Again, the characters are using reference to the bible similar to previous acts such as the one where Proctor calls Hale ‘Pontius Pilate’. In the bible where Cain killed Abel.** This statement was when Proctor was making Danforth realize how unreasonable it was to arrest Rebecca Nurse as she was known to be good and had an ‘upright’ reputation. However, Parris counters this with the quotation above and states that Cain was an ‘upright’ man too, a man of God, but he still killed Abel. He’s trying to imply that no matter what reputation is before, it doesn’t matter because, like in the bible, you can still murder someone. Nevertheless, as Proctor argued, there is no hard evidence that it was Rebecca Nurse who murdered those children thus, I think their argument is pointless. But then again, Parris has his own agenda and Danforth for a moment considered this but he changes and avoids the topic by mentioning Proctor’s wife. He tries to ignore the logical reasoning of not having hard evidence against Rebecca Nurse and concentrates on Proctor’s true reason of being there.
“Is every defence an attack upon the court?” Hale to Parris (page 75)
This was after Proctor showed some good testimonies about Rebecca Nurse from other people. However, Parris suggested summoning all these people. Evidently, Hale has now turned his back on the court. He has been illuminated about how unreasonable the court is on deciding who gets in jail. I also think that he is feeling guilty because he was part of the court before and he was one of the people who decides whether someone is a witch or not. He feels more guilty in this instance which involves Rebecca Nurse because he signed the paperwork that lead to Rebecca’s arrest. Miller also shows more evidence of how unfair the court was. It’s obvious that Proctor and Francis had solid and hard evidence that states Rebecca is a good woman but instead, they believe in what the girls’ say.
“Let you beware, Mr Danforth. Think you be so mighty that the power of Hell may not turn your withs? Beware of it!” Abigail talking to Danforth (page 87)
After Mary has confessed that she saw no spirits, Danforth starts to doubt Abigail. Abigail senses that she is in danger of being found a fraud. If we look in Act I, when Abigail was accused of being a witch, she turned everyone’s eyes to Tituba and blamed her for dancing in the woods. We can then predict that she will do the same thing in this situation. We now know that Abigail is very manipulative, has a nature of threatening people and telling the court someone is a witch for people she doesn’t really like, for example, Elizabeth. I think that in her head, she’s already making up a plan for telling the court that Danforth is a witch if ever he believes Mary instead of her. The stage direction says that she says this in an open threat to Danforth which is the judge and has a very high position. Abigail is smart and she knows that she has the power to throw Danforth in jail and thus she is not afraid to threaten him in open public. Abigail realizes this newfound authority that she posses adding fuel to her already threatening character.
“I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court!” Hale to everyone in court (page 96)
Hale doesn’t address this to anyone in particular. He clearly knows that Proctor is an innocent man and that he tells the truth. When Danforth ordered both Corey and Proctor to be sent to jail, this seemed to catalyse Hale’s action to leave the court and to not have anything to do with it and its actions. I think that this is an important point in the story because up to this point, the court can defend itself and say that they had someone who knows what he’s doing and is knowledgeable in the area of witchcraft. Before, Mr Hale first checked if they people thrown in jail had signs of being a witch, but now that he is gone, the court is a complete circus or a theatre. It is a stage for all these girls to accuse anyone they want. I’m not sure if Danforth realizes how important Hale’s perspective is regarding this matter, but it didn’t really matter in the end because he couldn’t convince the judge that Proctor and Corey were innocent.
