Pleas for mercy from poor, bereft Giles Corey (a heartbreaking Jim Norton) fall on deaf ears. “We cannot look to superstition,” he warns.īy the time Deputy-Governor Danforth (Hinds, on a mission to make your blood run cold) arrives in Salem to oversee the witch trials and hangings, the city is gripped in hysteria.

The Reverend John Hale (Bill Camp, giving a marvelously nuanced performance) is another sensible voice crying in the wilderness.

“Let us rather blame ourselves,” she advises, delivering a message that has resonance in the here and now. Rebecca Nurse (a lovely performance from Brenda Wehle) realizes that the “bewitched” teenagers are in their “silly seasons” and cautions against looking for supernatural forces to blame for the things they fear. Once caught up in the group hysteria, the pious elders in this stern patriarchal society see evil everywhere, and declare themselves judge, jury, and executioners of their neighbors.īefore the witch hunt gets completely out of control, a few reasonable people raise their voices in protest. Playing on the religious mania of the town leaders, she convinces these gullible fools that devilish spirits are harming their children. Like an unethical politician, she manipulates her pliable band of orphaned servant girls into a rapturous, unthinking mob. Abigail is also the conduit for Miller’s hand-wringing views of postwar America.

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