Reverend Parris: Minister of Salem's Church

Reverend Parris is the minister of Salem’s church. He is a paranoid, defensive self-absorbed, nervous, and self-pitying figure. He is very concerned with building in his position in the community. He has a slave from Barbados called Tituba. He has a daughter called Betty. He believes that faction plans will force him to leave Salem, so he attempts to strengthen his authority through the witch trial proceedings. The fact that he has many enemies who want him gone from Salem suggests that he is abhorred by many people in the town. Also, he wants to persecute his enemies. He doesn’t want people to find out the truth about what happened in the woods. First of all Parris is greedy. These are some examples of Parris’s greed such as complaining over firewood, insisting on costless golden candlesticks for the church, demanding that he have the accomplishment to the house he lives in.

Opening Impression:
His first impression is that ‘there is very little good’ to say about him. In the very first scene, we see him standing over his daughter Betty's sick bed. At first the audience might sympathize with him. But then they quickly realize that Parris is just worried about his reputation. He is scared that if people think there is witchcraft in his house, he'll lose his position as minister of Salem and the fact that this concern outweighs his worry over his suffering daughter clearly paints a picture of him as selfish. Further examples of Parris's greed include: quibbling over firewood, insisting on gratuitous golden candlesticks for the church and demanding that he have the deed to the house he lives in.

Role in the Play:
Miller could be using Parris to reflect the restrictive society and how he reinforces this restriction, and fear that the people have by using religion to scare people. Parris is a symbol of religion, thus his character could reflect the restrictive nature of religion as it has been used to scare individuals, thus religion can also be used as a form of