The Role Of Authority In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

The Crucible by Arthur Miller shows how authority is a characteristic that can easily become a problem throughout a society. Many subjects were addressed in The Crucible such as guilt, hypocrisy, justice, hysteria, and courage. However, the most important subject throughout the play would be the nature of authority. There is a fine line between the concept of having authority and having power. In the book, the authority weakened and led to the antagonist Abigail Williams leading the law as opposed to the law leading Abigail Williams. At the instant that Abigail was granted authority over the townspeople she acted on it in order to have power. Not only is there power that comes with authority, but there is also responsibility which was demonstrated by Danforth. Too much authority granted to an individual can

For example, towards the end of the book it was apparent that there was no witchcraft going on throughout the time of the witch trials. However, Danforth had a responsibility of speaking and taking action for the people of the community regardless of what was true. Despite what people said about there being no witchcraft, Danforth had to use what he had observed and what was being said throughout the town. “Now we cannot hope the witch will accuse herself; granted? Therefore, we must rely upon their victims -- and they do testify, the children certainly do testify (100).” Even if Danforth were to believe Proctor when he said the girls were lying, he couldn’t do what was morally right because it was expected of him by the people to tend to the accusations. Danforth knew how to maintain an equilibrium and not interfere with the break between authority and power. The responsibility of an authoritative role model is to be the voice for everyone who speaks to resolve a