Examples Of Guilt In The Crucible

Guilty! In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, dozens of people are sentenced to death because they are deemed guilty of witchcraft. The Crucible tells a romanticised version of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. A group of young girls are caught dancing in the forest, and to avoid retribution, they accuse a slave of witchcraft. The charges escalate and spiral into a downhill slope, until even the high members of the community are not safe from ridiculous claims. The convicted ‘‘witches’’ were not the only ‘‘guilty’’ people in Salem. Although the young girls started the witch hunt, the judges are responsible for carrying out the death sentences of innocent people. The judges of the Salem Witch Trials listened to the ludicrous professions of children, worked in a tainted courtroom, let their own bias rule the town, had the opportunity to stop the executions at any given moment; therefore, they bear the most guilt for the …show more content…
The court where the Salem Witch Trials take place is far from just. Accused witches are held under the stipulation that they are guilty until proven innocent. The defendants have to prove themselves innocent of a crime that the judges themselves could not condemn them for. Judge Danforth says, “We cannot hope the witch will accuse herself; granted? Therefore, we must rely upon her victims-and they do testify, the children certainly do testify” (45). By accepting spectral evidence as proof of witchcraft, the girls have no problem sending away disliked people of the community. Spectral evidence cannot be seen and as a result also cannot be proven true or false. In addition to insufficient evidence, John Proctor and other witnesses are denied the right to a lawyer. Reverend Hale beseeches, “a claim so weighty cannot be argued by a farmer. In God’s name, sir, stop here; send him home and let him come again with a lawyer,” but in return, he is rejected and the court proceeds