Danforth: Judge, Jury, and Executioner
Judge Danforth’s position in the crucible is the Judge assigned to the proceedings of the Salem witch trials. Instead of treating this immense responsibility with the respect and restraint that is needed, Danforth abused his power by betraying the people of Salem and the Law. He did not listen to the people of Salem defending themselves before inevitably being sent to death; and he cared more about his reputation and the law than he did about peoples’ lives.
Danforth was a ruthless power over the people of Salem he demanded respect for himself and the court; and nothing was more important than that. During the trials, Danforth showed that he only sees things in black and white. For Danforth, someone
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In the eyes of Danforth people are not innocent until proven guilty; they are innocent until accused guilty. In the eyes of Danforth facts and details mean nothing to him. He comes to conclusions that any rational man cannot come to. He has doomed people to death who were innocent just because they did not want to confess to something that they did not do. This is because Danforth’s rule throughout these trials were that if someone was accused of witchcraft, even if they were innocent they had to confess or they were sentenced to death. An example of this is when John Procter is accused he had to confess or he would have been hanged and when he confessed it was not enough for Danforth. Danforth wanted Proctor to sign a confession “Come then, sign your testimony” (cite). He says this even though Procter has made it obvious that he is confessing to a crime he did not commit. Danforth does not care about this though he only wants Procter to confess to secure his own reputation and so his authority does not go into question. This as well as most of the actions that took place during the trials shows how corrupt Danforth was and that all the people who died in the name of the “law” really died to secure Danforth’s own idea of