Caden DuVarney Mr. Frietz Period 5 29 April 2024 The Crucible Character Analysis: Judge Danforth The Crucible is a play based in the 1960’s in Salem, MA. This play was written by Arthur Miller. The story is about the town of Salem during the witch trails in 1962 and 63. Some background of the characters: Judge Danforth is a judge for Salem and oversaw the trials and persecutions of the people in court. He was a respected judge by the court, but he was abusive, narcissistic, and delusional. Reverend Hale, is called to Salem and is considered a spiritual doctor. He is there to see if there really are witches or evil in the town, and then help get rid of it. John Proctor is shown to us as a good person with one fatal flaw. He is married to his …show more content…
She is manipulative, dishonest, and evil. She accuses women in the town as witches and the person who can disprove her, is John. She has dirt on him, no one knows about their affair, so if he speaks out on her accusations his dirty truth will be exposed. Lastly, Giles Correy is a farmer in this story. He is one of the 6 who got accused of being a witch, and he refuses to be tried because he believes his trial is unfair. All of these characters are important because they have a relation to the hysteria related to The Salem witch trials. Judge Danforth is the man to blame for the madness and death in Salem. He is unfair, untrustworthy, and has the wrong motives. He only cares about the court and the town's image, and not the people in it. He is the one behind the hysteria at this …show more content…
Reverend Hale, as explained in the summary, came to Salem so he could see if there was any witchcraft. Hale worked closely with Danforth, being the reverend of the town. After spending more time together, Hale becomes distressed working with Danforth “I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court!”. He quits the court after realizing the court and Danforth are unjust and there is actually no witchcraft. This is true because Hale refused to leave the town until he knew if the devil was in it, so if he is ready to leave there is no witchcraft. This also shows how Danforth wrongly accuses people because he is the lead of the court. “I come to do the Devil’s work. I come to counsel Christians to believe in themselves. There is blood on my head! Can you not see the blood on my head? !” Reverend Hale’s guilt after joining the court and helping Danforth with the witch trials is immense. Danforth's relationship with Hale proves how he is unfair and wrongly accusing people. Judge Danforth has the wrong motives for the town of Salem. He cares more about the reputation of the court, than finding the truth. “There lurks nowhere in your heart, nor hidden in your spirit, any desire to undermine this court.” (Matt. 1). John Proctor says this to Judge Danforth. His statement means that he has no intention of doing anything that would put him or the court below anything. After Proctor's only motive was to free his wife, Danforth
The book was written during 1953, where WWII had ended. However the United States and Soviet Union still have conflicts within each other. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, it reflects the problems during 1953 by showing the chaos and conflicts that happened in a Salem society. Many audiences focus on the importance of John Proctor(main character) rather than Reverend Hale. Hale was a young and righteous man who fought for justice. His attitude towards the Salem society has changed drastically throughout his stay. At the beginning he was a naive man who believed and put trust upon the court, but by the end he has lost all his faith in the justice system. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, he portrays Hale as an ever changing character, an individual who believes in what the right thing is. Miller shows Hale's change in attitude throughout his stay in Salem, in order to convey the theme of the conflict between civic duty verse moral obligation which
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, is about mass hysteria of witches being in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. An educated man named Revered Hale arrived in the town with his exclusive knowledge of witches to help the town eliminate the presence of the Devil. He became a member of the court and aided in putting innocent people in jail or hung. As Hale started to see the consequences of his actions, he struggled with fixing his mistakes. The change in his perspective of the witch trials caused his overall personality and attitude to change as well. Hale’s dialogue, stage directions, and other people’s perceptions of him reveal a man motivated by good intentions; furthermore, his mission to help Salem destroyed evil in the beginning and his attempts
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegory written about the Salem witch trials in 1692. It includes a number of characters who fully conform to the trials and their consequences, it also contains the opposite, those who do not conform and fight it. Of course, as in any story there are characters in the middle that are not sure which side to take. They go along with it, not willing to stand up, but in their minds they are not completely sure whether or not what they’re doing is right. Reverend Hale is the best example of outward conformity and inward questioning.
played a kind of a passive role, he always wanted to be in the middle
To encapsulate, the character of Judge Danforth, initially thought off as the voice of authority. A person on whom Salem depended the most, for justice. His inappropriately actions due to his misconceptions and self-righteous mentality wiped off the communal trust and social bonds of the people of Salem. Thereby making him the most responsible for the tragedy Salem.
Arthur Millers The Crucible possesses many examples of interesting character development. A character who one initially finds to be worthy of mercy or pity can easily become the last person deserving of sympathy. This relationship is not only formed between the reader and the characters, but between the characters and the scenario of the story itself. The victim may become the accuser, or the scholar may become the humanitarian. This manner of characterization is best shown in the relationship between Reverend John Hale and Deputy Governor Danforth. Each is objectified to the events in Salem as they come into the situation with no attachments to any of the other characters and are unfamiliar with any of their mannerisms or personalities. Hale is a well-read minister who relies upon his books. Danforth is a reputable judge who relies on consistent input and prodding. Both of these men enter the trials with very similar goals. The places they stand at the finish, however, could not be more different. This is due to the personal relationships and opinions Hale develops concerning Salem. Reverend Hale is a dynamic character who learns his role as a minister while Judge Danforth is a constant force who voices others opinions through his authority.
A person’s character can have a lot of influences in weather or not they can maintain their morals. In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the town of Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony is taken over by witch trials. They are started by young girls who accuse people of being witches in order to avoid getting into trouble for having been caught dancing naked in the woods. Reverend Hale, who is considered an expert in witches, is called in to assist the courts with the trials and give his opinion on the severity of the situation. At first he believes these cases are true, however he changes his opinion when the credibility of the accusers come into question, and he also denounces the courts proceedings. Various townspeople believe that the girls are lying, and some people try to stand up to them but end up being accused of being a witch and dying. The internal struggles of the character play a large part in determining whether or not they will be successful or not in standing up to the girls, and if they will be able to maintain their morals. Two of the people who stood up to the girls are Mary Warren and Reverend John Hale; Reverend Hale was able to maintain his morals by looking at the situation for a neutral prospective and going by the facts, whereas Mary Warren, a girl who was one of the accusers, was unable to successfully maintain her morals and stop the unjust trials because she was fearful of the other girls, she is self-centered, and she had no confidence.
A crucible is a severe test as of patients or belief, a trial. The play The Crucible is a journey through the trials of many townspeople caused by the superstitious belief of witchcraft. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller progresses and evolves the outlooks and views of the townspeople of Salem and shows how events, people, and catastrophes cause the characters to change their views on whether the people prosecuted were guilty or innocent of witchcraft. Reverend John Hale changes his view, more and more drastically as the play advances, as a result of the events that he underwent and the experiences he had. Soon he had total belief in the innocence of all those convicted and hung in Salem.
Pontius Pilate Indeed The Crucible, a play by Arthur Miller, is set in Salem, Massachusetts. The hysteria begins with suspicion that a group of teenage girls found dancing in the forest are guilty of witchcraft. The reverend of Salem then calls on Reverend Hale, who hails from Beverly, to come ascertain the truth. Threatened with severe punishment girls tell lies that Satan had possessed them and falsely accuse others of working with the Devil.
He doesn’t lose his faith in his religion, but he does lose all of his faith in witchcraft. Hale Changes. Hale is the only character through the whole play that starts out believing that witchcraft was really true and then didn’t believe in it at all. The other characters either denied or never really believed in it. Reverend Hale was the only person that gave an apology for the deaths of innocent people. None of the others that was responsible for the deaths did not give an apology. Hale had very much feelings for all of the people's death.
Throughout The Crucible, Miller is concerned with conscience and guilt. Through the character Abigail Williams, he shows how people are willing to abandon their firmly-established values in order to conform with the majority and protect themselves. Those who refuse to part with their conscience, such as the character of John Proctor, are chastised for it. For this reason, the Salem witch trials raise a question of the administration of justice. During this time in the late 1600’s, people were peroccupied by a fear of the devil, due to their severe Puritan belief system. Nineteen innocent people are hanged on the signature of Deputy Governor Danforth, who has the authority to try, convict, and execute anyone he deems appropriate. However, we as readers sense little to no real malice in Danworth. Rather, ignorance and fear plague him. The mass
The Salem witch trials were a time period when any individual could be accused of witchcraft for numerous reasons. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller focuses on the deviation of the trials and how the town’s most religious and honest members of the community are tried with witchcraft. John Proctor, the town’s most honest man, is accused of being a witch and must decide if he should confess or not. Proctor’s confession will stop the town from rebelling and uphold the reputations of Deputy Governor Danforth and Reverend Parris. Hale also wishes for Proctor’s confession so he does not have to feel responsible if Proctor were to be hanged for his witchcraft accusations. The confession of Proctor would convince others in the town to confess to their
The Crucible is a play with many underlying messages and themes. One of which is the idea of power. Power is a very important term in this play in that whoever holds the power, holds the fates of others. The hysteria within Salem has directly effected society. Everything has turned upside down and has gotten distorted. Arthur Miller is telling us that all the power in Salem is given to those who are corrupt and their abuse of it is directly shown through: the actions of Abigail throughout the play, the corruption and desires of Parris, as well as the witch trials held by Judge Danforth.
The Crucible, a container that resists hear or the hollow at the bottom of an ore furnace. However its connotations include melting pot, in the symbolic sense, and the bearing of a cross. Elizabeth, John Proctor’s wife; a cold, childless woman who is an upright character who cannot forgive her husband’s adultery until just before he died: she is accused of being a witch. Reverend Hale, a self-proclaimed expert on witchcraft; at the play’s end tries to save the accused. John Proctor, a good man with human failures and a hidden secret, a affair with Abigail, he is often the voice of reason in the play; accused of witchcraft.“I do not judge you.
For years many philosophers have tries to create a perfect working system of what they think morality is. In all the claims of what morality is none could agree. So each wrote their own ideas on what morality entail thus presenting the augments to the public in the judging of why and which theory was the best. However, Scheffler in his, Morality’s demand and their Limits, evaluate all the concepts that the ideal moral theory must have. This essay will discuss the ideas that Scheffler presents in relation to John Stuart Mill moral theory of Utilitarianism. Scheffler gave three aspiration explaining what an ethical theory concept of morality must have. He stated them as: Pervasiveness, Stringency/ demanding and overriding. Pervasiveness speaks