I speak my own sins; I cannot judge another. I have no tongue for it.
– Arthur Miller
The Crucible, Act 4. After Proctor falsely confesses to binding himself to the Devil’s service, Danforth asks if he saw Rebecca Nurse, Mary Easty and Martha Corey with the Devil. But Proctor refuses to name names and incriminate others. He can only speak of his own sins, he says, being guilty of the sin of adultery. Proctor cannot point the finger of blame at others, showing his integrity. Many witnesses who appeared before Senator McCarthy’s House Committee on Un-American Activities were also pressed into naming names and suffered greatly when they refused.