Obedience In The Crucible Essay

Obedience has always been a trait present in every aspect of society. Parents have practiced enforcing discipline in their homes where children learn obedience from age one. Instructors have found it difficult to teach a lesson unless their students submit to their authority. Even after the adolescent years, law enforcement officers and governmental officials have expected citizens to uphold the law and abide by the standards set in society. Few will understand, however, that although these requirements for obedience provide positive results for development, there are also dangers to enforcing this important trait. Obedience to authority can be either profitable or perilous depending on who the individual in command is. In the film, The Crucible,

obedience leads to the deaths of many innocent individuals. It was because of the “afflicted” girls’ decision to obey Abigail that Salem was “talking witchcraft” and accusing so many individuals known for their devotion to God of speaking with the devil (The Crucible). It was also because of the town’s undivided obedience to their religion that those who ultimately decided who lived and died believed they were making the correct decisions. If obedience was omitted from the chaos of the Salem Witch Trials, the mass hysteria of the issue could have been avoided. Although the theme of heteronomous obedience, or submission to authority, repeats throughout The Crucible, the characters’ internal conflicts with their personal morals and values create a theme of autonomous obedience, or obedience to one’s self, illuminating the bondage of acquiescence within the film.
The most compelling evidence of autonomous obedience in The Crucible, is Proctor’s exclamation towards the end of the film. “Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them you have hanged! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name! (The Crucible).” By the use of the repetition of “because” throughout the first few sentences, Proctor emphasizes his sincerity and devotion to an authoritarian power higher than anyone in the town of Salem. He shows that he chooses to be obedient to his own conscience and do what he personally believes is right, even though it may cost him his life. This scene illustrates the internal conflict found in John Proctor. He has the choice to either confess for a crime he did not commit and disobey God, or honorably uphold his ethical principles and disobey those in authority in Salem. Either way, he will be performing an act of disobedience. Fromm suggests that “A person can become free through acts of disobedience by learning to say no to power (Fromm 127).” It was because of Proctor’s decision to disobey authority rather than God that he truly found a way to forgive himself. Sacrificing himself to God instead of committing another sin by lying, allowed him to repent for his first sin of adultery. He handed himself over to God because he knew that both lying and lechery were wrong. It was by this act that he became free from the bondage of all his sins.
Situations such as Proctor’s reveal that there are times where one will have to make a choice based on what they personally believe and not just follow the orders given to them by someone in command. One of the results Stanley Milgram found from his experimentation, was that many of the individuals whom he selected at random express the “...willingness to be a cooperative subject, in contrast to the learner’s obstinacy,” signifying that sadism is present in the subconscious of many people in society (Milgram 87). Just like the conclusions found in Milgram’s experiment, The Crucible confirmed that there are many individuals with sadistic views in society who are willing to do anything that an authoritative figure tells them to do, even though it may be harmful to another human being. However, The Crucible and Milgram’s experiments also proved that there is also a small fraction of individuals who are unwilling to submit to any form of evil. There are still some characters in society who morally understand what is right and what is wrong. They ensure that the choices they make will be the most ethical ones, despite the fact that they may have to disobey those of a higher power, or may even be placing their own lives in jeopardy.
Another unusual aspect about The Crucible, was the reactions of the townspeople to the lynchings of the “witches” during the Salem Witch Trials. During the initial hangings, they found amusement with the event. However, as the trials became more severe and more people were hung, silence spread over the audience during the executions. It seems that they finally realized the consequences of their actions. As Milgram explains in his experiments, “Some were totally convinced of the wrongness of their actions, but could not bring themselves to make an open break with authority (Milgram 86).” Unlike Proctor, who took a stand against authority, the townspeople could not bring themselves to do what they knew was right. Their internal conflict with the issue did not allow them to be obedient to themselves, but rather, they chose to be obedient to someone of whom they believed had a higher authority than them. Fromm states, “...Super-Ego represents the internalized commands and prohibitions of father, accepted by the son out of fear (Fromm 126).” Just as Fromm illustrated in his article, the residents of Salem were more fearful for their own lives after viewing what the results of speaking against authority were. In their hearts, they understood the risks. However, because they knew that the cost was their own lives, and it would hardly make an impact on the decisions of the judges, they remained silent.
Just like the residents of Salem during the Red Scare, society has the idea of “super-ego” deeply ingrained in everyone’s psyche.

There will be a day where everyone will choose to obey authority simply because they fear for what that authoritative figure is capable of. Milgram would consider this act a, “common characteristic of socially organized evil in modern society (Milgram 89).” However, it is simply that, although they are listening to what their inner-self is telling them is right to do, they give in to those in charge because of fear. If everyone in Salem had just followed the idea of autonomous obedience throughout the madness of the trials, more people would have died. However, if Judge Danforth had listened to his subconscious, such as John Proctor did, rather than punishing everyone for listening to their own, the hysteria in Salem could have possibly been avoided and more would have lived. Freedom not only comes from the physical release from confinement that one may experience; freedom also comes from the mental release from bondage within one’s own mind. If the judges in Salem, Massachusetts had listened to their self-morals, they could have been free from clouded judgments and their eyes would have revealed the truth behind the issue. If everyone in Salem had chosen to obey themselves, they would have been free from internal

conflict.
All in all, obedience is a habit that has much power over all of society.

Although heteronomous obedience may be a benefit for everyone, this form of obedience could lead to the destruction of a town, or better yet, a civilization. The most important form of obedience are principles and intuitions fixed within the daily instincts of everyday life; the type of obedience that reveals what is right from what is wrong. As it is revealed in The Crucible, autonomous obedience must be followed. Although it did lead to John Proctor’s demise, it revealed to the town that he was willing to surrender his life so he wouldn’t be required to lie. This allowed them to understand that if he truly was the “witch” they accused him of, he would have never been willing to end his life over the issue. Instead, like an honest, Puritan Christian, Proctor upheld his loyalty to God and chose to make a statement to all of those in Massachusetts. It was because of him, that the town finally realized that they had been accusing the wrong individuals, and shouldn’t have been convicting innocents of crimes without factual evidence. It was because of one person’s decision to follow autonomous obedience that the town of Salem was not completely

eradicated.