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How well do the characters in Arthur Miller's The Crucible listen to each other?

Early on, in Act Two, John and Elizabeth Proctor do not do a great job at listening to one another.  Both seem still have a guard up as a result of John's extramarital affair with Abigail Williams seven months prior.  He feels that his wife continues to distrust him unnecessarily, and this angers him and makes it difficult for him to really listen to her concerns.  She feels that he continues to be untrustworthy -- saying at one time that he was never alone with Abigail, and, at another, that he was alone with her for just a few minutes -- and so she is somewhat suspicious of him and defensive of her own pride; this makes it difficult for her to really listen to his explanations. 


Other characters seem to have selective hearing.  For example, in Act Two, when Ezekiel Cheever arrives at the Proctors' home to arrest Elizabeth, he reveals that Abigail has charged Elizabeth with witchcraft.  He doesn't seem to listen to Mary Warren's statements that she made the doll and inserted the needle which is being used as evidence against Elizabeth, but when Elizabeth cries out that "[Abigail] is murder!  She must be ripped out of the world!" Cheever hears that and seems to mark it as evidence.  In another example, in Act Three, Danforth really doesn't listen to Giles Corey and John Proctor's testimony because they do not say precisely what he wants to hear, and when Mr. Hale objects to the proceedings, Danforth will not listen to him either.  He actually says, "I will have nothing from you, Mr. Hale."  Danforth seems to listen only to those statements that confirm what he believes to be true, and anything else is considered an attack on the court or lies from the mouths of witches.


In all, a great many of the characters are not very good listeners, hearing only the things that seem to confirm what they already believe.

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