We cannot look to superstition in this. The Devil is precise; the marks of his presence are definite as stone, and I must tell you all that I shall not proceed unless you are prepared to believe me if I should find no bruise of Hell upon her.
– Arthur Miller
The Crucible, Act 1. Hale reprimands Thomas Putnam for suggesting that Betty Parris being unable to bear to bear the Lord’s name is a sure sign of witchcraft. Hale uses a simile – "definite as stone" – to explain how precise the marks of the Devil are. This is ironic, because no physical signs of the Devil are found on anybody in Salem, either on the supposedly sick girls or on those accused of being witches.