Revenge Over Justice: Revenge Over Justice

Revenge Over Justice Revenge is medicine to most people or it is an ongoing circle. When a person is betrayed or inflicted pain it is a natural reaction to think of a way to cause the same pain back. Revenge is part of everyday life and many find pleasure through it. Although it may be the natural reaction and could be someone’s gut feeling that is telling him or her to do it is almost never right and does not pay off in the end. Revenge is a ongoing circle due to the fact that when someone does something wrong to a person that person will want to do it right back and keep going back and forth until justice intervenes or someone realizes it is morally wrong. Just like the saying “an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind” is the

John Proctor becomes extremely defensive and angry when his wife is accused especially when he knows the truth about what occurred in the woods. Proctor claims, “If she is innocent! Why do you never wonder if Parris be innocent or Abigail?.... but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom and the common vengeance write the law. I’ll not give my wife to vengeance” (Miller 1246). John is expresses his frustration toward the governmental system and how these little girls have more power than the actual government. After Elizabeth is taken to jail, Miller constructs another scene that shows John’s real hatred and revengefulness towards the government and Abigail. Proctor says in court “She thinks to dance with me on my wife 's grave! And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore 's vengeance, and you must see it now”(Miller 1259). Proctor reveals Abigail’s true motives, which were the effect, and revenge aspect to get back at Abigail for accuses his wife of false accusations. This then leads to more chaos and tension in the courtroom after Elizabeth denies lechery. By the actions of John Proctor of revenge and the protection of his reputation by Elizabeth it all of the sudden blows up in his face. All of the girls turn on Mary Warren and then Mary turns on John saying,

All throughout the play Miller had brilliant ways of incorporating the theme that revenge can cause mass destruction of many things within people and places. Abigail Williams inability to accept and cope with the thought of John not wanting her and envying Elizabeth which lead to her basically destroying the Proctor family. She also receives the exact opposite of what she wanted which was John to herself and instead live with the guilt of indirectly murdering him. Secondly, Miller’s demonstration of the hatred between John Proctor, the government and Abigail was another aspect of the chaos. Miller seemed to write the play in a way that John always had a problem and was trying to fix it. John struggles through the entire play and most of the audience is rooting for him the whole time but his vengeance also goes full circle. John Proctor not only experiences revenge but takes part in it and in the end making a choice to not live with the lie his whole life. Finally, the Putnam family adds names to the death row because of their actions. They kill off one of the most moral and pure people in the play. This example shows how people are taken advantage of by unethical people and can get away with it in a time where all the people of Salem are loosing hope. Vengeance in The Crucible causes the