Can Justice Be Bought Analysis

Can Justice Be Bought? “Everything can be bought” (31) says Claire Zachanassian near the end of the first act of The Visit. This statement was made in response to the Mayor who said “But justice can’t be bought!” (31). This raises the question: Can justice be bought? According to Claire Zachanassian, everything can be bought. However, real justice can never be bought because money corrupts justice and purchases revenge. Justice is the fair and unbiased treatment of an individual based on their crimes. If justice is payed for, it would receive a bias and become corrupted which means it is no longer justice. This new corrupted justice would now be defined as revenge since it is biased and directed by an outside force. This is the exact situation
It was evident that the money was not being used to buy proper justice. Everybody knew that Claire wanted cold-blooded revenge and the town does not agree with it at the beginning of the play. In Act I, Claire’s actions to “The Pair” are revealed when the pair says “Castrated and blinded us.” (34). This is when the town first sees that Claire is not hunting these men down for justice. These punishments that she gave out were cruel and inhumane. They are immensely worse than what the men did to her. The pair originally just lied in court and in turn they were castrated and blinded through the power of Claire’s riches. It is clear that Claire does not use money to buy justice. The mayor knows that Claire’s original request was for revenge because he says “we’re not savages yet.” (35). The mayor uses the word “savages” which implies a lack of morals or order. A group of “savages” would be willing to fulfill revenge, but since in Act I the town still has its morals, they are not willing to carry out this cruel act of revenge for Claire. Güllen would probably have been happy to fulfill the request if it was a matter of pure justice, but their disapproval of Claire’s request symbolizes that she was paying for revenge and not