Ryan Hunter Jones
Mrs. Zinsitz
English III 7th
12 October 2010
When Decisions Change Everything
In Arthur Miller's "The Crucible", the people of Salem are in a crisis and sometimes people who claim to be good aren't what they seem and may be in fact a hypocrite. Judge Danforth a senior judge during the Salem witch trials exposes his hypocrisy in his conflicts between Giles Corey, Mary Warren and the people of the town for the sake of his own reputation.
Judge Danforth is a powerful man who comes to Salem to stop the hysteria and prosecute the witches. Danforth believes he... "does not let anything interfere with an exact loyalty to his position and his cause" (Miller 182). He represents the God given right of the Puritan law to make sure justice is served. However he did struggle with justice and especially Giles Corey. Giles, an elder in the town showed up in Judge Danforth's court to explain a misunderstanding about his wife who was now being convicted of being a witch. Giles explained that he "never had no wife that be so taken with books.. like his 3rd wife" (Miller 182). He was curious about why she enjoyed books so much, unfortunately he said it out loud one day and they..."come and take her out of my house" (Miller 182). He was also there to discuss that Thomas Putnam's daughter was falsely accusing George Jacob so that Mr. Putnam could get Mr. Jacob's land. Giles explained that "if Jacobs hangs for a witch he forfeit up his property--that's law! And there is none but Putnam with coin to buy so great a piece. This man is killing his neighbors for their land!" (Miller 186). According to Giles, Thomas Putnam is standing by watching people be hanged because it will benefit him and he can buy up all the land. Judge Danforth expects proof of this accusation and yet when Giles explains "the proof is there [meaning on the piece of paper] I have it from a