Goody Osburn is described by Mary Warren as a poor drunken old woman who sometimes begs for food and drink from the more prosperous householders of Salem. She is a social outcast with no family or friends and no one to defend her, and her miserable position has done much to make her ill-natured and envious. She is, therefore, an obvious candidate for early accusations of witchcraft. Elizabeth Proctor contrasts her own position with Osburn's, saying that no one will dare accuse her, since she is "no Goody Good that sleeps in ditches, nor Osburn, drunk and half-witted."

Goody Osburn defends herself against the charge of mumbling curses which caused Mary Warren's sickness by saying that she was only mumbling the ten commandments. However, when asked to repeat them by Judge Hathorne, it transpires that she does not know a single one. This ignorance, combined with the rather obvious subterfuge, suggests a low level of both intelligence and education.

Goody Osburn, who is to hang, and Goody Good, who confessed, are mentioned together in act II. There is a point in the act where Mary Warren appears to confuse them, beginning by talking about Goody Good and then referring to Goody Osburn's muttering and failure to say her commandments without any clear change of subject.