Who’s Who in Salem, 1692

JOHN PROCTOR is a sinner, and a hypocrite and a fraud (in his own eyes). To the rest of the town he’s a strong, moral , manly man. Even his enemies, like REVEREND PARRIS, would admit that he has strong leadership qualities.

GOODY ELIZABETH PROCTOR thinks her husband is a good man, just somewhat confused. She knows about his relationship with ABIGAIL WILLIAMS (he confessed to her), and she’s trying to forgive him, but it’s not easy. She’s been hurt. She also has internalized the Puritan idea that people (especially women) are essentially bad, and that all pleasures are suspect. (Oh – and she cannot tell a lie.)

ABIGAIL WILLIAMS, the minister’s niece, is the sharpest tool in this drawer. She’s intelligent, attractive, and determined. Unfortunately, as a woman and an orphan, her prospects are extremely limited in Puritan society. If she were born today, she could do great things: but not in Salem, not in 1692.

She learned from JOHN PROCTOR in his barn that physical pleasures are not bad, and therefore she now questions everything else that the Salem fathers have told her over the years. As they are both passionate, intelligent, opinionated individuals, it’s no surprise that PROCTOR and ABIGAIL would be drawn to one another. Like Proctor, Abigail has admirable leadership abilities.

MARY WARREN, a goodhearted servant girl swept up in uncontrollable events. Meek (and even spineless at times). A born follower.

The REVEREND JOHN HALE may not seem like it, but he’s a man of science. Bringing his heavy volumes of research, he searches for Satan as if he were a neutrino or a quark – difficult to pin down, but definitely out there. He also has what very few others in Salem seem to have – a mind open to facts and circumstances.

The REVEREND SAMUEL PARRIS, for a man of God, has a lot of bad qualities. He keeps a slave, and is a little more concerned with money and social standing than he ought to be.

TITUBA is a slave belonging to the Reverend Samuel Parris. She is the low woman on the Salem social totem pole.

THOMAS PUTNAM is a loser who comes from a family of winners. In his generation the Putnams are starting to fall behind, so he has to resort to using whatever means he can to catch up.

GOODY ANN PUTNAM is crazy (but you can’t really blame her). She has suffered the emotional pain of watching seven of her eight babies die shortly after being born. Add to this the fact that she lives in a society that believes that bad things happen for a reason; that bad things happen to bad people. The thought that her babies may have been bewitched could actually be of some comfort to her – especially if something can be done to see that it never happens again.

GOODY REBECCA NURSE is a kind, nurturant, even saintly, earth-mother. Twenty-six times a grandmother, she feels that this whole rigamarole is just children being children. (That whole concept would be hard for a Puritan to understand.)

GILES COREY is an old fool. He’ll sue you at the drop of a hat. Yet when the “pressure is on”, he’ll show you what he’s really made of.

MARTHA COREY is an assertive independent woman who tells it like she sees it. This does not always endear her to the men of Salem.