |
Hale tries to intercede for the accused, finally denounces the court and leaves. |
Hale is a broken man, encouraging people to deny their faith to save their lives. |
Abigail |
Abigail is in trouble through dancing in the woods and begins to denounce people. She shows desire for John Proctor and hatred for Elizabeth. |
We hear Abigail is the star witness in the witch trials. She has denounced Elizabeth. |
Abigail leads the girls in court. She defies Proctor and even Danforth. She defeats Mary Warren. |
We hear that Abigail has absconded with Reverend Parris’s money. |
Tags: character development, her character, crucible’, character, development