How Injustice Made It's Way Into The Courts
Callum
Where does injustice come from? Is it greed, naivety, stupidity? All of these above are presented in The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller in 1953 about the town of Salem and its fear of witchcraft and wizardry. There is injustice in the court of Salem because everyone is blinded by fear of something they cannot control.
The townsfolk of Salem are so scared, they will grasp at any reason that explains the mysterious and bamboozling series of events. Betty going into a coma, things flying around the courtroom, the girls acting bewitched and chanting spells – all of these things are weird and very strange and definitely would have creeped the people of Salem out. The people of Salem did not know how to react. When people are naive and feel threatened by something they don’t understand, they react in ways that don’t make sense. For example, people in the world today were afraid of COVID-19 because no one understood it. Because of this, they reacted unintelligently by buying toilet paper . In Salem, people did the same thing by blaming people with witchcraft, which is clearly not real, because they were in fear. Putnam said, after Betty was crying and whimpering for no particular reason, “That is a notorious sign of witchcraft afoot, Goody Nurse, a prodigious sign,” (pg. 18) Because nothing seemed to be wrong with Betty, Putnam was trying to make sense of why it was happening. This was only the start of a long period of witchcraft hysteria that makes its way into the courtroom.
When John Proctor is brought to the court, he is put in a pickle, being brought upon the blame with no options to go with. He could admit to making deals with the devil and be executed, or plead his innocence, which no one would believe because it seems dark magic has been affecting the young girls who blamed him. “Are you afraid to be questioned here?” (pg. 91) asks the judge. John is indeed scared to answer the questions because of his lack of options. He could stay quiet and be executed right away. Or he could argue his case, which he tried, but ended up digging his hole deeper for himself, after he had no proof and reasons for his excuses. This ties back to the injustice inside the court. The courtroom doesn't use common knowledge and refuses to believe his reasoning. After he did end up staying quiet because he was too scared to do anything else.
Lack of knowledge can provoke fear, especially in situations like in the play because of the fact that witchcraft has been spoken of, but not fully addressed. When an unstable town is in conflict and confusion, anything more will lead to fear. The universal cause of fear is threat of harm, imaginary or real. Both are in the crucible when they are in a hunt for witches.. Fear is the It started when Betty went into a coma for no reason, with no symptoms. Then when rumors flew through Salem, it went wild, from accusation to accusation. The judge said, “The pure in heart need no lawyer,” (pg. 90), voicing that everyone was expecting a confession.
The people of Salem are easily swayed and very gullible. When they are presented with something, they believe it right away no matter what it is, or how silly it is. This is because they are in fear of witchcraft and wizardry and are willing to believe anything they’re told because witchcraft can’t be explained or reasoned with. People can easily be manipulated when they are scared or confused because they lack knowledge of the situation. This is because people want something to believe.
