Judge Danforth in The Crucible Essay Example

An extremely dangerous person is not just someone that is physically capable of hurting others. Extremely dangerous people have many weapons at their disposal, however these weapons are not fueled by gun powder. The weapons of extremely dangerous people are power and influence/status. Judge Danforth from the play, The Crucible, is by far the most dangerous character I have read about this semester. Danforth is the most dangerous person I have read about in literature this marking period because of his abuse of power that derives from his status.

Judge Danforth was a renowned Judge, and in, The Crucible, he was sent to Salem to be the Judge of witch trials. Danforth thought of himself as veracious, but he’s quite the opposite, because he’ll do anything to protect his name and his truth, not the genuine truth. Danforth proudly sentenced 72 people to death, because they were found guilty in his court. In Salem in the play, girls were accusing others of witchcraft, not because they truly believed the devil was amongst them, but out of pure spite instead. Salem was a town ruled by theocracy, so whoever was accused of witchcraft would almost automatically be arrested and tried in court, even if the accusations had an insignificant amount of evidence to back them up. When Judge Danforth arrived he sided with the accusers, and many more people were sentenced to death. Even when John Proctor (A well respected man and protagonist of the play), and Giles Corey (an elderly also well respected man in the town), gave their depositions to the Court to save their wives who have been accused of witchcraft, they were only briefly considered by Danforth. The depositions stated that the girls were frauds and not accusing people because they were witches, but accusing people out of spite and revenge. Judge Danforth began to realize that these girls were frauds, but if it were to come out that those girls were frauds and he had been basically advocating for them, it would ruin his reputation. People will begin to wonder if any trials that Danforth was the Judge of have been legitimate at all, and since he can’t take back the executions of those 72 people, he would have to side with accusers to save himself. Danforth would side with the accusers, by pressuring Proctor and Corey with biased questions, and making it seem like they were trying to overthrow the court.

Danforth was an extremely dangerous man, because of his status as a judge, which let him abuse his power. He basically was able to murder 72 people, without even laying a finger on them. Danforth was able to essentially kill almost anyone he pleased, by either finding them guilty of witchcraft or accuse them of overthrowing the court if they tried to go against the court’s rulings. Even if there were trials held, no justice was being served, it was an unscrupulous court system. Many people feared the court and church for this reason, because if they became the defendant, they were almost certain to die, especially if one made enemies with Danforth. Overall Judge Danforth is one of the most dangerous characters I have read in literature and by far the most dangerous character I have read about this semester, because of his status he was almost untouchable.