sion, with the jury and the whole town looking on, the judges at the bench have absolute power. Giles Corey tries to present his evidence in open court, and gets himself thrown out for disrupting procedure. Perhaps Arthur Miller wants to give the victims a better chance at being heard. He sets this act in the vestry rooms of the meetinghouse, where the judges will be less protected by the trappings of authority.The first three French scenes of Act III set the stage for the battle that will follow. In Scene I we hear Martha Corey's trial in progress offstage.^^^^^^^^^^THE CRUCIBLE: ACT III, SCENE 2Scene 2, which begins when Giles Corey is forced out of the courtroom onto the stage, does two things: 1) it lets us know where we are: "This is the highest court of the supreme government of this province"; and 2) it introduces two new characters, Judge Hathorne and Deputy Governor Danforth. Danforth quickly establishes that he's the boss. Everyone is arguing--he settles the argument. He will consider Giles' evidence, but only if Giles follows procedure: "Let him submit his evidence in proper affidavit [in writing]."This scene also brings out an aspect of the witch-hunt that we've seen before. The most innocent actions can have disastrous consequences: "I only said she were readin' books, sir, and they come and take her out of my house," Giles says, weeping. Giles seems confused. He told Proctor that Martha was arrested for putting a curse on Walcott's pigs. And Danforth obviously knows nothing about Martha Corey and her books.But really Giles is upset because he "broke charity with the woman." He feels he has betrayed her, and he wants to make up for it. In a way this parallels Proctor's situation with his wife. By committing adultery with Abigail, John certainly "broke charity" with Elizabeth. Both Proctor and Giles Corey are motivated, to some extent, by guilt. This will be extremely important later.^^^^^^^^^^THE CRUCIBLE: ACT III, SCENE 3F...
