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How Did Abigail Williams Trial Affect The Crucible

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Written by Arthur Miller, The Crucible was inspired by the true event of the Salem witch trials. The Salem witch trials was the killing of many innocent people accused of being witches. Abigail Williams was the main accuser and the rest of girls that danced in the woods along side her, which was strictly forbidden in the Puritan religion, followed her lead. At the time she lived with her uncle Samuel Parris who was the reverend of the town’s church. Parris called a witchcraft expert, Hale, to come look over his daughter whom he believed was taken over by witchcraft because she would not wake up from a faked sleep. This strong belief of witches being in Salem, brought by Hale, caused the town to begin trials to accuse citizens of being witches. …show more content…

Anyone who chose to oppose the court’s perspective on a trial was viewed as going against God and siding the evils of witchcraft. “You must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it,...” (Miller 1258-1358). Danforth threatens John Proctor and Giles Corey when they try to prove that the people are innocent of witchcraft. “ 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”(Miller 1258-1358). Clearly Danforth is willing to get rid of anyone that attempts to go against the court. Such as Giles Corey when he has a statement that a man in the town protests that the trials are all …show more content…

To which Parris said “...Excellency, I would postpone these hangin’s for a time. Danforth: There will be no postponement.” (Miller 1347). Parris wanted Danforth to postpone the hangings because he knew that people in the town could revolt against him. That would mean that he would lose his valued reputation and his home and income. Along with Hale also attempting to postpone the hangings. “Hale: coming to Danforth now: You must pardon them. They will not budge. Herrick enters, waits. Danforth: conciliatory: You misunderstand, sir; I cannot pardon these when twelve are already hanged...” (Miller 1348). Hale knew that in other towns of Massachusetts they had riots over the hangings of witchcraft. Therefore he tried to postpone the hangings fearing the riots might start in Salem too. Danforth choosing to not postpone the hangings caused the witch trials to be viewed as the merciless killing of innocent citizens of

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(To Parris) How do you propose, then? Parris: Excellency, I would postpone these hangin’s for a time. Danforth: There will be no postponement.” This shows that the judge, Danforth, refused to listen to his top advisor when he told him to postpone the hangings.

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Danforth stated, “You misunderstand, sir; I cannot pardon these when twelve have already been hanged for the same crime. ”(Miller 1156). After he hung twelve people, Danforth thinks that we shouldn’t stop because if they were to stop it, that would say that they were wrong in their judgement. Courageously, they kept it going, thinking that they were right and everyone who opposed them or the girls, were working with the devil. Worried that Hale was wrong, he left and came back, trying to get people to just give in, that living and lying is better than dying.

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Hale acknowledges human’s mortality more so than Danforth who believes his word is the final say. Furthermore, Judge Danforth appears to only be concerned with having those who were jailed, confess to being witches whether they were or not. All those who do not confess to conspiring with the devil in his eyes are evil and those “who weep for [them, therefore] weep for corruption” (134). In contrast, Hale is desperate to save the innocent from their inevitable doom because he believes “life is God’s most precious gift” and “no principle [] may justify taking it” (122). He even encourages Elizabeth Proctor to “prevail upon [her] husband to confess” because “God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride” (122).

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