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Authority in The Crucible
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What is an authority figure?
Then who are the authority figures throughout the play?
Act One
Authority figure: Hale
Situation: Hale walks in on Parris who is trying to get the girls to confess in order to save his daughter, Betty.
Statment: "Now let me instruct you. We connot look to superstition in this. The Devil is precise; the marks of his prescence are definit as stone, and I must tell you all that I shall not proceed unless you are prepared to believe me if I should find no bruise of hell upon her."
Act Two
Authority figure: Elizabeth Proctor.
Situation: Elizabeth and her husand are talking about whether or not John should go to Salem and tell the court that Abby and the other girls are lying.
Act Three
Authority figure (literal):Danforth
Situation: Danforth is trying to protect the court fr0m wrongly scentencing someone to death by asking Giles to give the name of the person making the complaints.
Statment: "You are under arrest in contempt of this court. Now sit you down and take counsel with yourself, or you will be set in the jail until you decide to answer all questions."
Act Three (con.)
Authority Figure: Abigail
Situation: Abigail is asked if there was an affair between her and John Proctor in open court.
Statment: she responds by saying, "If I must answer that, I will leave and I will never come back again!"
Act Four
Authority Figure: Danforth
Situation: Hale and Parris are trying to get Danforth to pardon the people in jail because they will not confuse to being witches.
Author's Message:
Arthur Miller's Message throughout the Crucible is that when people are given authority they abuse it.
Modern Day Application of the Author's Statement:
The application of Arthur Miller's statement is that, even today, when people are given authority in a situation they tend to abuse it. Another application of his statement is that if the authority is given to the wrong person they will abuse that authority.
The authority figure is the person who holds the utmost power in a given situation.
Statment: "I think you must go to Salem, John. I think so. You must tell them it is a fraud." "You cannot keep it, John."
Statement: "Now hear me, and beguile yourselves no more. I will not receive a single plea for pardon or postponement. Them that will not confess will hang. Twelve are already executed; the names of these seven are given out, and the village expects to see them die this morning. Postponement now speaks a floundering on my part; reprieve or pardon must cast doubt upon the guilt of them that died til now. While I speak God's law, I will not crack its voice with whimpering. If retaliation is your fear, know this- I should hang ten thousand that dared to rise against the law, and an ocean of salt tears could not melt the resolution of the statutes. Now draw yourselves up like men and help me, as you are bound by Heaven to do."