In The Crucible Proctor brings Judge Danforth the signatures of ninety-one people who have a good opinion of the accused. What does the judge do...

Your question refers to Act III scene 2 of The Crucible, in which John Proctor goes to the court to provide Judge Danforth with a testament signed by ninety-one of the townspeople who are willing to vouch for the good moral character of Elizabeth Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, and Martha Corey. These women had been arrested as accused witches earlier in Act III. After John Proctor hands the list to Danforth, Reverend Parris comments that...

Your question refers to Act III scene 2 of The Crucible, in which John Proctor goes to the court to provide Judge Danforth with a testament signed by ninety-one of the townspeople who are willing to vouch for the good moral character of Elizabeth Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, and Martha Corey. These women had been arrested as accused witches earlier in Act III. After John Proctor hands the list to Danforth, Reverend Parris comments that those people who signed the document should all be summoned for questioning, evidently because he views their willingness to defend the accused women as being a "clear attack upon the court". After glancing at the list, Danforth instructs Mr. Cheever to draw up warrants to arrest the ninety-one people who signed the document so that they can be examined by the court directly.

This is not the reaction that John Proctor and Francis Nurse had hoped for, to say the least. Nurse comments that he had promised those people that no harm would come to them as a result of adding their signatures, and he is filled with fear and guilt for dragging them into the court's attention now. Proctor unfortunately seems unconvinced of the court's dangerous unwillingness to change its mind about people's guilt or innocence. He does not say anything in response to Danforth's decision to issue warrants for the ninety-one neighbors, but a few lines later in the scene Proctor remarks to Mary Warren that she should remember that the angel Raphael told a boy named Tobias, "Do that which is good and no harm shall come to thee". 

Danforth's decision to arrest and question everyone on the list of signatures in support for the accused women indicates that he is not exactly looking at the matter with impartiality. He seems rather determined to find somebody guilty of something, whether it be the accused witches already in custody or the people who tried to vouch for them. Ironically Danforth and Proctor both have faith in the justice system and the idea that people who do the right thing will have nothing to fear. When Danforth wants to summon the ninety-one people on the list, it is because of his very concrete view that a person must either be for the court or against it, with no middle ground. This belief compels him to need to examine those ninety-one people. He cannot simply accept that they are just offering information without intending to undermine the court. At the same time, Proctor's continual belief that justice and honor will prevail puts him in jeopardy as the play moves forward. He cannot conceive of the notion that the court would still want to punish innocent people, especially when evidence is present that would prove their innocence. Danforth's treatment of the list of signatures and Proctor's mistaken belief in the list's power represent two sides of the same coin of concrete thinking.