The Torturer's Dilemma: Analyzing the Logic of Torture for Information

During the month of April, the master of one of the afflicted girls (Mary Warren) took it upon
himself to break the girl of her symptoms through close supervision and threatened beatings. John
Proctor did not trust the proceedings, and in fact saw the girls' actions as tantamount to murder. The
harsh treatment appeared to work – by April 2 nd , Warren had posted a note on the Meeting House door,
asking her neighbors to offer prayers of thanks to God for her recent deliverance from pain. The next
day, after the note was read aloud by Rev. Parris before a stunned community, Warren explained to the
crowd that “the afflicted persons did but dissemble.” (Roach, p. 66) And it is here that we see the true
nature of the afflicteds' tacit conspiracy become clear. For Warren's revelation that the seizures were
not diabolical called into question the truthfulness of every other afflicted person – making them all
potentially legally responsible for the murder of any accused sentenced to death. 49 It is perhaps
unsurprising that Warren was then accused of witchcraft herself about two weeks later (the warrant
issued on April 18 th ), in a manner that not only made clear to any wavering afflicted the wages of
defection, but also mollified suspicion among the villagers that the afflicted had been lying: Warren had
been afflicted for refusing to become a witch – now she was no longer afflicted – therefore, she must
now be a witch. (Starkey, p. 88) When Warren was questioned the next day, she at first maintained her
innocence, but under pressure from the afflicted, she began to confess before suddenly going into
convulsions – the afflicted claimed to see the spirits of John and Elizabeth Proctor preventing her from
confessing.
It is in April that we see the first indication that the accused might be able to use the trial
proceedings themselves against their own enemies. Abigail Hobbs (14 years old) had been telling
people for over a year that she had made a deal with the Devil to protect her while she had lived in
Casco (in what would later become Maine). Accused by the afflicted, she openly confessed in court to
witchcraft and named Sarah Good as her own tormentor – her cooperation was rewarded, as none of the
afflicted were 'attacked' during her testimony. Her father, William, and step-mother, Deliverance
Hobbs, were also accused, and ordered arrested on April 21 st , but not before Deliverance had accused
the mother of the local constable Ephraim Wildes of tormenting her. Wildes knew his mother to be
49 In fact, this was no small fear. Elizabeth Kendall had been executed as a witch sometime between 1647 and 1651 for the
murder of an infant: afterwards, it was discovered that the child's nurse had kept him out all night in the cold, leading the
infant to sicken and die. This nurse had also been one of those giving testimony against Kendall. Later in prison for
adultery, Deputy Richard Brown informed her that “it was just with God to leave her to this wickedness, as a
punishment for her murdering Goody Kendall by her false witness bearing.” (Hall, p. 25) In other words, false witness
would have been seen by the authorities as equivalent to murder, as well as a sin against God.
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