Loss Of Freedom In The Crucible '

Rule through fear reduces human freedom and humanity.

When the ruling power evokes fear in order to maintain control of its citizens, the freedom and humanity is reduced. This exists not only in text, but from many other sources. Reduction of freedom and humanity is seen in “The Crucible”, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and “A Narrative of Captivity”. When humans are oppressed with fear, the outcome is inconceivable.

In the play “The Crucible”, citizens and the town of Salem, are afraid of witchcraft, The government has commenced witch trials, in which accused people are asked to confess. If they choose not to confess, they are executed. Many of the people fear such punishment, therefore, they chose to lie instead of honoring their code/religion, which prohibits them from lying. This both stripped the people from their freedom and their humanity. Freedom of speech is lost because anything said in their daily lives, could be interpreted in the wrong way and would be considered witchcraft. Government officials, and the people of the town who looked

forward to the executions, lost their humanity. They were in favor of one of the 10 commandments. People were in favor of killing another human, and right in front of them.

The story of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, written by Jonathan Edwards, has a similar demonstration of humanity and freedom loss due to rule through fear. In the story, we can see how people fear their ruler who is god. They need to do as he orders them and they are obligated to obey his orders. The book states that if humans fail to obey his rules, they will face an eternity of punishment and suffering. This makes people live their life restricted by the rules god demands them to follow. When following god's rules, those who do, lose part of their freedom because they are choosing to do as god commands and not as they desire.

The way in which freedom is most harshly stripped away from a human being, is slavery. As seen in “A Narrative of Captivity”, written by Mary rowlandson, the main character, Mary, is a slave/captive. She lives by the rules of her owner and she fears that they can choose to do with her whatever they want at any moment they desire it. When a person has an owner, they completely lose their freedom. The captivated person, in this case Mary, has to do as she is commanded. She has lost all of her freedom. Just as she loses freedom when being a slave, the captor also loses his freedom. The captor now lives in fear that his slave may raise against hima and overcome him. This makes the captor live his whole life watching his back and with the worry of treason at every moment. The captor also loses his humanity, because he is enslaving another human being, someone who is just as much as he is, has now been pushed down and is being controlled by him. The captor makes the slave lose his humanity as well because he causes the slave to become introverted and docile.

There are many different examples in history, being fiction or nonfiction, in which it is evident that in order to prevent the suppression of freedom and humanity and for it to prevail in society, the ruling establishment must not lead the people through fear.

“The Crucible” shows this tough the government. The government in this play suppresses and evokes fear on its citizens. The book “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” shows this through fear of a higher power which is unprovable, it is an idea/belief. The Narrative named “A Narrative of Captivity” demonstrates how ruling with fear reduces humanity and freedom through the point of view of a captive woman who fears the power of the captor, and the captor fears the power of the slave.Freedom and humanity are two essentials in human life. The power of fear is vast and limitless. It affects freedom and humanity and its power goes beyond the

imaginable.