Be there no wifely tenderness within you? He will die with the sunrise. Your husband. Do you understand it? What say you? Will you contend with him? Are you stone? I tell you true, woman, had I no other proof of your unnatural life, your dry eyes now would be sufficient evidence that you delivered up your soul to Hell! A very ape would weep at such calamity! Have the Devil dried up any tear of pity in you? (She is silent.) Take her out. It profit nothing she should speak to him!
– Arthur Miller
The Crucible, Act 4. Danforth is angry at what he claims to be Elizabeth Proctor’s unconcerned reaction to her husband being hanged at sunrise. He and other members of the court want her to talk with her husband and get him to confess to save his life. In a metaphor Danforth compares Elizabeth’s hardness to "stone." He uses animal imagery to say that even an ape would be weeping in such calamitous circumstances. Danforth is desperate to extract a confession from Proctor in order to justify the witch trials and the hangings that have taken place so far. At this stage the trials have come under pressure, with rumors of rebellion and the main accuser Abigail having fled Salem. Danforth’s speech also shows how little understanding he has of people like the Proctors.