The man dreams cathedrals, not clapboard meetin’ houses” (Miller 1170). Parris is self-centered. Although he is a Puritan minister, he does not practice what he preaches. He thinks secular thoughts, not Godly ones. His greed prompts the witch hunt and fuels mass hysteria in Salem.
Character Analysis: Rev. Parris Parris is a reverend from Salem he is an old man who lives with Tituba a black woman from the island of Barbados and also his daughter Betty and also Abigail a young girl obsessed with John proctor. He wants to have lots of control over the land he demonstrates this very often throughout the text for example when he is freaking out about his niece being a “witch” and how they will remove him from power if this is true. He is also very manipulate he demonstrates this when he forces his Abigail to tell him what happened in the forest. He is also very paranoid towards everyone in the village he shows this when they are in the court and john proctor says that there is no type of witchery and that Parris has known
In Arthur Miller’s, The Crucible, a man named Reverend Parris is a representation of all that is twisted and greedy in what is a seemingly positive religion. Parris is a foretold man of God, but realistically illustrates how a man in power wants to progress in his own selfish ideals. This trait is greatly exemplified in his personality, especially in the fact that he is evidenced as one who cannot be trusted, and seeks constant approval of others near him. Parris does change over time, however, from wishing for the advancement of his owns wants, to hoping for the downfall of those against him. Much of how Parris is described is seen in his placement with respect to other characters; he is given such a moral job to highlight to sharp contrast of his presumed actions against his existing ones.
Though his appearance was different, Parris was still the pretentious man he had been in Salem. He knew what he was about to do for God was very risky and if anyone found out his past he could end up in jail. Thus, when he was close enough to see Boston, Parris took a break to ask God to protect him from the devil who would do anything to prevent him from fulfilling God’s plan for him to preach the gospel. After praying, Paris realized he had no clean clothes and was hungry, but no representative of God lived on the streets and begged for food. His only choice was to break into a bakery and borrow some food.
John believes that Reverend Parris is a greedy man that only wishes riches and authority. The conflict between the two is one that could be resolved in a manner of Reverend Parris teaching the ways of God with the resources he has and not giving into his greed. It could also
Reverend Parris was a greedy man to his core. He wanted to live a lavish lifestyle. Many people were angry at Reverend Parris because he wanted the church to look more expensive. More specifically, John Proctor said that Reverend Parris wanted golden candlesticks for the church. The greed was not just harmless.
Reverend Parris makes clear how important his reputation in the community is to him and how afraid he is of jeopardizing it. He makes choices that ultimately contribute to the tragic events of the play because he is fixated on upholding his reputation at the expense of his parishioners and the community as a whole. This serves as a reminder that reputation may affect others and motivate both positive and negative
The Pardener was a person who religious people would come to and confess their sins in order to be forgiven. He began to abused his religious duty to obtain more money from the poor people of the church. These so-called “charitable donations.” “Think you that because I am good at preaching and win me gold and silver by my teaching. Ill live my life tree in poverty?
That is an idea on what a hypocrite is, in the story most of them are religious leaders, people from the church. Chaucer starts of with the knight, which is an example on how someone should act as person, he is pretty much the example that everyone needs to follow because he is truthful, generous,courteous to everyone and honorable. That was an example on how someone should have
Reverend Parris selfishly put himself before others, and did anything to get what he wanted. He cares more about his own reputation and does whatever is possible to keep his job. Parris’s daughter gets sick, but he worries about his career in the community more and states to Abigail, “There is a faction that is sworn to drive me from my pulpit. Do you understand that?” (Beers and Odell 1219).
Parris is portrayed throughout the play as greedy and self-serving as demonstrated by his insistence on having golden candlesticks at the altar, his arguing over the 6 pound he is given for firewood, and his demanding of the deed to the free house he is given as Reverend. However, if Parris was simply a foul and greedy man he would probably fit in with many others, even in his time. But what makes Parris especially disgusting is that as a Reverend he has a responsibility to his town to uphold peace and justice. Instead, he does what he needs to to preserve his title, which in the end leads him to his own demise. “Tonight, when I opened my door to leave my house – a dagger clattered to the ground” (Miller 128).
The reader should now know Geoffrey Chaucer disapproves of the Church and deems it to almost only be full of hypocrites because of people such as the Friar and the Pardoner being a part of it and doing what sinful deeds they do against God and the followers who they are supposed to be protecting and taking care of. If it was not for the Parson existing, or even clergy members, then the generalization of him believing the entire Catholic Church was a hypocrisy would be entirely true, but that is not the case. Still, maybe Chaucer made such an implication because he had a bad past with the Church, but then again in the story he was traveling to a religious shrine, so he must not have such a bad past when it comes to Catholicism. There must have been a root to his disdain towards the Church as in, he was conned by a pardoner or a friar or even grew up seeing only hypocrisy from the Catholic Church, which could have molded his opinion of it. Instead of making, The Canterbury Tales, a full on attack against the Church, he decided to make it a comical, satirical piece, which was a very intelligent move by him.
In the Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer utilizes the immoral character of the Pardoner to tell the utmost moral tale through satirical devices, presenting the true greed and hypocrisy that runs throughout the Church, regardless of it attempt to cover it. Chaucer introduces the hypocrisy within the Church through the characterization of the Pardoner, as he is explained to be a man with, “flattery and equal japes./He made the parson and the rest his apes” (“General Prologue” 607-608). “Japes” are tricks, alluding to the Pardoner’s relics, as they are fake; yet, the Pardoner still sells these relics to the Church members as genuine treasures. This creates dramatic irony, because the character of the Church body is unaware of the situation bestowed
The last trait that describe Parris is greedy. He proves himself to be greedy when he says”I regard that six pound, Mr. Proctor I am paid little enough without I spend six pound on firewood. ”(Miller, 180). He is being greedy in this line because he gets more then other people in salem and yet he is mad because he thinks minister should get paid way more then a farmer.
During the pilgrimage, the reader starts to realize that, out of all of the pilgrims involved in the church, the Parson is the only one who is honorable. “A holy-minded man of good renown,”
