Judge Danforth Character Analysis

Natalie Orlowski October 10th, 2015

In the book, The Crucible by Arthur Miller the large and diverse characters add to the story, with their dialogue and personas. Some of the characters change from good to bad, or change their opinions during the course of the plot, but others like Judge Danforth are static and remain the same, with the same viewpoints throughout. He stays stubborn, is unjust and believes in witchcraft from beginning to end of the book. The first trait Deputy Judge Danforth has is that he believes in witchcraft and the girls from the start of the book until the end. At the point when Danforth is introduced to the book there is chaos in Salem and the witch trials are underway. Judge Danforth talks about the large

In the beginning of the story, Judge Danforth is a highly respected judge that was brought in to settle the craziness of salem, but throughout the story he seems to have to accuse others to keep his authority.On page 79 Judge Danforth says“ Do you take it upon yourself to determine what this court shall believe and what it shall set aside” and also has to accuse John Proctor of “undermining the court” when Proctor is trying to prove his friends innocent. This is Danforth getting defensive and feeling attacked by anyone who has a differing opinion than him.And rather than looking into Proctors friends who are uptight citizens, turns the doubt onto others. In the middle Proctor says the Danforth “A fire, a fire is burning! I hear the boot of Lucifer, I see his filthy face! And it is my face, and yours, Danforth! For them that quail to bring men out of ignorance, as I have quailed, and as you quail now when you know in all your black hearts that this be fraud—God damns our kind especially, and we will burn, we will burn together!” After Danforth sides with Abigail and the other girls, Proctor runs out of court yelling this trying to say that Danforth perverted the course of justice and is now doing the work of the devil. In the end Danforth After hearing Mary Warren’s story, Danforth calls all the girls out to see if they will admit to lying. Abigail

Judge Danforth is also not able to tell who is uncorrupted. In the middle Danforth says “I cannot pardon these when twelve have already hanged fro the same crime. It is not just” his refusal to back down and accept the potential consequences of his suggests a weakness and desire to protect his reputation.”Is that document a lie? If it is a lie I will not accept it! What say you? I will not deal in lies, Mister!”When Proctor agrees to confess, Danforth demands a signed confession. He’s shocked as to why Proctor will verbally confess but not sign his name to a written statement. He stubbornly refuses to accept the confession unless it’s signed. Judge Danforth is a static character because he does not change or grown at any point of the story. He proves this from the beginning , the middle and the end. He stays stubborn, is unjust and believes in witchcraft from beginning to end of the book and proves that he stays stubborn, is unjust and believes in