Authority and Justice in The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Authority and justice in the play The Crucible have had to be equally woven in order for justice to have been served. In the play the authority in Salem is the court. Danforth who is the head of the court is has too much authority and is able to manipulate his ways to carry out “justice”. He does this by not stopping the rampant and irrational accusations of witchcraft. Instead he twists his logic around to make it seem like he is carrying out justice.

His reasoning for not stopping the executions and convictions of the girls is because he believes that it would be an injustice to all of the girls who died before. “You misunderstand sir; I cannot pardon these when twelve are already hanged for the same crime it’s not just” – Danforth pg.129.

Although this quote shows that Danforth is concerned about justice, he is twisting his logic around, and not carrying out justice. Danforth uses his authority to carry out a twisted version of justice because he wants to protect the court’s reputation.

Another way authority in justice is presented throughout the play, is that all of the people of Salem trust the court with the convicted witches. The people of Salem trusted the courts authority in convicting and finding the witches within the town but the court took advantage of this. They also believed that the court was giving the convicted fair trials and justice was being served. However, the court was instead giving people away out of execution by having them accuse others.

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This way the court would be finding out who was a “witch” in Salem. With all of this the village trusted the court with justice and that the hangings were just. “Now hear me….. the village expects them to die this morning and an ocean of salt tears could not melt the resolution” – Danforth pg.129.

This quote shows how the people in Salem are trusting the hangings in the village as justice. Therefore authority and justice in The Crucible would have had to be equally woven to be carried out.