In The Crucible by Arthur Miller there is an extreme lack of justice throughout the entire play. In the beginning, after the girls have been accused of wrong doing by dancing in the woods, they begin to accuse others of being witches in order to get themselves off the hook. The confessions of all the accused are inaccurate and are only given to save their own lives. Lastly, there was no proof any of the accused were indeed witches.
After the girls had been caught in the woods dancing and had themselves been accused of witchery, they were told they would not stand trial if they would give the names of other people they had seen with the Devil. They all start to beg forgiveness and say they want back with Jesus. Abigail: “I want to open myself! I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him; I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!” Betty: “I saw George Jacobs with the Devil! I saw Goody Howe with the Devil.” Abigail: “I saw Goody Sibber with the Devil!” Betty: “I saw Alice Barrow with the Devil!” “I saw Goody Bibber with the Devil!” Abigail: “I saw Goody Hawkins with the Devil!” “I saw Goody Booth with the Devil!”(48) Two of the girls alone, said they had seen ten people with the devil, this in only twenty-five lines of the play. Abigail and Betty were not the only ones to confess to seeing people with the Devil and these ten are not the only ones these two girls say they saw with the Devil. These accusations against the people that the girls claim to have seen with the Devil are great signs of the lack of justice that was present in the town of Salem. With justice in the town, these accusations, without proof, would have meant nothing.
Everyone who is accused of being a witch, with or without proof, stands trial. If the person accused denies the charge of being a witch, they are hung for the crime of witchery. If the accused confess to the sin of witchcraft, they are let go. The bad thing about confessing is everyone knows of your charges and of your confession to being a witch. Those who do confess spare their lives, are consulted by a priest, and are scorned for life. There were also those who did not confess, nor did they deny the charge of witchery. They were tortured or forced into confessing or denying the charge, as with Giles Corey who was crushed to death by stone before he would confess. If they were not tortured they were hung without a confession. This is yet another instance of the lack of justice that was present in Salem. If there had been any justice at all in the town, the people who were alleged to be witches would not have been tried because there was no proof.
Had there been any type of justice in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, the trials would never have taken place. In any place where there is the slightest form of justice, there has to be proof in order for someone to be charged with a crime. When there is any form of justice and proof is not presented to back up an accusation, every thing stops at the accusation. There is a complete lack of justice when someone is charged and then killed for a crime for which there is no proof they committed or had any thing to do with. Hail: “Let you not mistake your duty as I mistook my own. I came into this village like a bridegroom to his beloved, bearing gifts of high religion; the very crowns of holy law I brought, and what I touched with my bright confidence, it died; and where I turned the eye of my great faith, blood flowed up. Beware, Goody Proctor --- cleave to no faith when faith brings blood. It is mistaken law that leads you to sacrifice. Life, woman, life is God’s most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it. I beg you, woman, prevail upon your husband to confess. Let him give his lie. Quail not before God’s judgment in this, for it may well be God damns a liar less than he that throws his life away for pride. Will you plead with him? I cannot think he will listen to another.”(132) Reverend Hail, a person of high religious standing, says the charges are all a lie and that by hanging the people who where merely accused they are taking away a life that God granted.
The witch trials in the town of Salem are great enough evidence that there was a lack of justice in the town. For someone to be hung because they would not admit to something they did not do is completely unjustified in the eyes of justice. People died because several girls, accused of witchery themselves, made accusations against others for this same crime in order to save their own lives. The lack of injustice caused many people to plead their soul, name, and reputation away just to save their life. Worst of all, these people died for something that was merely alleged upon them, with no proof to back it up. These are all signs of injustice then and now.