How Does Danforth Lose Power In The Crucible

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“It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.” These words spoken by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi show the idea that fear can cause individuals to make unmoral choices and is a concept that is shown throughout literature, including in Arthur Miller’s work The Crucible. The Crucible is a play that is based on the witchcraft hysteria that occurred in the small Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692. In the town of Salem an eighteen year old girl and former servant of the Proctor’s; Abigail Williams serves as the antagonist and leaves a path of distruction alongside her accomplices as they spread the hysteria of …show more content…
Through the power that he has acquired over the people of Salem by becoming the head of the court, he is able to keep them from questioning the court's motives. The people of Salem become afraid of the power that the court has over them after they see people being imprisoned for seemingly unjust reasons. Many people decide not to speak out against the court in fear that they would become the next person thrown in jail. In the beginning of the hysteria Danforth was sent to Salem to become the head of the court. He is a very prideful man and boasts that he has put “...near to four hundred are in the jails from Marblehead to Lynn, and upon [his] signature...and seventy-two condemned to hang by that signature” (Miller 87). Danforth takes pride in his signature and enjoys the power that it has. Not long into the hysteria, Francis Nurse’s wife Rebecca Nurse is accused of witchcraft and Francis brings forward evidence in an attempt to free his wife from jail, a paper signed by 91 people claiming that Rebecca Nurse, his wife, and his friend’s wife Martha Corey were good people and not witches. Danforth decides to have all ninety-one people arrested for examination even when Francis pleads him not as he exclaims that he promised the people that signed the paper that no harm would come to them and becomes sorry that he brought trouble on the people he asked to sign. Danforth retaliates by saying “No, old man, you have not hurt these people if they are of good conscience. But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between” (94). His response to Francis reveals his stance on the power that the court has. He is claiming that you either agree with what the court is doing and go along with it or you disagree and are seen as a person attacking the court and you will be imprisoned. Danforth
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