Judge Hathorne – it were another sort that hanged till now. Rebecca Nurse is no Bridget that lived three year with Bishop before she married him. John Proctor is not Isaac Ward that drank his family to ruin. (To Danforth:) I would to God it were not so, Excellency, but these people have great weight yet in the town. Let Rebecca stand upon the gibbet and send up some righteous prayer, and I fear she’ll wake a vengeance on you.
– Arthur Miller
The Crucible, Act 4. Parris warns the judges against continuing with the witch trial hangings. Up until now those executed were the less respected members of the community. But Parris cautions that hanging the virtuous Rebecca Nurse and well respected John Proctor could provoke a vengeance on the court. His warning sums up the growing hysteria and corruption of the witch hunt, with people lower down the social ladder the first to be accused, followed by those with more upstanding reputations.