How Is Judge Danforth Corrupt In The Crucible

In our society, many people rely on the power of law and justice in order to protect themselves. Some powerful men abuse and misuse their power which brings many unfairnesses and tragedies. In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Judge Danforth is a deputy governor of the state, and he is also the judge for the witchcraft trail. Judge Danforth represents the authority and supremacy in the entire play. Throughout the play, Danforth’s tyrannous and stubborn personality caused many wrong decisions that he made in the court. As the voice of authority of Salem, Judge Danforth leads to the tragedy of their social disturbance by breakdown Salem’s solidarity.

The crucible, based during the Salem, Massachusetts witch trials of 1692. A constant theme through out the play is your personal reputation, maintaining a good name. Judge Danforth a well respected man in the society that has the supreme rule over the court. He is known for making the right decisions and never going against them. Innocent and guilty people have been put to death underneath his Judgement, to him this demonstrates his superiority and power. Along with the final say in the putting to death of people during the Salem witch trials. Miller portray’s Danforth’s characterization as stubborn, highly religious, and arrogant in order to to provide a clearer understanding.

Does The Crucible play connect to McCarthyism based on history repeating itself? It is widely known that Arthur Miller's characters in The Crucible are based on the era of McCarthyism where Senator McCarthy accuses innocent Americans of being communists. Through indirect and direct characterization, Reverend Hale in The Crucible begins to emerge as a pacifist for Salem when Judge Danforth's judgements spiral out of proportion. As Danforth protects his reputation and abuses power, Hale tries to make peace and have a voice of reason in the madness of Salem. Similarly, Senator McCarthy rises to power, protects his reputation, and makes Americans believe he is the only voice that can help fearful citizens in the nation.

He believes strongly in his ability to judge the character of the informants. This comes into play when others question his judgement of Abigail and the girls from the woods. Danforth has a great deal of authority over the verdict of the accused, he has the power to judge them as not guilty. Danforth being the primary judge means he could have admitted to his foolishness and told the community that the accused people were not witches, and it would have made the townspeople believe that there was no witch problem in Salem at all. Danforth is too concerned with his reputation to admit that his judgement, at first, was clouded.

The people who preside over the trials are corrupt. People who were accused of witchcraft are wrongfully indicted, and those transgressions must be justified. Danforth is the governor of Massachusetts who thinks of himself as a fair man. Thomas Putnam who has grudges against the people of Salem, and Abigail is a shameless liar who leads the accusations against the people of Salem. What the people of Salem have seen as demonic possessions of the girls is nothing more than an act of deception.

Do you understand my meaning?”. This is showing the the judge had complete trust in them and when John had pointed out that the things that the women were doing were kinda suspicious he questions it and realizes that the girls are faking all of it. Sadly he does nothing, still knowing what all the women are doing is suspicious he doesn 't stop the hangings and imprisonments. Judge Danforth may have not started the Hysteria started in the town but he fed into it by believing Abigail and not stopping her from lying when he found out she was lying to the court and the people in the town of Salem. You could say that Judge did not know that Abigail was lieing out of nativity and all his actions were lead by his dense nature because of his faith, blinding him from what was in front of him because he needed something to justify the reason for killing and imprisoning these women.

Who's to Blame For the Salem Witch Trails? In Arthur Miller's "The Crucible," Abigail Williams, Judge Danforth, and John Proctor are responsible for the witch trials. Not only is Abigail one of the characters responsible for the witch trails, but she is the one who instigated the witchcraft fervor within Salem. John is one of the characters responsible for the trails because he has an affair with Abigail.

A baffling plague of Satan has arrived in our cursed town, and yet another girl has been convicted of witchery. Elizabeth Clarke, a young mistress, was recently accused of creating a pact with the Devil. A trial commenced last Tuesday at the Salem Town Hall with Persecutor Matthew Hopkins examining Clarke 's allegations. First accusations of her treason began with Clarke 's late lover, Reuben Taylor, whose mother was supposedly cursed by Clarke for not allowing her to be with Taylor as he lay dying.

Stopping the trial means that he would have to admit that he is wrong, and he doesn’t want to be proven wrong because so many people have already died. In the cases of both Judge Danforth and Abigail Williams, the reader can see how the actions of many individuals, motivated in one way or another by pride, combine and precipitate the catastrophe known as the Salem Witch Trials. Judge Danforth’s pride, as a majestic Deputy Governor, finally causes much innocents to death and the downfall of

He says, "a person is either with his court or he must be counted against it". The witch trials, as seen in the story, can express this idea, this quote of what Danforth is saying. They have this logic of which happens in the witch trails, so it us, it might not make much sense, but to them it made sense; they thought that if it wasn 't for God, it had to do with satanic activity or the devil. One symbol that was used in the story was the doll that was found in Elizabeth 's house. Abigail Williams purposely pointed Elizabeth as a suspect of witchcraft through the

As Hale warns Danforth of his decisions, he proclaims, “orphans are wandering... abandoned cattle bellow on highroads...and stink of rotting crops hangs everywhere,” using these imageries in insinuation of the court’s failure to justly judge when regarding conducts of witchcraft, suggesting that they, as Danforth had earlier pronounced, “hold four hundred in the jails upon their signature”, thus an immense amount of power and authority that presumably their leaders would not want stripped away (121,81). From the beginning, as Danforth suggests, the safety of the court’s prolific dominance lies upon its ability to continue charging villagers of witchcraft upon its signature. Hale, consequently, using the images of “abandoned cattle” and “wandering orphans” to suggest that the court’s inability to realize the reality that the outcomes of their trials lie beyond just simply whether one is with God or the Devil, thus taking away its people's’ lives, brings forth its leaders’ reluctance to disregard Abigail Williams’ erroneous acts as signification of their greed upon power, fearing that if they were to charge Abigail for perjury, all their previous decisions conducted upon Abigail’s lies would damage their prestige within the town. Greed, again, is demonstrative of the vast alternation in the town’s dynamic through Miller’s use of imagery.

John Hawthorne was a well-known judge, Governor Williams Phips chose Hawthorne to be one of the judges in the witch trials because he always sided with the accusers no matter what the accused said to him or showed him in the court room he would always ask them to plead guilty and tell him other people who were supposedly witches even though they were innocent. John Hale was a minister who was brought in to save the town from witch craft. Cotton Mather was also a judge who was appointed to the Salem witch trials by Governor William Phips. According to jess Bloomberg after Governor Phips wife was accused of witchcraft he prohibited the arrest of anyone who is accused of witchcraft and he pardoned half of the accused and disbanded the court of oyer and terminer. He replaced it with the superior court of judicature and they only condemned 3 out of 56 but by the time he pardoned all of the accused 19 people where hung and one was pressed to death by

Giles’s unruliness had landed him in court many a time, never as a defendant though, so he knew the laws of Salem like the back of his hand. Cory argues against Deputy Governor Danforth in Act Three, “Judge Danforth: If you do not give me his name, I will have you arrested for contempt of court. Giles Corey: This is a hearing. You cannot arrest me for contempt of a hearing,” (214). After this exchange, Danforth began a trial to hold Cory accountable for his response, or lack thereof.

Brook Mills Mrs. Brown English 10 11/03/15 Many individuals of Salem have to deal with everyday hysteria with many people accused of being a witch and being executed. Other than Abigail, three characters who are to blame for the hysteria in The Crucible are Judge Danforth, John Proctor, and Mary Warren. A character that contributed to the hysteria in The Crucible was Judge Danforth. He contributed to the hysteria because he sent men and women to be executed for no reason.

“Mary Warren, very faintly: No, sir. Hathorne, with a gleam of victory: And yet, when people accused of witchery confronted you in court, you would faint, saying their spirits came out of their bodies and choked you - Mary Warren: That were pretense, sir. Danforth: I cannot hear you. Mary Warren: