Proctor, in his first appearance, is presented as a quick-witted, sharp-tongued man with a strong independent streak. These traits would seem to make him a good person to question the motives of those who cry witchcraft. However, his guilt over his affair with Abigail makes his position problematic because he is guilty of the very hypocrisy that he despises in others.
Abigail, meanwhile, is clearly not over their affair. In one sense, Abigail accuses him of destroying her innocence by taking her virginity.
In another sense, she also accuses him of showing her the extent to which hypocrisy governs social relations in Salem. Her secret desire to remove Elizabeth Proctor from her path to John Proctor drives the hysteria that soon develops.
Parris is one of the least appealing characters in the play. Suspicious and grasping, he has a strong attachment to the material side of life. It is obvious that his emphasis on hellfire and damnation is, at least in part, an attempt to coerce the congregation into giving him more material benefits out of guilt.
Parris, Miller mentions in an aside to the audience, was once a merchant in Barbados. His commercialist zeal shows in the way he uses sin as a sort of currency to procure free firewood and free houses.
He would have his congregation pay God for their sins, but he wants to collect on their debts himself. His allegation that Proctor leads a church faction intent on bringing about his downfall reveals that Parris is fairly paranoid. This paranoia, coupled with his actual political vulnerability, primes him to take advantage of the witch trials to protect his personal interests.
Feelings of jealousy and resentment have no outlet other than the court, which, in theocratic Salem, is also an institution of religious authority. The entire community of Salem is thus ripe for the witch trials to become an outlet for the expression of economic, political, and personal grudges through the manipulation of religious and moral authority. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook.
Why is the play called The Crucible? What is a crucible? Did the girls really see the Devil or witches? Why did Tituba confess to dancing with the Devil? When the royal government revoked the Massachusetts charter and Sir Edmund Andros established the Dominion of New England in , Danforth resigned his position as deputy governor. Deputy Governor Danforth oversees the witchcraft trials in Salem, as well as in other parts of Massachusetts.
He likes to think of himself as fair-minded, so it disturbs and angers him to discover that people fear the court. Why does Danforth not allow Proctor to obtain a lawyer? The evidence is invisible, and the lawyer would only bring in irrelevant evidence.
Corey says that he owns six hundred acres of land, and a large quantity of timber. Corey also states that the court is holding his wife Martha by mistake.
Corey tells Danforth that he had asked Hale why Martha read books, but he never accused her of witchcraft. Corey and Francis Nurse state that they both have evidence for the court. They have been waiting for three days to present the evidence, but to no avail.
Danforth responds that they must file the appropriate paperwork for the court to hear them. Nurse tells Danforth the girls are pretending.
Time plays a critical role in Act III. The fascination with witchcraft that appeared in Act I, Scene 5 has quickly changed to mass paranoia. The townspeople now regard anyone who does not conform exactly to the laws of Salem society as a potential witch. Fear and automatic suspicion replace reason.
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