Hated Characters: Connections from The Crucible and Harry Potter

          This week in class we began Arthur Miller's The Crucible, which concerns the witch trials of Salem and the people involved. It becomes clear, throughout the first few acts, that Abigail Williams is responsible for the arrests of over thirty women in her village. She sets up Elizabeth, John Proctor's wife, to make it look as though the goodwife has evil powers so she can continue her affair with John once his wife is dead.

Due to her actions, Abigail is an insufferable character that can quickly be hated by audiences. Conversely, because it is fun to hate and criticize her, she can be interpreted as one of the best characters in the play. I think Abigail, my favorite character in The Crucible, can be linked to my least favorite character in the Harry Potter series: Ron Weasley.






Their most obvious similarity, perhaps, is their remarkable skill of 
ruining the relationships, and ultimately, lives, of the people nearest to them. This can be shown in their skewed sense of logic. Abigail assumes John Proctor will happily love and marry her if she kills his wife, while Ron is under the impression Hermione will continue to support him while he ridicules her and goes out with other girls.


          Also, when Mary Warren and Betty Parris rely on Abigail to protect them, she threatens and scares them right when they need her most. This causes Mary Warren to suffer some sort of breakdown later.  It relates to when Ron abandons his friends during their camping trip. While I enjoyed his absence, he does finally return, simply by showing up and being forgiven instantaneously. Harry tells him not to worry about it, and that "it's okay." It's okay?! This is not the first time Ron has done something like this; at least once in every book he turns his back on Harry or Hermione.
          Possibly Abigail's biggest accomplishment is her rapid rise to power. For the first eighteen years of her life, she is just a scheming servent; a preacher's irritating niece. Now, she is a manipulative young woman; ultimately the sole judge of which innocent women will be brought to court and probably hanged because her love obsessions. Likewise, Ron gains some power in the final book of the series. He becomes marginally more thoughtful, and smarter in the decisions he makes for the trio. In the first six books, he's just this idiot that tries to be funny, whereas now it appears he actually has significant contributions to share with the group. These similarities show how detested characters can become more interesting when fans indignantly point out their flaws and find entertainment in their personalities.