Bobby Singh

The Crucible
1. 2. 3. 4. Using supporting detail from the text (elaboration) 25 Points Correctly using and citing textual references 25 Points Deliberate, precise, and concise word choice 25 Points Organization 25 Points

There are many things that contribute to the death of the innocent Puritans in The Crucible. However, other than the people who contributed to it knowingly, the court system was the main reason that these innocents were killed. The fact that people who were blamed were guilty until proven innocent instead of the reverse, theyre complete intolerance for anything or anyone that opposed them in the slightest, and that they hanged people who didnt confess, but allowed the people who confessed to live all show that the court is to blame for these deaths. If someone is accused today they will be considered innocent until proven guilty. This protects people from false accusations. In The Crucible, the people that are accused of being witches are thought to be guilty until proven innocent. This means that even if the person didnt do anything wrong, they will be punished if there is no evidence that they didnt commit the crime. Also, the process to proving someones innocence is not defined in the Puritan court system. In order to prove that someone is guilty today, we must follow Due Process. This insures that nobody is treated better or worse than anyone else and that there is no prejudice involved. In the Puritan court system this is not established. The judges have the power to judge someone guilty or innocent as they see fit. The government in The Crucible is a theocracy, meaning that the moral laws and the state laws are seen as the same thing. The Puritans are very religious and believe that the condition of a persons soul is a public concern. Thus there is no tolerance for any deviation from social norms, since an individual who doesnt abide by the established moral laws is seen not only as a threat to the community but also to God. This means that you are either with God or the devil. This is best shown when Danforth says to Proctor But you must understand, sir, that a person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between (Miller 1298). This is the reason that it is so hard to appeal to the court and that people are afraid to say anything to help people falsely convicted. Lastly, by insisting that the people who wont confess are lying and letting those who do confess live, they are sending out the message that if someone blames anyone of doing something then the court will assume that they are telling the truth. This makes it turn into a fight to see who can blame the other first. This is what allows Abigail to manipulate the court into killing those innocent Puritans. If they would have asked everyone to confess but only hanged those for whom there was enough evidence to convict them, it would have been much better and nobody would have died because there wouldnt have been any evidence.

All these reasons show that if the court system had been more organized and secular, the Puritan people wouldnt have died on false accusations and Abigail would have gotten her just desserts.

Work Cited Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. Prentice Hall Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes: The American Experience. Massachusetts: Boston, 2005. 1233-1334.