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,

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

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