Analytical essay for The Crucible by Arthur Miller
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an interpretation of the Salem witch trials of 1692 in Puritan Massachusetts in which religion, justice, individuality and dignity play a vital role. These factors define the characteristics of many of the most significant characters in the play. Some of them being John Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, Reverend Hale, Danforth and many others. The Salem witch trials were a result of the lack of expression of individuality and the fact that no individual could expect justice from the majority culture as a result of the deterioration of human dignity in the Puritan society of Salem.
The Puritan religion intertwined relation with daily social and state affairs of
This is critical because it clearly shows that individuals feel like court is a place for hypocrisy and lies instead of justice. They realized that they can no longer expect justice from the majority rule. The judges are driven by the major culture which is religion and to them justice to God is being performed in this trials. In reality the judges chose to be blind to the truth in order to conserve their dignity and therefor demonstrated the deterioration of not only dignity and justice but the morals in which the society was built upon. However to the individuals who were forced to confess, it is clear that justice has no presence in the court and thus it fragments the trust that they had placed on the church and its ability to make wise decisions. In the same conversation between Hale and Proctor, there is more evidence that even a respectable man like Proctor hesitates to put his dignity in jeopardy by going against the majority culture in the court. He states “I falter nothing, but I may wonder if my story will be credited in such a court. I do wonder on it, when such a steady-minded minister as you will suspicion such a woman that never lied, and cannot, and the world knows she cannot! I may falter somewhat, Mister; I am no fool” (57). In this quote, Proctor points out that even figures that portray justice such as Hale himself are suspecting the most respectable figures in the society, figures that portray an unquestionable amount of human dignity.