The Crucible p. 113-127

"Hale: Excellency, it is a natural lie to tell; I beg you, stop now before another is condemned! I may shut my conscience to it no more- private vengeance is working through this testimony! From the beginning this man has struck me true. By my oath to heaven, I believe him now, and I pray you call back his wife before we-

Danforth: She spoke nothing of lechery, and this man has lied!" (144).

I believe that Danforth is somewhat justified in what he says to Hale, although he has gone too far to not call Elizabeth back. Danforth means Proctor has lied either because Elizabeth can lie, or because of the lechery. Either way, there was a lie. However, this lie as an entity is disconnected from the witch hunt, and should not be evidence to keep the accused in jail. Danforth is a superstitious type of person who does not seem to grasp the concept of justice. He is a dangerous man to have as a member of the court, and he can not think outside of what has been laid down for him. If he could, he would have seen around Elizabeth's lie, but he did not do that. Or possibly, he did not want to do that. Maybe he was afraid that his name would be soiled if there were no witches. He said, "And seventy-two condemned to hang by that signature?" (87). If there be no witches, Danforth must come to face the fact that those women died because of his false judgment, which he would not be able to do, because of his belief that he is as infallible as God.

"Parris: Judge Hathorne- it were another sort that hanged till now. Rebecca Nurse is no Bridget that lived three year with Bishop before she married him. John Proctor is not Isaac Ward that drank his family to ruin... Let Rebecca stand upon the gibbet and send up some righteous prayer, and I fear she'll wake a vengeance on you" (127).

The way that Parris says this gives me the impression that he and Hathorne know there are no witches. He says that all of the other "witches" were bad people who did things out of the norm. This does not make a person a witch, and I get the feeling that he knows that. He is saying that Rebecca and Proctor are good people that people like and respect, and that they are not like the strange people who have already been accused. I do believe that they know there are no witches, but I do not understand why they refuse to say anything, other than their personal motives! I think it's disgusting. Hathorne told Parris, in a somewhat naive voice, "why at every exicution I haveseen naught by high satisfaction in the town" (127). I think he knows that they were only happy because they had killed off one person who had threatened their society, not because they were actual witches who had hurt the people.