s family to ruin” (122). Anyone who notably broke rules of Puritan law was treated as sinful and capable of the lowest of deeds. When more honorable people were taken to jail, any doubtful or suspicious townspeople, such as the Proctors, were questioned as well. In these interrogations, Mr. Hale proved how unaccepting Puritans were of any logic going against the Bible. Elizabeth claimed that she did not believe in witches if she was accused of being one, causing the astonished Mr. Hale to question, “You surely do not fly against the Gospel—the Gospel!” (67). The entire witch-hunt progressed because people would not tolerate any objection to the trials. John Proctor, Mary Warren, and many other witnesses are repeatedly questioned whether they have an evil intention to undermine the good purposes of the court with their objections to Abigail. Like the courts, Abigail and the girls did not tolerate anyone trying to foil their plan and to reveal them as frauds. The flaws of people’s past were emphasized and utilized as weaknesses by the witnesses, and anyone that tried to get in the way of the girls was immediately taken care of. Intolerance of common sense and judgement gave the witch-hunt its power to continue for so long and to claim so many innocent lives.Such hatred of differences in the way some people chose to live their lives brought Reverend Hooper of The Minister’s Black Veil the most grief than any other effect of his black veil. From the first day he came to church with the veil, the congregation could focus on nothing but the foreign object covering his face. They forgot all that they loved and respected about him so much that they barely remembered to acknowledge his greetings. He became an outcast; people shuddered at his appearance at local events, just because they could not tolerate his peculiar decision to wear the veil. When Reverend Hooper attended a wedding, the horrible ...
