The Trial
HATHORNE
Call Martha Corey.
MARTHA
I am here.
HATHORNE
Come forward.
The Jurors of our Sovereign Lord and Lady
The King and Queen, here present, do accuse you
Of having on the tenth of June last past,
And divers other times before and after,
Wickedly used and practised certain arts
Called Witchcrafts, Sorceries, and Incantations,
Against one Mary Walcot, single woman,
Of Salem Village: by which wicked arts
The aforesaid Mary Walcot was tormented,
Tortured, afflicted, pined, consumed, and wasted,
Against the peace of our Sovereign Lord and Lady
The King and Queen, as well as of the Statute
Made and provided in that case. What say you?
MARTHA
Before I answer, give me leave to pray.
HATHORNE
We have not sent for you, nor are we here,
To hear you pray, but to examine you
In whatsoever is alleged against you
Why do you hurt this person?
MARTHA
I do not.
I am not guilty of the charge against me.
MARY
Avoid, she-devil! You may torment me now!
Avoid, avoid, Witch!
MARTHA
I am innocent.
I never had to do with any Witchcraft
Since I was born. I am a gospel woman.
MARY
You are a gospel Witch!
MARTHA
Ah me! ah me!
Oh, give me leave to pray!
MARY
She hurts me now.
See, she has pinched my hands!
HATHORNE
Who made these marks
Upon her hands?
MARTHA
I do not know. I stand
Apart from her. I did not touch her hands.
HATHORNE
Who hurt her then?
MARTHA
I know not.
HATHORNE
Do you think
She is bewitched?
MARTHA
Indeed I do not think so.
I am no Witch, and have no faith in Witches.
HATHORNE
Then answer me: When certain persons came
To see you yesterday, how did you know
Beforehand why they came?
MARTHA
I had had speech;
The children said I hurt them, and I thought
These people came to question me about it.
HATHORNE
How did you know the children had been told
To note the clothes you wore?
MARTHA
My husband told me
What others said about it.
HATHORNE
Goodman Corey,
Say, did you tell her?
COREY
I must speak the truth;
I did not tell her. It was some one else.
HATHORNE
Did you not say your husband told you so?
How dare you tell a lie in this assembly?
Who told you of the clothes? Confess the truth.
MARTHA
You bite your lips, but do not answer me!
MARY
Ah, she is biting me! Avoid, avoid!
HATHORNE
You said your husband told you.
MARTHA
Yes, he told me
The children said I troubled them.
HATHORNE
Then tell me,
Why do you trouble them?
MARTHA
I have denied it.
MARY
She threatened me; stabbed at me with her spindle;
And, when my brother thrust her with his sword,
He tore her gown, and cut a piece away.
Here are they both, the spindle and the cloth.
HATHORNE
And there are persons here who know the truth
Of what has now been said. What answer make you?
MARTHA
I make no answer. Give me leave to pray.
HATHORNE
Whom would you pray to?
MARTHA
To my God and Father.
HATHORNE
Who is your God and Father?
MARTHA
The Almighty!
HATHORNE
Doth he you pray to say that he is God?
It is the Prince of Darkness, and not God.
MARY
There is a dark shape whispering in her ear.
HATHORNE
What does it say to you?
MARTHA
I see no shape.
HATHORNE
Did you not hear it whisper?
MARTHA
I heard nothing.
MARY
What torture! Ah, what agony I suffer!
HATHORNE
You see this woman cannot stand before you.
If you would look for mercy, you must look
In God's way, by confession of your guilt.
Why does your spectre haunt and hurt this person?
MARTHA
I do not know. He who appeared of old
In Samuel's shape, a saint and glorified,
May come in whatsoever shape he chooses.
I cannot help it. I am sick at heart!
COREY
O Martha, Martha! let me hold your hand.
HATHORNE
No; stand aside, old man.
MARY
Look there! Look there!
I see a little bird, a yellow bird,
Perched on her finger; and it pecks at me.
Ah, it will tear mine eyes out!
MARTHA
I see nothing.
HATHORNE
'T is the Familiar Spirit that attends her.
MARY
Now it has flown away. It sits up there
Upon the rafters. It is gone; is vanished.
MARTHA
Giles, wipe these tears of anger from mine eyes.
Wipe the sweat from my forehead. I am faint.
She leans against the railing.
MARY
Oh, she is crushing me with all her weight!
HATHORNE
Did you not carry once the Devil's Book
To this young woman?
MARTHA
Never.
HATHORNE
Have you signed it,
Or touched it?
MARTHA
No; I never saw it.
HATHORNE
Did you not scourge her with an iron rod?
MARTHA
No, I did not. If any Evil Spirit
Has taken my shape to do these evil deeds,
I cannot help it. I am innocent.
HATHORNE
Did you not say the Magistrates were blind?
That you would open their eyes?
MARTHA
Yes, I said that;
If you call me a sorceress, you are blind!
If you accuse the innocent, you are blind!
Can the innocent be guilty?
HATHORNE
Did you not
On one occasion hide your husband's saddle
To hinder him from coming to the Sessions?
MARTHA
I thought it was a folly in a farmer
To waste his time pursuing such illusions.
HATHORNE
What was the bird that this young woman saw
Just now upon your hand?
MARTHA
I know no bird.
HATHORNE
Have you not dealt with a Familiar Spirit?
MARTHA
No, never, never!
HATHORNE
What then was the Book
You showed to this young woman, and besought her
To write in it?
MARTHA
Where should I have a book?
I showed her none, nor have none.
MARY
The next Sabbath
Is the Communion Day, but Martha Corey
Will not be there!
MARTHA
Ah, you are all against me.
What can I do or say?
HATHORNE
You can confess.
MARTHA
No, I cannot, for I am innocent.
HATHORNE
We have the proof of many witnesses
That you are guilty.
MARTHA
Give me leave to speak.
Will you condemn me on such evidence, —
You who have known me for so many years?
Will you condemn me in this house of God,
Where I so long have worshipped with you all?
Where I have eaten the bread and drunk the wine
So many times at our Lord's Table with you?
Bear witness, you that hear me: you all know
That I have led a blameless life among you,
That never any whisper of suspicion
Was breathed against me till this accusation.
And shall this count for nothing? Will you take
My life away from me, because this girl,
Who is distraught, and not in her right mind,
Accuses me of things I blush to name?
HATHORNE
What! is it not enough? Would you hear more?
Giles Corey!
COREY
I am here.
HATHORNE
Come forward, then.
COREY
Is it not true, that on a certain night
You were impeded strangely in your prayers?
That something hindered you? and that you left
This woman here, your wife, kneeling alone
Upon the hearth?
COREY
Yes; I cannot deny it.
HATHORNE
Did you not say the Devil hindered you?
COREY
I think I said some words to that effect.
HATHORNE
Is it not true, that fourteen head of cattle,
To you belonging, broke from their enclosure
And leaped into the river, and were drowned?
COREY
It is most true.
HATHORNE
And did you not then say
That they were overlooked?
COREY
So much I said.
I see; they're drawing round me closer, closer,
A net I cannot break, cannot escape from!
HATHORNE
Who did these things?
COREY
I do not know who did them.
HATHORNE
Then I will tell you. It is some one near you;
You see her now; this woman, your own wife.
COREY
I call the heavens to witness, it is false!
She never harmed me, never hindered me
In anything but what I should not do.
And I bear witness in the sight of heaven,
And in God's house here, that I never knew her
As otherwise than patient, brave, and true,
Faithful, forgiving, full of charity,
A virtuous and industrious and good wife!
HATHORNE
Tut, tut, man; do not rant so in your speech;
You are a witness, not an advocate!
Here, Sheriff, take this woman back to prison.
MARTHA
O Giles, this day you've sworn away my life!
MARY
Go, go and join the Witches at the door.
Do you not hear the drum? Do you not see them?
Go quick. They 're waiting for you. You are late!
COREY
The dream! the dream! the dream!
HATHORNE
What does he say?
Giles Corey, go not hence. You are yourself
Accused of Witchcraft and of Sorcery
By many witnesses. Say, are you guilty?
COREY
I know my death is foreordained by you, —
Mine and my wife's. Therefore I will not answer.
During the rest of the scene he remains silent.
HATHORNE
Do you refuse to plead? — 'T were better for you
To make confession, or to plead Not Guilty. —
Do you not hear me? — Answer, are you guilty?
Do you not know a heavier doom awaits you,
If you refuse to plead, than if found guilty?
Where is John Gloyd?
GLOYD
Here am I.
HATHORNE
Tell the Court;
Have you not seen the supernatural power
Of this old man? Have you not seen him do
Strange feats of strength?
GLOYD
I've seen him lead the field,
On a hot day, in mowing, and against
Us younger men; and I have wrestled with him.
He threw me like a feather. I have seen him
Lift up a barrel with his single hands,
Which two strong men could hardly lift together,
And, holding it above his head, drink from it.
HATHORNE
That is enough; we need not question further.
What answer do you make to this, Giles Corey?
MARY
See there! See there!
HATHORNE
What is it? I see nothing.
MARY
Look! Look! It is the ghost of Robert Goodell,
Whom fifteen years ago this man did murder
By stamping on his body! In his shroud
He comes here to bear witness to the crime!
The crowd shrinks back from C OREY in horror .
HATHORNE
Ghosts of the dead and voices of the living
Bear witness to your guilt, and you must die!
It might have been an easier death. Your doom
Will be on your own head, and not on ours.
Twice more will you be questioned of these things;
Twice more have room to plead or to confess.
If you are contumacious to the Court,
And if, when questioned, you refuse to answer,
Then by the Statute you will be condemned
To the peine forte et dure! To have your body
Pressed by great weights until you shall be dead!
And may the Lord have mercy on your soul!
Call Martha Corey.
MARTHA
I am here.
HATHORNE
Come forward.
The Jurors of our Sovereign Lord and Lady
The King and Queen, here present, do accuse you
Of having on the tenth of June last past,
And divers other times before and after,
Wickedly used and practised certain arts
Called Witchcrafts, Sorceries, and Incantations,
Against one Mary Walcot, single woman,
Of Salem Village: by which wicked arts
The aforesaid Mary Walcot was tormented,
Tortured, afflicted, pined, consumed, and wasted,
Against the peace of our Sovereign Lord and Lady
The King and Queen, as well as of the Statute
Made and provided in that case. What say you?
MARTHA
Before I answer, give me leave to pray.
HATHORNE
We have not sent for you, nor are we here,
To hear you pray, but to examine you
In whatsoever is alleged against you
Why do you hurt this person?
MARTHA
I do not.
I am not guilty of the charge against me.
MARY
Avoid, she-devil! You may torment me now!
Avoid, avoid, Witch!
MARTHA
I am innocent.
I never had to do with any Witchcraft
Since I was born. I am a gospel woman.
MARY
You are a gospel Witch!
MARTHA
Ah me! ah me!
Oh, give me leave to pray!
MARY
She hurts me now.
See, she has pinched my hands!
HATHORNE
Who made these marks
Upon her hands?
MARTHA
I do not know. I stand
Apart from her. I did not touch her hands.
HATHORNE
Who hurt her then?
MARTHA
I know not.
HATHORNE
Do you think
She is bewitched?
MARTHA
Indeed I do not think so.
I am no Witch, and have no faith in Witches.
HATHORNE
Then answer me: When certain persons came
To see you yesterday, how did you know
Beforehand why they came?
MARTHA
I had had speech;
The children said I hurt them, and I thought
These people came to question me about it.
HATHORNE
How did you know the children had been told
To note the clothes you wore?
MARTHA
My husband told me
What others said about it.
HATHORNE
Goodman Corey,
Say, did you tell her?
COREY
I must speak the truth;
I did not tell her. It was some one else.
HATHORNE
Did you not say your husband told you so?
How dare you tell a lie in this assembly?
Who told you of the clothes? Confess the truth.
MARTHA
You bite your lips, but do not answer me!
MARY
Ah, she is biting me! Avoid, avoid!
HATHORNE
You said your husband told you.
MARTHA
Yes, he told me
The children said I troubled them.
HATHORNE
Then tell me,
Why do you trouble them?
MARTHA
I have denied it.
MARY
She threatened me; stabbed at me with her spindle;
And, when my brother thrust her with his sword,
He tore her gown, and cut a piece away.
Here are they both, the spindle and the cloth.
HATHORNE
And there are persons here who know the truth
Of what has now been said. What answer make you?
MARTHA
I make no answer. Give me leave to pray.
HATHORNE
Whom would you pray to?
MARTHA
To my God and Father.
HATHORNE
Who is your God and Father?
MARTHA
The Almighty!
HATHORNE
Doth he you pray to say that he is God?
It is the Prince of Darkness, and not God.
MARY
There is a dark shape whispering in her ear.
HATHORNE
What does it say to you?
MARTHA
I see no shape.
HATHORNE
Did you not hear it whisper?
MARTHA
I heard nothing.
MARY
What torture! Ah, what agony I suffer!
HATHORNE
You see this woman cannot stand before you.
If you would look for mercy, you must look
In God's way, by confession of your guilt.
Why does your spectre haunt and hurt this person?
MARTHA
I do not know. He who appeared of old
In Samuel's shape, a saint and glorified,
May come in whatsoever shape he chooses.
I cannot help it. I am sick at heart!
COREY
O Martha, Martha! let me hold your hand.
HATHORNE
No; stand aside, old man.
MARY
Look there! Look there!
I see a little bird, a yellow bird,
Perched on her finger; and it pecks at me.
Ah, it will tear mine eyes out!
MARTHA
I see nothing.
HATHORNE
'T is the Familiar Spirit that attends her.
MARY
Now it has flown away. It sits up there
Upon the rafters. It is gone; is vanished.
MARTHA
Giles, wipe these tears of anger from mine eyes.
Wipe the sweat from my forehead. I am faint.
She leans against the railing.
MARY
Oh, she is crushing me with all her weight!
HATHORNE
Did you not carry once the Devil's Book
To this young woman?
MARTHA
Never.
HATHORNE
Have you signed it,
Or touched it?
MARTHA
No; I never saw it.
HATHORNE
Did you not scourge her with an iron rod?
MARTHA
No, I did not. If any Evil Spirit
Has taken my shape to do these evil deeds,
I cannot help it. I am innocent.
HATHORNE
Did you not say the Magistrates were blind?
That you would open their eyes?
MARTHA
Yes, I said that;
If you call me a sorceress, you are blind!
If you accuse the innocent, you are blind!
Can the innocent be guilty?
HATHORNE
Did you not
On one occasion hide your husband's saddle
To hinder him from coming to the Sessions?
MARTHA
I thought it was a folly in a farmer
To waste his time pursuing such illusions.
HATHORNE
What was the bird that this young woman saw
Just now upon your hand?
MARTHA
I know no bird.
HATHORNE
Have you not dealt with a Familiar Spirit?
MARTHA
No, never, never!
HATHORNE
What then was the Book
You showed to this young woman, and besought her
To write in it?
MARTHA
Where should I have a book?
I showed her none, nor have none.
MARY
The next Sabbath
Is the Communion Day, but Martha Corey
Will not be there!
MARTHA
Ah, you are all against me.
What can I do or say?
HATHORNE
You can confess.
MARTHA
No, I cannot, for I am innocent.
HATHORNE
We have the proof of many witnesses
That you are guilty.
MARTHA
Give me leave to speak.
Will you condemn me on such evidence, —
You who have known me for so many years?
Will you condemn me in this house of God,
Where I so long have worshipped with you all?
Where I have eaten the bread and drunk the wine
So many times at our Lord's Table with you?
Bear witness, you that hear me: you all know
That I have led a blameless life among you,
That never any whisper of suspicion
Was breathed against me till this accusation.
And shall this count for nothing? Will you take
My life away from me, because this girl,
Who is distraught, and not in her right mind,
Accuses me of things I blush to name?
HATHORNE
What! is it not enough? Would you hear more?
Giles Corey!
COREY
I am here.
HATHORNE
Come forward, then.
COREY
Is it not true, that on a certain night
You were impeded strangely in your prayers?
That something hindered you? and that you left
This woman here, your wife, kneeling alone
Upon the hearth?
COREY
Yes; I cannot deny it.
HATHORNE
Did you not say the Devil hindered you?
COREY
I think I said some words to that effect.
HATHORNE
Is it not true, that fourteen head of cattle,
To you belonging, broke from their enclosure
And leaped into the river, and were drowned?
COREY
It is most true.
HATHORNE
And did you not then say
That they were overlooked?
COREY
So much I said.
I see; they're drawing round me closer, closer,
A net I cannot break, cannot escape from!
HATHORNE
Who did these things?
COREY
I do not know who did them.
HATHORNE
Then I will tell you. It is some one near you;
You see her now; this woman, your own wife.
COREY
I call the heavens to witness, it is false!
She never harmed me, never hindered me
In anything but what I should not do.
And I bear witness in the sight of heaven,
And in God's house here, that I never knew her
As otherwise than patient, brave, and true,
Faithful, forgiving, full of charity,
A virtuous and industrious and good wife!
HATHORNE
Tut, tut, man; do not rant so in your speech;
You are a witness, not an advocate!
Here, Sheriff, take this woman back to prison.
MARTHA
O Giles, this day you've sworn away my life!
MARY
Go, go and join the Witches at the door.
Do you not hear the drum? Do you not see them?
Go quick. They 're waiting for you. You are late!
COREY
The dream! the dream! the dream!
HATHORNE
What does he say?
Giles Corey, go not hence. You are yourself
Accused of Witchcraft and of Sorcery
By many witnesses. Say, are you guilty?
COREY
I know my death is foreordained by you, —
Mine and my wife's. Therefore I will not answer.
During the rest of the scene he remains silent.
HATHORNE
Do you refuse to plead? — 'T were better for you
To make confession, or to plead Not Guilty. —
Do you not hear me? — Answer, are you guilty?
Do you not know a heavier doom awaits you,
If you refuse to plead, than if found guilty?
Where is John Gloyd?
GLOYD
Here am I.
HATHORNE
Tell the Court;
Have you not seen the supernatural power
Of this old man? Have you not seen him do
Strange feats of strength?
GLOYD
I've seen him lead the field,
On a hot day, in mowing, and against
Us younger men; and I have wrestled with him.
He threw me like a feather. I have seen him
Lift up a barrel with his single hands,
Which two strong men could hardly lift together,
And, holding it above his head, drink from it.
HATHORNE
That is enough; we need not question further.
What answer do you make to this, Giles Corey?
MARY
See there! See there!
HATHORNE
What is it? I see nothing.
MARY
Look! Look! It is the ghost of Robert Goodell,
Whom fifteen years ago this man did murder
By stamping on his body! In his shroud
He comes here to bear witness to the crime!
The crowd shrinks back from C OREY in horror .
HATHORNE
Ghosts of the dead and voices of the living
Bear witness to your guilt, and you must die!
It might have been an easier death. Your doom
Will be on your own head, and not on ours.
Twice more will you be questioned of these things;
Twice more have room to plead or to confess.
If you are contumacious to the Court,
And if, when questioned, you refuse to answer,
Then by the Statute you will be condemned
To the peine forte et dure! To have your body
Pressed by great weights until you shall be dead!
And may the Lord have mercy on your soul!
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