The play, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller demonstrates the implications of a society in complete chaos over an irrational fear of witchcraft in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. Fear plays an immense role in the way people make their decisions, such as when the characters of Danforth and Mary Warren resort to hypocrisy when no other options remain. Danforth and Mary Warren both embody hypocrisy, as seen when Mary says she cannot lie anymore and then lies when she becomes scared for her life, and Danforth when saying lying will send a person to Hell, but then forcing people to choose between lying and death. Mary Warren exemplifies hypocrisy extraordinarily well in the scene when she and Proctor travel to the courthouse so she can confess that the girls have pretended everything and they never actually saw spirits. Upon arriving in the court Mary Warren says, “I cannot lie no more. I am with God, I …show more content…
Danforth expresses his opinions on lying when Mary Warren enter his court to confess herself and he begins the conversation by saying, “How were you instructed in your life? Do you not know that God damns all liars?” (Miller 101). Through this statement he clearly demonstrates his belief that lying will send a person to Hell. As the story progresses, Danforth and many other officials begin to realize that the entire situation in Salem progressed to far and honest people will continue to die unless they can convince people to lie in order to save themselves. Danforth explains his inability to free the accused people because, “twelve are already hanged for the same crime. It is not just,” (Miller 129). In saying this he admits that a person can only avoid a hanging by confessing to witchcraft even if their statement contains no truth. Combining this notion with the one he declared earlier displays the hypocritical nature of Danforth when put in this hysterical