John Woodbridge Character Analysis

John Woodbridge is a reverend in Wethersfield. Along with Mr. Eleazer Kimberley, John Woodbridge witnesses Kit’s disastrous school lesson, in which she has some students act out a part of the Bible. Puritans forbade acting, which they saw as sinful, so the play shocks John Woodbridge. Instead of trying to understand why Kit thought that acting could be a useful activity, he condemns it, betraying his prejudice against different ways of learning. He assumes that it is a sinful activity and even censures Mercy for going along with Kit’s idea.