The Crucible Essay

Lu Li
AP English (Period F) ---Mr. George
Date: Nov. / 24/ 2008
Assignment name: “The Crucible Essay”

The Person to Blame Most in “The Crucible”

Who should be responsible for the tragedy of Salem’s Witch Hunt? Although Governor Danforth did not appear in this play until Act Three, he should take the most blame for the ridiculous witch-hunt in Salem. In Arthur Miller’s play “The Crucible”, Miller demonstrated clearly that it was Danforth’s flaws – the holes in his logic in the case of witchcraft, his lust for authority, and his extreme obsession with pride – that led him to be responsible the most for the tragedy of the holocaustic witch-hunt in Salem.

There are clearly some logical holes in Danforth’s view of witchcraft. First of all, he cannot distinguish the difference between regular civil lawsuits and religious persecutions:

But witchcraft is ipso jacto, on its face and by its nature, an invisible crime […] we cannot hope the witch will accuse herself […] we must rely upon her victims – and they do testify, the children certainly do testify. As for the witches, none will deny that we are most eager for all their confessions (Miller 100).

From here, it is clear that Danforth thinks witch trails are too illusive to use normal civil proceedings to determine who is guilty or not. Second, he also messed up the differences between religious and civil duty. This is why when Proctor asked for a lawyer, he refused and said, “The pure in heart need no lawyers” (Miller 93). However, this is not taking a vow in a religious ceremony; this is in the court. In other words, people have the right to call for lawyers to defend themselves. Third, the quote “A person is either with the court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between” (Miller 94) shows that Danforth is an ultraist in some ways he drew a red line between the court and its people. It is obvious that the holes in Danforth’s logic disqualified him from being a good judge in Salem’s court.

Uncle Ben from the movie Spiderman gave us a good sense of how Danforth, as the head of the court, should be responsible for the Salem’s tragedy, “With great power, comes great responsibility” (Parker Spiderman). Because Danforth is in the highest rank of the social ladder, he represents the combined authority of the church and state in his theocratic society of the day. He is the puppeteer and everyone else is just a puppet on a string. In other words, he has the power to take control over other people’s lives, so for all the craziness and ridiculousness in Salem, Danforth should be responsible for it.

Danforth’s extreme obsession with pride “contributed” most to his blame on the Salem Witch Hunt. “While I speak God's law, I'll not crack its voice with whimpering" (Miller 129) shows that as a representation of God’s voice on earth, Danforth thinks he is infallible like God. His pride blinds him from seeing the truth, and once again, pride disassociated him from the honest people. Like Proctor said to Danforth in Act Three, “A man will not cast away his good name. You surely know that” (Miller 110), Danforth does not want to cast away his so-called good name in the community. It is clear that vanity is corrupting Danforth’s mind. He does not want his reputation go down by admitting he had made an uncorrectable mistake. Pride, as the greatest sin of all time, is the downfall of Danforth. This is why he is the most blameful person in this play.

Some people pointed out that Hale and Parris should also be blamed for their breach of duty. Although Hale and Parris are also the authorities in Salem, as well as the heads of the court, they are less responsible for the tragedy of the witch trail compared to Danforth. “Can you not see the blood on my head” (Miller 131) shows that Hale realized his fault at the end and confessed. In comparison to him, Danforth the old fogey held onto his belief to the end. “Life is God’s most precious gift; no principle […] may justify the taking of it” (Miller 132) reveals that Parris thinks life is more important than pride. Danforth, however, put his pride over others' lives. In other words, he is a selfish person who sacrifices other people’s lives in order to let his brittle pride survive. He should be blame for his selfishness and his ignorance to people’s lives.

Danforth should be blamed for his misunderstood of religious and civil duty, his breach of duty, and his extreme lust for pride. Although lots of opinions lean to the belief that Abigail is the most blameful person, evidences in this essay have made it clear that Danforth should be responsible for the tragedy of Salem’s Witch Hunt.


Works Cited
Miller, Arthur. “The Crucible”. New York: Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 1976.

“With great power, comes great responsibility.”
Ben, Park. Spiderman (the movie). QuotesHead.com. 24 Feb. 2007.