Ave Mince-Didier stated that, “The Fourteenth Amendment prohibits coercive questioning by police officers. So, confessions to crimes that are coerced, or involuntary, aren't admissible against defendants in criminal cases, even though they may be true.” Being forced to confess to a crime whether the suspect committed the crime or not, is not allowed to be used in court, so why do they still do it? Forced confessions are when people, suspected of a crime, are put under methods of torture, threats, and violence, in order to get a confession whether the suspect did the crime or not. The concept of forced confessions, and having to confess to crimes fearing consequences has been around for generations, you can also find this concept while reading Arthur Miller’s 1953 play, The Crucible. We are able to examine the research question: What ways can we compare the events in the Salem Witch trials in The Crucible to forced confessions? To start, when getting a confession from a suspect, it is more prioritized to get the confession rather than accurate information and the truth. A technique called the Reid Technique, which is an accusatory interrogation, makes someone essentially believe they committed a crime and can force them to confess to a crime they didn't do. With this technique, 80% of the time they get a confession, but the outcome that the confession was the truth is not very high (Loevy). Loevy & Loevy talks about the comparison between the Reid technique and techniques
Under the assumption that John Proctor is actively search for something “honest” and noble in him at this point, he is on the course of completely escaping from his nihilism. To continue with John’s progress in this phase, his “honesty”, mentioned in the previous paragraph, can be two things. On the one hand, it would be an acknowledgement of John’s vanity and evilness of character, so avoidance of a saintly death (which would be “a pretense” for him), but confession to a lie “that was not rotten long before”, and thus subsequent punishment for his sins, therefore relief and peace through the shame and besmirching of such a confession. The sense of being finally genuine, after having suffered from the paralyzing notions of being a fraud and
According to Revolvy, “A forced confession is a confession obtained by a suspect or a prisoner under means of torture ( including enhanced interrogation techniques) or other forms of duress.” There are different aspects of forced torture. Physical and psychological torture are both used to force a confession. Physical force in the USA is rare during a confession because it has been outlawed (Redich). Many people will confess the truth if they are innocent because they have been coerced or they believe that it will be more beneficial to confess than to maintain their innocence (Innocence Project). In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, there are many instances of forced confession. Throughout The Crucible, multiple people are accused of being a witch. When the public and church thought someone was a witch, the person had two options. They could confess and say that they were a witch or they could be hung and die. This brings up the question, how does force confession affect the people in The Crucible?
The swiftness of judgment of many people led to unfair trials. Many people from the play were considered guilty until proven innocent, and even then it was hard to prove innocence. You either conformed and said that you did witchcraft, or kept your dignity and went to the gallows. The fears of evil encroaching upon the people of Salem in The Crucible led to coincidences turning into witchcraft, harsh judgment of the accused, swift judgment of the accused, and many lives being ruined.
Integrity and honesty are virtues that are highly valued within the society we live in today. Society honors those that do the right thing and those that show integrity. Most of the population perform acts of righteousness in the hopes that they would be rewarded for their actions. However, there are some who still perform good deeds and maintain their integrity, knowing they would not be rewarded for their actions. In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, John Proctor is the most admirable character because he always does what is right, damaged his reputation to end the witch trials to save others, and stayed true to himself in the name of human dignity and justice even if it meant his death.
Courage is shown by many characters all throughout The Crucible, however; John Proctor and Abigail Williams are the most courageous of them all. Both John and Abigail show courage because they aren’t afraid to do anything. These are the two characters who stood to be the most courageous. After reading Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, courageousness is shown through different institutions(such as courts, religion and the church of God), yet; it is genuinely shown through the characters of the play.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is a historical play set in 1962 in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. As you may know, you've all placed your trust in the words and actions of someone close to you. And what do they do? They betray you! It's rarely justified, and can happen to the best of us. Based on authentic records of witchcraft trials in the seventeenth-century this play explains how a small group of girls manage to create a massive panic in their town by spreading accusations of witchcraft. These rumors in turn are the causes that many citizens are hung for. This essay will show how the lies and betrayal of a few individuals eventually leads to the downfall of Salem and its society.
“Give them no tear! Tears pleasure them! Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!” (IV. 249). In this quote, the protagonist is expressing how he would die before writing a confession of witchcraft. It expresses how meaningful the theme of honor is in Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible. The theme of honesty is expressed various times through the actions of characters, such as the confessions of several actions, beliefs that are being shared, and the act of sacrificing for others.
In the 1950’s there was a scare of communism and people were being accused of being communist. From the article “McCarthyism: Witch Hunting and Blacklisting in the 1950s” “McCarthy's claims continued into 1954, this time targeting the Army. For eight weeks, in front of millions of television viewers, McCarthy questioned Army officials, including many war heroes.” Many people were getting questioned about being communist even though there wasn’t any real proof. McCarthy had questioned a lot of people including two people that had been Secretary of State. He had made a list of questionable claims, he didn't have any real proof but the Senate called for a full investigation. In the article “Famous Speeches: Joseph McCarthy's “Enemies from Within”, “This is glaringly true in the State Department, where those who were born with every possible advantage are the ones who have been most traitorous.” He is saying that the people with the most opportunities and that the country has been good too have been traitors. There is no actual evidence to this statement. He is picking out a group of people and using them. Because of his experience in the Red Scare he was able to write “The Crucible”.
Imagine spontaneously receiving an arrest warrant on allegations of anti-government campaigns. It would be especially startling for an upholding, law abiding citizen because his or her cooperation generally implies support of the government and its actions. Unfortunately, claims like this played a tremendous role in driving legal controversies throughout history. Playwright Arthur Miller’s The Crucible provides a partially fictional narrative regarding one such legal controversy - the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. When several girls are caught apparently dancing in the forest, they fabricate that witchcraft has taken over the town. The girls thrive in their newfound power, and pioneer an era of madness, fear, and betrayal in Salem through the witch trials. In the witch trials, Miller highlights the contrasting roles that Danforth’s obstinance and Rebecca Nurse's virtuosity play to demonstrate that obedience, although universally advertized as ameliorating life, fails to meet its hype.
People are often told that lying is the wrong thing to do; it is evil, inhumane, and overall terrible. Despite this fact, lying has been shown to hand people multiple benefits. These benefits can be anything from getting out of doing house chores to looking cool in front of classmates. Because of this, many people use this form of deception to remove themselves from unwanted problems in the community. The Crucible, a play written Arthur Miller, portrays a disrupted society where people are accused of witchcraft for any abnormal activity. The accused witches are either forced to “confess” to their involvement with witchcraft or be executed in the gallows. The characters in the play display to the readers that lying provides protection towards people in different ways.
Even though Reverend Parris believes all people who do not attend church regularly, like John Proctor are unchristian, he himself would be considered the unchristian considering his sermons are only about hell and damnation. John Proctor himself speaks about this issue, “I have trouble enough without I come five mile to hear him preach only hellfire and bloody damnation” (Miller, Crucible 42). It is made clear that John Proctor has an underlying hatred for Reverend Parris considering he is only into the money, that he only instills fear in the members of the church, and believes that he is above everyone else considering he is a Harvard graduate. John Proctor isn’t all that innocent himself. Even though he has shown to have high moral values,
Okay, do I confess or don’t confession. There’s positives and negatives to both decisions. There isn’t much time. I will not lie to them, to myself, or to god. I want to die an honest person, not confessing will allow me to do that. But if I confess. It will be like a sacrifice for my wife, my kids, and all the people of Salem that I don’t want to be hung.
The play, The Crucible has many characters that are different, innocent, and even guilty in conflicts that appear in the play. Some of the characters are Proctor, Elizabeth, Abigail, Rebecca, and many more. They have developed differently through the course of the play. For example, Abigail was the most innocent girl there, she made an mistake and that totally changed who she was. After that Abigail was never innocent.
The McCarthy hearings (The Red Scare) in the 1950’s with the political issues that were happening during those years could be depicted as the 1692/93 Salem Witch Trials. Accusing people of being communists is the same as accusing people of being witches. Arthur Miller, the author of the play,The Crucible, that was based on the Salem Witch Trials is a good example of a morality play. In 1692, there were accusations against innocent people in the town of Salem. In The Crucible, a group of teens accuse others of witchcraft even though, they are trying to cover up their mistakes that had been caused. After John Proctor had an affair with Abigail Williams this had opened a full can of worms throughout Salem. The Crucible displays characterization and bold symbolism and is represented in good and evil morals during the Salem Witch Trials.
The Crucible is a play written in 1953 by Arthur Miller. It is based off of the 1662 Salem witch trials written as a parallel between this time period and the Red Scare, the time period in which he was living. There are many topics explored throughout the play, but the most important is hypocrisy, which can be seen in several characters.