The Crucible Danforth's Reputation

How far are you willing to go to ensure your reputation is safe? To many people, their reputation is a important thing that they will go great lengths to protect. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Judge Danforth, Reverend Parris, and John Proctor all valued their reputation and were willing to do whatever possible to preserve it. A central focus throughout the play was protection of one’s reputation.
Judge Danforth is also one who puts the glory of his reputation over what is actually right in the world. Danforth is the main judge in charge of sentencing people to death during the witchcraft trials. He refuses to back down no matter the circumstances and has a strong belief he has the gifted power of God. “But you must understand sir, that …show more content…
His daughter, Betty, was caught dancing in the woods, passed out, and only woken up to say out of the ordinary statements. There were rumors of witchcraft going around and Parris was terrified that his daughter will be accused and it will ruin him. “I pray you, leap not to witchcraft. I know that you- you least of all, Thomas, would ever wish so disastrous a charge laid upon me. We cannot leap to witchcraft. They will howl me out of Salem for such corruption in my house.” (13) It is evident here that Parris wants to keep this whole thing quiet. He does not want this situation with witchcraft to go wild and ruin his reputation. He is more concerned with what people will think of him instead of the well being of his daughter. As time goes on, Reverend Parris gets caught up in the witchcraft accusations ironically even though he knows they are not true. However, he gets too far in it and refuses to back down, again, to keep his reputation high and mighty. He later on sees that the truth is becoming evident and he has to do something to protect his reputation. He really encourages people to confess so it does not make him look evil. “ This way, unconfessed and claiming innocence doubts are multiplied, many honest people will weep for them, and our good purpose is lost in their tears.” (118) Parris declares this as he watches everything he has done unravel. …show more content…
At the start of the play, John is more concerned about his reputation in the city than testifying against Abigails and the girls in court. This is because he had an affair with Abigail and he can use this information to prove she is lying with these false accusations. However, John wants to preserve his reputation and make sure his affair with Abigail is not uncovered so he argues against going into the court to testify. “ I am wondering how I may prove what she told me, Elizabeth. If the girl’s a saint now, I think it is not easy to prove she’s fraud, and the town gone so silly. She told it to me in a room alone-I have no proof for it” (51) John here is telling his wife, Elizabeth, that he has proof that Abigail is making all this witchcraft accusations up but he does not know how he will be able to prove it. He is going against his best judgment in order to keep his reputation clean and not having to deal with all the questioning on why he was alone with Abigail. He did not want his affair to be uncovered in the town and his reputation ruined so he kept quiet in this moment. Further on into the play, John came into court to ultimately save his wife who was accused of witchcraft but his plan backfired. Instead, he was accused of witchcraft by his servant, put in jail, and will be hanged unless he confesses. Proctor chooses to confess but once he realizes his name