A Cycle of Fear
What would happen if you were accused of a crime you didn’t commit, but you weren’t able to defend yourself? The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a play about the Salem witch trials and how some people accused others of witchcraft or connection to the devil, for their own personal gain. This prompts a wave of terror within the small town where the courts in Salem are pressured to focus on convictions, rather than justice, to appease the scared people of Salem.
After some girls in Salem declare there are witches in Salem, the hunt is on and officials from neighboring towns like Boston, Beverly and Andover arrive to assist in finding the supposed witches. Yet after each conviction of a witch the courts get more and more pressure to convict another. When a Salem resident by the name of Giles Corey says “I have evidence for the court”(P. 84), Deputy Governor Danforth, of Boston, who is in charge of the witch trials responds “You will keep your seat”(P.84). This shows how the courts in Salem begin to bend under the pressure of what people expect of them, even refusing to hear evidence that is very important to the case at hand.
As time goes on the courts of Salem favor the whims of the Salemites more than justice. It gets to such a point that when Francis Nurse realizes the girls are lying he says, “We have proof of it, sir. They are all deceiving you.”(P. 87). Judge Hathorne begins to yell, “This is contempt, sir, contempt!”(P. 87). This shows how the courts have become so dead set on satisfying the people’s desire for convictions of witchcraft they proclaim every answer they don’t like contempt of court. It also makes it so they ignore the fact that people are convicted by others whom they have a rivalry with.
By this point the courts of Salem are entirely focused on convicting as many people as possible to try to satisfy the people and to save their reputation. When John Proctor comes to the court with a deposition while Danforth is talking to Mary Warren, Danforth immediately says “‘No, no, I accept no depositions.’ He is rapidly calculating this; he turns from her to Proctor. ‘Tell me, Mr. Proctor, have you given out this story in the village?’”(P. 88). And Reverend Parris exclaims “They’ve come to overthrow the court, sir! This man is -”(P. 88). This marks the point when the courts begin to completely disregard the facts of the cases entirely. Furthermore, it becomes so bad that Reverend John Hale, who came from Beverly to find the alleged witches in Salem says, “Is every defense an attack on the court?”(P 87) before he storms out of the church building. This is because if you pleaded innocent after being charged of witchcraft it was assumed you were lying.
These actions highlight the issue of the Salem courts being pressured to focus on convictions, rather than justice to appease the scared people of Salem.The events portrayed in The Crucible underscore the fact of how it is important than ever to remain calm, consistent and level headed in times of social unrest.
