The Crucible by Arthur Miller

The play, The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller is based on the Salem witch trials.

These trials falsely accused many women of witchcraft. In, 1692 the only rational action to take was to begin hanging those accused of witchcraft. Those accused could either confess and be convicted or be found guilty and executed. Out of the accusations, there are only a few to blame and hold reliability for the trials.

Providing there are different opinions on who is to blame, it is Judge Danforth.

He is to be blamed for these horrific events, although he arrives in Salem to oversee the trials with a serene sense of his ability to judge fairly. In Judge Danforth’s mind, he is doing right by rooting out witchcraft, even despite all the evidence which had been presented. Nobody says otherwise because he is a highly respected, intelligent man. For example, when he sentences them to hang nobody dared to object.

On the other hand, Judge Danforth can’t take all the blame.

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John Proctor can almost equally take as much blame. John took a stand and refused to sign his name, due to his actions others followed. He is partly to blame for more hangings granted Danforth was the one to send them to be hanged. Each man was blamed highly because of their role in the Salem witch trials.

Because of this many were still hung, including John.

To clarify, the true criminal in the Salem witch trials was Judge Danforth. He acted upon no factual evidence of anything supernatural being done.

Danforth admittedly tried to convince John Proctor to sign away his name, confessing to the charges. He only did this because he wanted to have somebody to frame. For Danforth John Proctor was the perfect alternative to try and hide the fact he was the one who was in the wrong. Danforth did not think about the outcome for the others, he could only think about covering up his tracks. He was in the wrong and couldn’t own up to it.

As discussed in the play, countless women had been falsely accused of acts of witchcraft. As a result of the accusations made numerous women and even some men were hanged. Although they were given the option to confess and possibly live, many weren’t willing to lie, so they hung instead. These trials were quite an abnormal incident. If these trials hadn’t taken place people could still be accusing each other of witchcraft. These trials opened the eyes of many, let it open your eyes as well.