Crucible Essay #1

Daryl Thomas

AP English: Mr. George

22 November 2008

“The Crucible”: Who is to blame?

Cause for a Crucible

            What is theocracy? It can be epitomized by the Salem of 1692. Rules and lifestyles were based on celestial values and the Bible; God judged everything. But, with the uprising of the witches, Salem headed towards chaos. The fate of the accused lay in the hands of Judge Thomas Danforth, making him the manifestation of God: “There is nothing but goodness in God, […] nor does anything that is evil come from him; he is not the author of sin, […] [and] strongly forbids it, under pain of his displeasure” (Gill, 93). God was the essence of goodness and justice, yet Judge Danforth succumbed to “his displeasure”, losing his reputation. He allowed his pride to determine the verdict and ended up killing innocent people. He held the highest status on the theocratic scale and used this as an appeasement for the fraud he felt in his “black heart” (Miller, 120). Though thinking he was powerful and wise, simple teenage girls were able to fool Danforth into playing the blame game. God would be ashamed to see Danforth as his representative. The judge had the power to stop this bedlam, but he did not due to his selfish intentions; Danforth had hold of the reigns, but steered the horse off course instead of stopping it.

            "Mr. Hale, as God have not empowered me like Joshua to stop this sun from rising, so I cannot withhold from them the perfection of their punishment" (130). Danforth took advantage of the power God supposedly gave him. He compared himself to the biblical figure of Joshua, who led God's people to conquer the Promised Land. He believed it was his duty to punish the accused because God told him to, just as Joshua was told to punish the Canaanites. Danforth felt his power was unlimited. The people were to look to him as the final judge, as if he were God. If the accused were guilty in his eyes, then they would be guilty in everyone else’s eyes:  "But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between" (94). God could only have this kind of power, no human being could handle it, for all humans are imperfect and can fall for evil. In this case, Danforth fell for pride.

            C.S. Lewis described pride as “the complete anti-God state of mind” (Lewis, 122). As Judge Danforth entered the story, he was assertive with his power, bolstered by stating his accomplishments. When Proctor and other men went to plea for their wives’ lives, Danforth only wondered if they were questioning his authority:  “Do you know who I am, Mr. Nurse? […] And do you know that near to four hundred are in the jails from Marblehead to Lynn, and upon my signature? […] And seventy-two condemned to hang by that signature?” (Miller, 87). With such love for his reputation, Danforth was cautious that his actions did not mar his prestige. This led to the death of many innocent people: "You misunderstand, sir; I cannot pardon these when twelve are already hanged for the same crime. It is not just" (129). For having final say about the fate of the accused and being the voice of God, Danforth's thinking here was absurd. He said that it would only be fair to kill the remaining witches because many were already hung. He did not take heed of any breakthroughs in the evidence or the depositions, for his vision was clouded by pride. If he did not kill the rest of them, many in Salem would look down on him; he was trying to save his own name instead of upholding justice. Since Danforth’s judgment was impaired by pride, he needed the help of others to make decisions for him, others being the unreliable and duplicitous witnesses.

            "In an ordinary crime, how does one defend the accused? One calls up witnesses to prove his innocence. But witchcraft is [...] an invisible crime, is it not? Therefore, who may possibly be witness to it? The witch and the victim. None other" (100).  To base his decision solely upon the witnesses was a very foolish move.  Abigail Williams and the other girls were not to be trusted. Though the Devil may not have actually been wandering Salem, he was represented by Abigail, “for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). She lied once and would not stop lying to save herself, while the other girls just tagged along. Once again, Danforth was an idiot, this time for listening to Abigail. She was the witness, the angel of light; he had to believe. Of course, Danforth did not have “the slightest reason to suspect that the children may be deceiving [him]” (Miller, 91). A judge of his caliber, or if he so claimed to be, should have taken this into consideration. It seemed as if Danforth did not even consider the accused innocent until proven guilty, but the proof was there, the accusations of Abigail and the other girls. Danforth really dug himself a hole here by believing them. He could have stopped their little blame game by considering what Proctor and others had to say. Unfortunately, he fell for the Devil’s cunning.

            No matter what anyone did, Judge Danforth had final say, and with this power, he judged incorrectly. He felt that he was on the same level with God. As this pride filled him, it harmed his thought process and decision-making. As his mind was blurred, Abigail and the girls easily tricked him into believing their words and accusations. For these reasons, Judge Danforth was to blame for all the mess in Salem. He let the reigns of the horse slip out of his hands.

Works Cited:

Gill, John The Body of Doctrinal Divinity The Baptist Standard Bearer, Inc., 2001.

Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity London: Macmillan Publishers, 1952.

Miller, Arthur. “The Crucible” New York, NY: Penguin Group, 1952.

 The Bible: Authorized King James Version Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1998