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Are there any quotes about the death penalty in The Crucible?
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In The Crucible, several quotes highlight the death penalty for witchcraft. Mary Warren mentions that "Witchery's a hangin' error," indicating the community's use of hanging as punishment. Mr. Putnam insists on hanging Tituba, accused of witchcraft. John Proctor questions why innocent people confess to avoid hanging, suggesting coercion. Elizabeth Proctor recounts Giles Corey's death by pressing, illustrating the brutal enforcement of confessions in Salem. These quotes underscore the harsh penalties for alleged witchcraft.
Early in Act One, Mary Warren tries to convince Abigail Williams and Mercy Lewis to confess to the dancing they did in the woods, saying that they'll only be whipped for it. She is afraid for the health of Betty Parris and Ruth Putnam. However, Mary says, "Witchery's a hangin' error, a hangin' like they done in Boston two year ago!" This lets us know, then, that witchcraft is absolutely a crime that this community punishes with the death penalty: they hang witches.
Nearer the end of Act One, after Abigail accuses her, Reverend Parris and the Putnams begin to believe that Tituba has sold her soul to the Devil, and Parris threatens to whip her to death (she is his slave). However, Mr. Putnam says, "This woman must be hanged! She must be taken and hanged!" They believe that she is not confessing her true relationship with the Devil,...
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that she is certainly a witch, and so Putnam seems to want to apply the typical punishment for witches and hang her.
There are numerous quotes that mention the death penalty, particularly in the form of hanging, which is how John Proctor dies at the end of the play. In act 2, Proctor questions Reverend Hale's support of the corrupt court and brings up a rational reason as to why so many innocent citizens have been confessing to witchcraft. Proctor tells Hale,
And why not, if they must hang for denyin’ it? There are them that will swear to anything before they’ll hang; have you never thought of that? (Miller, 69).
Another quote that discusses the death penalty can be found in act 4, when Elizabeth is having a conversation with her imprisoned husband regarding the fate of Giles Corey. Elizabeth tells John Proctor,
Great stones they lay upon his [Giles Corey] chest until he plead aye or nay. With a tender smile for the old man: They say he give them but two words. “More weight,” he says. And died (Miller, 136).
Essentially, Elizabeth is telling her husband that Salem's authority figures had Giles Corey pressed to death by placing heavy stones on his body in the hopes that he would confess to witchcraft. Overall, the authority figures in Salem sentence people to death by hanging or pressing for refusing to confess to witchcraft.