There are numerous people who could be held responsible for the outcome and happenings of the Salem witchcraft trials in the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. This was not a typical trial. Unlike most trials, the Salem witchcraft trials had judges, prosecutors, and witnesses, but there were no defense lawyers. In the case of the witchcraft trials as presented in The Crucible, the judges had an unusual and extremely major role. In fact one judge, Judge Danforth, was so prominent that he could be held most responsible for the outcome of The Crucible's trials.

Danforth was Deputy Governor and a senior judge in The Crucible's trials. Honest and meticulous, at least in his own mind, Danforth was convinced that he was doing right in rooting out witchcraft. He was in his late sixties. He wasn't liked by all of the villagers, although he was respected by some...