Summary of Act III

Elizabeth Proctor

At the beginning of Act 3, Danforth asks Proctor to drop the charges in return for Elizabeth. However, Proctor says he cannot do a disservice to his friends like that.  Instead, Proctor presents a petition protesting that Elizabeth, Martha and Rebecca are all good citizens innocent of witchcraft. However, Parris combats this by saying that everyone who has signed it should be arrested and Danforth agrees. Danforth is a firm believer that a person can either be for the court or against the court. Therefore, when Giles asserts that the girls are lying Danforth calls contempt of the court upon him.  Danforth thinks that there is a plot in the town to overthrow the court and Giles is arrested for his behavior.  Danforth then hears Mary Warren confess that she lied about witchcraft and calls in the other girls to hear them speak. However, Abby says that Mary is lying and stays true to what she said before. Mary says that her fainting in the courthouse was fake and Danforth tells her to faint for them to prove it. However, Mary says she cannot and the girls say that Mary is sending their spirit out at them. John finally loses it and leaps at Abby, calling her a whore. At this allegation, John is forced to describe his affair with Abby to prove that she is a whore. He says that Abby is now trying the get revenge on Elizabeth for dismissing her by accusing her of witchcraft. After this, Danforth wants to talk to Elizabeth and question her. However, remaining faithful to her husband, she denies that her husband ever cheated on her. The girls then pretend there is an evil spirit that Mary is sending after them and John tries to comfort her. However, Mary tells John that he is the Devil, which shocks both Danforth and Proctor. Proctor is so angered that he proclaims God is dead and he is arrested along with Giles. Hale is also done with the madness of Salem and quits the court.