Miller has made the audience see from this that Danforth does not have anything to hide but he is trying hard not to let it rock the court too much as it is such a large question. If the statement is true, his reputation and the trial will fall and it will have all been for nothing. He realises that his assumption that the girls were telling the truth may have been a very bad decision.
Now Danforth tries to find out what Proctor’s intentions are in the court and whether there is a way he can try and relieve himself of Proctor’s charge. Danforth finds out that Proctor ripped up the warrant for the arrest of his wife and asks him whether he is a Gospel Christian. Yes was his answer and then Danforth finds out that Proctor only goes to Church once a month and ploughs on a Sunday. Parris tries his hardest using this information to show Danforth that this is a man trying to over throw the court but Danforth decides not to judge Proctor upon the information he was just given. This could be seen by the audience as a way for Danforth to gain the respect and trust of Proctor so that his next question would be simple.
Danforth tells Proctor that his wife is pregnant but there are no signs of pregnancy. Proctor replies that his wife would never lie. Danforth is interested by this statement and the audience will soon see that Danforth will use this information to his advantage. Danforth replies that he will release his wife for the year to give birth to the child if he would drop the charge he has made. This is a smart move that Danforth has planned and the audience can now see for definite that Danforth is worried about the charge because it will affect him a lot. Proctor however rejects this. Miller has now put Danforth in a difficult situation and now he has forced Danforth to act more seriously to the charge. Danforth will have to find another way of saving his reputation which may mean affecting other people.
Danforth continues and asks Proctor to read the deposition he has. Proctor says that he is no lawyer but Danforth says that that does not matter as long as his heart is pure and he means no evil in his acts. This could be seen as Danforth trying to get more information from Proctor that could help him. Proctor has already told him that his wife will not lie which he can use, what else can he find out from Proctor? After listening, Danforth asks how many signed the deposition; he then says that he wants warrants drawn for all ninety-one of those people to be arrested for examination. This is Danforth show his power to Proctor and basically saying that he made the wrong decision before.
Giles then tells Proctor to hand over his deposition to Danforth who summons Putnam. Putnam denies Giles’ charge of him framing George Jacobs of witchery. Danforth asks Giles what evidence he has to back up his charge. He replies he has an honest man’s word but he refuses to tell who because that man will go to jail like his wife did. Danforth then says that he will have to charge him with contempt of the court but Giles replies he can’t as it was a hearing, not a trial. Danforth becomes very angry and call the court into full session. Mr Hale tries to encourage Danforth to stop what he is doing but Danforth is determined not to listen to anybody and has Giles arrested for contempt of the court.
Proctor tells Giles he will be free when Mary makes her statement and Proctor introduces Mary into the situation. Before this happens, Hale tries to convince Danforth that because this charge goes to the very heart of the court, Proctor should have a lawyer, not continue the trial alone. Danforth begins to become impatient and asks whether Hale has any doubt on whether his justice is fair. Danforth could be asking this to make clear to everybody in the court room that he is being a fair judge and nothing else, not trying to get Proctor to give away key facts that he can use which a lawyer would not.
From here Danforth calls for Abigail and the girls to be brought in he begins to question Mary, whether she was threatened by Proctor to sign the deposition and say she ‘never saw no spirits’. He tries to see if she is lying by using God and saying she will be damned if she lies. The girls enter the court and Danforth asks Abigail whether there is any truth in Mary’s statement. She replies, ‘No’. Danforth then tries to see whether Abigail is lying by stating that she saw Mary put the pin in the poppet and it was not the Elizabeth’s spirit that stabbed her but herself. She then lies and says that Elizabeth kept poppets when she worked for the Proctors.
Danforth asks Proctor if he thinks that Abigail means to kill, his reply is yes and Danforth says, ‘This child would murder your wife?’, still convinced that Abigail is only an innocent child. Proctor then tries to convince Danforth he is right by introducing the dancing in the forest by the girls and the fact they were dancing naked. At this point, Danforth feels like it is all over for him. He asks Parris whether it is true. Parris says that he saw them dancing, but not naked; this does help Danforth feel any better.
Lucky for Danforth, Miller made Hathorne introduce the idea that Mary fainted on a numerous number of occasions. Proctor quickly said that she pretended to do this and Hathorne said to do it then and now. Mary says she cannot. Danforth asks what is lacking, knowing now that he his back in business and he must use this situation to his advantage. She said she cannot tell, knowing that if she tells them it was the pressure that Abigail put on her, then Abigail would kill her during the night. Mary who is becoming scared says that she thought she saw spirits which is a lie. Danforth starts to become confident and questions this. Danforth asks Abigail whether she too only thought she saw spirits. Abigail becomes frustrated and says that this is a base question and says that Danforth distrusts her. He denies.
Abigail begins to act and say that she feels a cold wind and all the girls begin to copy and pretend. Danforth engaged by this and finds this a good way to help him ask Mary if she is witching the girls. Mary frantically tries to run but Proctor catches her.
Proctor then makes a drastic decision and grabs Abigail and cries out, ‘How do you call Heaven! Whore! Whore!’ Danforth shocked demands what he means. He then asks if he charges and how he intends to prove it. Proctor says that a man would not cast away his good name if he does not have to. He tells them, that he did it and Elizabeth sacked Abigail for it. Danforth, beginning to see how it all makes sense asks Abigail if it is true. She refuses to answer and she will leave if he makes her. Proctor knows that Danforth knows Elizabeth is innocent due to this and begs for her innocence.
Danforth realises he only has one way to go now if he is to save his reputation and that is to call Elizabeth, which he does. He says to Proctor, ‘Your wife, you say, is an honest woman’, he replies yes. He makes both Abigail and Proctor face him and says not to look at Elizabeth. He now knows that if he asks Elizabeth straight whether her husband had an affair; she will naturally lie to save her husband’s good name.
He allows Elizabeth to enter and asks her questions of Abigail and why she dismissed her from her duties. He gets her to the question, ‘Your husband- did he indeed turn from you?’ She tries to avoid it. She is forced to say ‘No sir’, immediately after she is removed from court when she has released what she has done. Danforth did this so that even though he knew that it was false, he had evidence against Proctor. Hale tries to convince Danforth but he fails. At this point Abigail says that there is a bird. Danforth believes her and Mary ends up turning from Proctor and going to Mary. She says that Proctor is the Devil’s man. Danforth going with Mary asks Proctor what he is and Proctor seeing now more truth and any more hope in the village says that a fire is burn and the face of Lucifer is upon him and Danforth. There is no hope anymore. Danforth orders from there for Proctor and Corey to be take to jail.
As can be seen throughout Act Three, Danforth has been playing with everybody and their words. He used them to gain information that would help him and at one point this nearly fails. That point was when he found out that there was dancing in the forests. From that point when Hathorne introduced Mary’s fainting incidences, he played dirty and ended up using Elizabeth against Proctor. Forcing her to say her husband was not unfaithful. Even though he knew this was not true, he knew it was enough evidence to retain his reputation. After this Abigail made it worse and Danforth went along with her. Mary turned back to Abigail and left Proctor the only one to blame and so Danforth accused Proctor of making compact with the Lucifer and forcing Mary into making her statement and signing the deposition. Overall, Danforth is a judge who makes a mistake in the beginning who refuses to take the fall for it so he brings Proctor down instead by deliberately ignoring the evidence right in front of his face. This whole act was structured by Miller to create the scene where Danforth uses Elizabeth to create false evidence against Proctor.
