Theme Of Justice In The Crucible

There is no such thing as the truth, people lie and others continue to believe them. Except one, John Proctor from the beginning of the play is on the side of justice, and finding the truth. From the beginning of the play he questions the idea of witchcraft, and believes that it is just another act from Abigail Williams. An example of how Proctor is always on the side of truth is when he is in court and he confesses to having an affair with Abigail Williams. "A man may think God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now. I beg you, sir, I beg you—see her what she is. . . . She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it
is a whore’s vengeance." (Miller) Humans by nature are scared of change, and being different. One of the many people targeted is Farmer John Proctor. John Proctor is a good man, he has a good name within the community, he doesn’t believe in the idea of witchcraft and he is skeptical of the idea of it. Proctor uses all his resources to change the minds of the people of Salem, he even confesses to having an affair with Abigail Williams, the main instigator. Proctor puts his life in the hands of children who are telling made up fairy tells to get what they want.
Throughout The Crucible readers follow John Proctor through his entire journey up until the end, he is a tortured soul who believes that his affair with abigail has damaged his life and reputation with the community and overall how god sees him.
In the beginning of the play John struggles to find himself, he doesn’t get involved with the trials until his wife’s name is spoken about within the court, by no other than Abigail Williams, his ex-lover. Without John’s Involvement in the trials justice would not have been served, and all of those that were hung would have been hung without a reason, but Proctor settled for no less than the absolute truth. An example of this is when Proctor is when Proctor knows that the girls are lying and he is baffled as to why no one is charging them, or accusing them. “I’ll tell you what’s walkin in Salem-vengeance is walkin in Salem, but now the crazy little children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law.” (Act III). John Proctor continued to fight for what he believed in even after he was sentenced to hang for witchcraft, he never once gave up trying. Proctor believed in the utmost honest truth, but in the end it was not given to
him.
John Proctor throughout the entirety of the play kept moving forward, and pushed for justice. He was a strong and noble man up until the end, he believed that with the truth he could prove anything. Sadly no one believed in the truth and instead believed in the idea of witchcraft and that the lies the children told were more important than the truth itself. Proctor put himself out there by admitting to his affair, and by accusing the girls of lying,he continued the fight for justice until the end at which he realized he would have to lie in order to save himself, or to die for what he believed in which was the truth. “Spite only keeps me silent, it is hard to give a lie to dogs.” (Act IV). In this quote Proctor will not lie to save himself he believes in the light of god, and he believed that god would have looked down on him for lying to save himself.
In the beginning of the crucible Miller hints towards John’s wrongdoings, and also hints the reader about Proctor’s strong wit and how he uses it as well as his secret to try and to build a case against the accusing girls, towards the end of the play John realizes that nothing will work against the girls, and eventually confesses to committing witchcraft.
But it isn’t until the very last scene that John realizes that he is lying to himself, and to god by signing the paper that says he is a witch. It is then that h also realizes that his reputation, and everything he has fought for disappears with the stroke of a pen. And that if he signs this paper Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Good, Tituba all died for nothing. “How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (Act IV). In this quote Proctor has lost everything, his wife, his reputation, and his connection with god. The only piece of himself that is left is his name. It was at this moment that Proctor decided that he lived the noble and true life, and that it may not have been perfect but he would rather have died then sold his soul to the
devil.
Children create fairy tales, that is just what they do. They twist the truth to get out of trouble they lie and others continue to believe them, there is no such thing as the truth. John Proctor believes in the truth, and will put his life on the line to help the people that he believes are telling the truth. The idea of telling the truth in society today is just that, an idea with social media today, the truth is the same as a lie. By the end of the play Proctor has given up, and he chooses to no longer live in a society that continues to give freedom to those who lie. John Proctor is a noble, and honest man who fought for the freedom of others who were wrongfully accused of being witches. John Proctor was an innocent man.