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Judge Danforth In The Crucible Essay

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Judge Danforth, by siding with Abigail is unfair and is only being manipulated by Abigail. Abigail realizes how oblivious Danforth is and takes advantage of him. Towards the end of Act three, while Hale is convinced that Proctor had told the truth Danforth takes side with Abigail. Abigail cleverly takes advantage of Danforth's oblivion towards his colleague and whips up another act to further convince her claims. "Hale: I believe him! (pointing at Abigail) This girl has always struck me false! She has—(Abigail, with a weird, wild, chilling cry, screams up to the ceiling.)" (Miller page 521) After reading this quote, it is apparent that Abigail hides the truth Hale speaks from Danforth, by distracting him with another made up act of Mary Warren …show more content…

He falls to the false accusations of the girls and begins to believe them. It could also be Danforth's fear of witches that causes him to act so blindly. Danforth may be so scared of the devil that he does not act rationally when accusations of witchcraft are made because he takes the accusation with the utmost concern. Because of this Abigail takes advantage of his incompetence. This is displayed when Abigail fools him after screaming. "Danforth. What is it, child? (But Abigail, pointing with fear, is now raising up her frightened eyes, her awed face, toward the ceiling—the girls are doing the same—and now Hathorne, Hale, Putnam, Cheever, Herrick, and Danforth do the same.) What’s there? (He lowers his eyes from the ceiling, and now he is frightened; there is real tension in his voice.) Child! (She is transfixed— with all the girls, she is whimpering open-mouthed, agape at the ceiling.) Girls! Why do you-?" (Miller 521) Danforth in the quote is petrified with fear from witchcraft and has no clue what is going on. Now he believes Abigail completely and this furthermore explains why he is unjust and only a puppet for Abigail's evil

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