Question

HELP IF YOU'VE READ THE CRUCIBLE...

Answer 1

Answer: Governor Danforth represents rigidity and an over-adherence to the law in The Crucible. Danforth is clearly an intelligent man, highly respected and successful. He arrives in Salem to oversee the trials of the accused witches with a serene sense of his own ability to judge fairly. The chaos of the trial doesn’t affect his own belief that he is the best judge. At the end of the play, Salem is falling apart, Abigail has run away, having stolen Parris’s life savings, and many other lives have been ruined yet Danforth still cannot agree that the trials were a sham. He remains firm in his conviction that the condemned should not be executed. When John refuses to let him post his confession in town, Danforth sends him away to be hanged, “high over the town.” Danforth believes in sticking by a principle in spite of all evidence that his belief is wrong.

Explanation: