Crucible 1. The judicial system in The Crucible allows a lot of things in court that would be considered barbaric in our modern court of law. Their contenders were not allowed judges or legal counsel, there was not a jury, and spectral evidence was allowed as damning evidence of witchery. All of which have been remedied in our modern judicial process. The flawed process behind the damnation of ‘witches’ during the Salem witch trials was mostly shown through the use of spectral evidence, which only the accuser could witness. They took solely off of the accuser’s word, and those that apposed were considered allies of the witches or arrested for contempt of the court. They gave the accused a choice: Death, or jail. If you confessed, which many did so they could live, they were jailed. If you did not confess, you were hung. They did not leave room for innocence, because of how damning spectral evidence was. In The Crucible, Judge Danforth remarks “Do you know, Mister Proctor, that the entire contention of the State in these trials is that the voice of Heaven is speaking through the children?”. Juries in our court of law today help voice the opinion of the public to prevent proceedings like this from happening. Allowing the invisible claims condemn the innocent has been abolished. Innocent until proven guilty is our courts motto, and it’s because of the Salem witch trials that we can better resolve our conflicts judicially. 2. Ann Putnam declares that “there are wheels within wheels and fires within fires” in Salem. She speaks of the interior motivations that drive the larger conspiracy behind the witch trials, and what makes people so ready to condemn each other of witchery. Many of the witchery disputes were started over land disputes, or the people they condemned were already in bad favor with the public. Putnam points out the maliciousness behind the trials with her metaphor relating these issues to fires within fires, being that they fuel the larger fire. Author miller points out in his descriptions that a land dispute between Putnam and Giles Corey. Eventually Giles wife is accused by prompting of Putnam to Abigail. Abigail set up Elizabeth so she could be with Proctor by planting a poppet in her possession. All of which are examples of the inner motivations behind accusing people of witchery. This line was given to John Proctor during the movie, which changes the impact of the metaphor. It would’ve shown his doubts of witch trials a lot earlier in the play, and given him a different light. 3. The stage directions in The Crucible make it truly unique in the sense that it gives insight into the emotional response in the character. In the scene where Proctor and Elizabeth sit down for dinner, the rising tension between them is only made apparent when he gives cues such as when Elizabeth speaks to him “quietly, fearing to anger him by prodding.” Or “receives proctors kiss” instead of returning it. It is clearly awkward to speak about things between them. It sets the stage for the sudden anger between them both and helps you understand why there was a sudden shift in emotion. 4. Puritans put heavy faith in the scripture, relying on it for textual examples of their own situations. When Proctor proclaims Rebecca to be a honest women, unlike that of a witch, Hale responds with “Man, remember, until an hour before the Devil fell, God thought him beautiful in Heaven”, a bible reference that explains how they could condemn such a nice person of witchery. In act II, Elizabeth states “Abigail brings the other girls into the court and where she walks, the crowd will part like the sea for Israel”. Their use of bible allegories in everyday language shows how much they depend on the scriptures absolute direct translation. Where it uses the word witch, it DOES mean a witch and not a vile woman, where it condemns those that party and drink, you must NEVER have fun and so forth and so on. It shows how they are raised to believe