What is the significance of the point danforth made

Danforth represents the evil of blind certainty in the play: he refuses to accept the truth because to do so would humiliate him. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Why is the play called The Crucible? What is a crucible? Did the girls really see the Devil or witches? Why did Tituba confess to dancing with the Devil?

Was John still in love with Abigail? Danforth's sympathy shifts again to Abigail during Hathorne's cross-examination of Mary Warren. Hathorne makes a legitimate request when he asks Mary Warren to repeat her fainting performance.

If she pretended to faint the first time, then she should be able to do it again. She is not able to do it. Mary Warren's inability to faint or stage a fit serves as a cue to Abigail.

In the court's eyes, Mary's failure to feign an attack proves that the girls cannot fake such behavior, which lends merit to Abigail's subsequent claim that Mary Warren's spirit is attacking her. At this point, the court is likely to discard Mary Warren's testimony in view of the evidence Abigail provides.

Only when Proctor accuses Abigail of being a whore does she end her fit and lose credibility with Danforth. When Proctor tells the court of his affair and Abigail's plot to kill Elizabeth, he gives the court another opportunity to end the trials. However, just as Danforth willingly dismissed Corey's claim against Putnam because Corey would not reveal his witness, so Danforth dismisses Proctor's claim that Abigail is a harlot, simply because Elizabeth lies to conceal the affair.

Irony is evident in this scene because Danforth is committed to preserving truth, yet he will not acknowledge truth when he hears it. Proctor, who has spent seven months concealing his affair with Abigail, now tells the truth but is disbelieved. And Elizabeth, who has lived by the truth, lies to keep her husband's secret and condemns them both by doing so. And Mary Warren, who had lied and now is finally telling the truth, lies again to save her life.

The only winner here is the chief liar, Abigail Williams, who continues to lie. And the court, which should be an instrument of truth, is in the position of condemning those who tell the truth and believing liars.

Truth does triumph in the end, through the individuals who refuse to compromise their beliefs in order to preserve their lives. However, the advocates of truth often pay with their lives — a heavy price. Danforth gets almost the last word in the play, condemning John to death for taking back his false confession. His character represents what can happen when people are too self-righteous to listen to reason. SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Why is the play called The Crucible?

What is a crucible? Did the girls really see the Devil or witches? Why did Tituba confess to dancing with the Devil? Was John still in love with Abigail? What causes tension between John and Elizabeth Proctor?