Comparing Justice: Was is necessary? The definition of justice differs for everyone. Some believe that justice is a form of revenge and is not always necessary, and other believe that it is needed in many situations. The idea of justice usually comes down to a person’s morals and ideals. In one instance in the short story “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston, the protagonist Delia finds justice against her husband after years of abuse. Comparatively, in “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner, the father Abner sees his outright jealously-filled revenge as justice. These two versions of justice are almost completely opposite, but in both character’s eyes their actions are justifiable. Delia’s instance of justice occurs when she indirectly kills her husband Sykes. He attempts to kill her with a snake and she escapes it, but later chooses not to warn him of his impending doom when he returns home. The readers tend to find her actions justifiable after seeing the abuse she …show more content…
His justice is only seen as justifiable through his eyes and is viewed as a social class confliction. In the story, Abner’s justice occurs twice, and those are only the ones we know of. This first is for a reason unknown, but results in his burning down of a barn. This barn is owned by a wealthy individual and Abner is not found guilty in a court of law. After both he and his family move towns, he begins work for another wealthier member of society. After a series of events, Abner’s boss sues him for damaging an expensive rug; Abner loses this case and is forced to lose part of his crops. This again sparks an idea and leads to Abner attempting to burn down his boss’s barn. Abner believes in his head that his vengeance has merit. Theses ideals come from a combination of anger and jealousy and his tendency to be focused on himself and how he feels. He is both angry at being sued, and covetous of someone much more fortunate than
Abner's act of breaking the law begins when he was supposed to be fighting in the Civil War, but instead he stole horses from both sides of the lines. When Abner returned home, he continued his act of breaking the law by committing arson. At the beginning of the story, Abner is in a makeshift courtroom where he is being tried for burning Mr. Harris' barn. There was no evidence to rule against Abner so he was advised to leave the country. "I aim to. I don't figure to stay in a country among people who " (217). After sly remarks of "barn burner"(218) from a group of people standing near, Abner tells his family to get in the wagon and get ready for travel. Abner and his family traveled to their next house where things got off to a bad start. Just a few days had gone by and Abner took Major DeSpain to court claiming his fine was to high for the damage he did to his rug. The court ruled in DeSpain's favor fining him, "to the amount of ten bushels of corn over and above your contract with him, to be paid to him out of your crop at gathering time" (226), thus setting off Abner's anger. As a result he set out that night and put DeSpain's barn on fire. <br><br>Finally Abner's unchanging character is revealed not only in his role as
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.
In “The Crucible” Arthur Miller made the plot develops through the conflicts by using high tension and climaxes. He ends each of the four acts with a climax. In addition, he allowed the protagonist to develop throughout the acts. “The Crucible” has many internal and external conflicts. The major external conflict is John Proctor trying to save his wife from being hanged by the town officials for supposedly being a witch. The major internal conflict is John trying to decide between saving himself and family from being hanged, or accept the death penalty for false accusations against him. The main conflict sharply differentiated good and evil as John Proctor, the protagonist of the play is faced with the
There are many conflicts that arise due to decisions characters make. The characters in The Crucible by Arthur Miller all have one thing in common corrupting the entire town and is all at fault for most of the actions decisions, and conflict displayed in the book. This corruption can be described in one word: Greed. Driving the town to go after one another greed in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is the true antagonist of the book, for it provokes most of the conflict in the book. This can all be proven with definitions and impacts of greed tot all of the characters, examples and how it relates back to the plot of the book.
In Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, Arthur intrigues audience time and time again with the historical context, social implications, and the Salem, Massachusetts Witchcraft Trials of 1962. Most members in Salem feel the need to prove their authority in ways such as accusing those who have done nothing or hanging them without proving their innocence first. The thing is authority is not made up by an authority figure, but by society. Miller’s The Crucible, demonstrates how people misuse their authority for cruel purposes through a fascinating plot, well-crafted characters, and well-set theme. During the hysteria of witchcraft trials in Salem, there were multiple figures of authority or per say the community who abused their power, Reverend Hale, Abigail Williams, Reverend Parris and Judge Danforth.
People believe that actions happen for many different reasons and tend to blame others before themselves. Some believe that the devil is doing the work in the body of someone else, and some believe that the devil does not, and some even believe in witchcraft. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, nineteen innocent people are hung for accusations of performing witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. A group of young girls go out into the woods which is forbidden in Salem. They are sent into a frenzy when the town’s reverend, Parris, spots them dancing in the woods. The girls are led by Abigail Williams, a young teenage girl who lives with her uncle, reverend Parris. Abigail is not the most truthful girl, which ends up causing 19 innocent people their lives. Previous to these events, Abigail was a servant in the Proctor household, but was sent off after Elizabeth Proctor found out about the affair between Abigail and her husband, John Proctor. In Abigail’s case the more lies she told, the more lives she ended.
Over the course of history, the idea of righteousness has clouded people's thinking, leading to cruel and unnecessary forms of punishment. Arthur Miller's The Crucible significantly illustrates human cruelty in the name of righteousness. Inspired by the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s, Miller's play, The Crucible, focuses on the inconsistencies of the Salem witch trials and the extreme behavior that can result from dark desires and hidden agendas. Miller bases the play on the historical account of the Salem witch trials, a series of hearings before local magistrates followed by trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693. A modern day example that can be recognizably compared to the Salem witch trials is racial profiling that manifested in the 1700s. Racial profiling is the use of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or national origin by law enforcement agents as a factor in deciding whom to investigate, arrest, or detain with no evidence of a specific crime or criminal behavior. Throughout the play, there are numerous instances of human cruelty in the name of righteousness that outline the basis of the Salem witch trials and racial profiling in today's society.
The Theme of Justice in The Crucible The crucible was set in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. The play is based on true facts about events that actually took place. It is about a small secluded town that relies strongly on their religion to keep them feeling safe. Their enemy is the devil and they are always scared of the devil and constantly looking for signs that the devil is there.
:”Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”, said by Martin Luther King, Jr. The Crucible written by Arthur Miller in 1953 introduces us a story of this kind that injustice brought by a character named Danforth brings the social malfunction of Salem accompanied by a breakdown of humanity and faith. In our modern society, the public requires the power and presence of laws and justice system to protect their rights. However, when the structures become shackles and the judges mute off their voice of the truth, it leads the tragedy and misery to the people.
In the play The Crucible, the author Arthur Miller displays an unfair treatment of humans when it comes to justice. Characters who live in Salem, Massachusetts, receive improper punishments for their sins of witchcraft and are being accused of crimes they did not commit. The justice system in the play is based on the maxim “guilty until proven innocent” which portrays unjust human rights due to executions of individuals without evidence. The accused characters attempt to defend themselves in court but it is ineffective because the only way to survive is to confess to witchcraft. Miller presents a cruel approach in justice systems and proves them to be unjust through the characters Giles Corey, Tituba, and Rebecca Nurse, who all suffered
The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller. In the town of Salem, the people’s obsession of trying to provide justice only caused injustice against the accused. The law of Salem was guilty until proven innocent. Their government was also a theocracy, and their obsession with religion also caused the injustice.
Isn't America the home of Liberty and Justice for all? Well then, you’d be surprised to hear that every year there are hundreds of cases where confessions are either coerced or otherwise forced through illegal means by the police.(Source #3) Through the novel “The Crucible” and the article “A True Confession” legal processes can be seen to have a bias against defendants, in that defendants can be prey to coercion and intimidation by the prosecution or law enforcement, reflecting major flaws in justice systems themselves despite the expectation by people that justice systems ought to be fair. In addition, the similar injustices of these two, despite their extremely different backgrounds, can be seen as something inherent to human nature and the way that authority is formed in societies and how that authority tends towards injustice towards those that it has control over.
In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, justice and injustice is portrayed through the characters of John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor and Abigail Williams. It is also shown through the minor characters of Mary Warren and Mercy Lewis, followers of Abigail Williams, and through Danforth and various townspeople.
A perfect example of a literary work that portrays the search for justice is the overly dramatic novel by Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights. The plot of the book revolves around Heathcliff, Mr. Earnshaw's adopted son, who was mistreated and excluded throughout his infancy and teenage years due to the pigment of his skin. Due to the presence of emotional
The definition of justice can mean many distinctive things. However it can make people forgive, or get revenge. I think it just depends on the situation. In my Final Essay, I’m going to answer this question for you, “Can justice and forgiveness go hand in hand?” There are numerous amounts of examples I will show you, and one of them even includes a film called Simon Birch. Justice is what you fight and earn properly. Revenge is naïve, and can be hurtful, if somebody hurts you, handle it maturely and respectfully.