In this Hale is saying that he no longer follows the beliefs of Salem and he now follows the beliefs of Christianity.
Justice is conveyed in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” by having a character like Hale, who comes into Salem as a man who strongly believes that accusing and hanging people because of witchcraft is right and just, but he later realizes that what he believes is wrong and unjust. He then decides to change his ways.
Also at the end of Act 1, there are many quick accusations being made which leaves the reader in suspense and a long wanting to know what will happen to all these people who were accused.
The leaders of Salem believe that what they are doing is right and just, but in reality it is an injustice. This is how justice can often mask injustice.
Justice often being masked by an injustice can also be seen in the text “Justice without a Conscience.” This text is showing a statue of Lady Justice, who usually represents, Anti-discrimination, fairness and justice, is now representing discrimination, unfairness and injustice by the statue not wearing a blindfold which allows her to be discriminative against people, her scales are unbalanced which would make things unfair. Also the blindfold is pulled over her mouth stopping her from speaking which represents that justice is not always heard.
There is a man passed out at the base of the statue. This is using a high angle shot to show that the man is very insignificant and lady justice is large and very important.
Another text which shows justice being masked by an injustice is a cartoon where an upper class man has just shot a woman, killing her. Another man who is a middle or lower class man is shocked, but the upper class man reassures the other man by saying “Its OK I’m rich”
This cartoon is showing that, depending on the economic status of a person, they may get a more lenient punishment than average. In “The Crucible”, this is shown in Parris, who is upper class and high up in Salem, never being accused of witchcraft whereas Giles Corey, who is lower class, was accuse and convicted of witchcraft.
Also a newspaper article is also related to “The Crucible.” In this article a man who killed his wife was found guilty but then the conviction was overturned on appeal so the man walked free even though he was caught digging up the bones of his wife. A few years later this same man was charged with killing his second wife who was strangled with the cord of a lamp. However, this man walked free once again when he claimed that someone broke into his house and murdered his wife while he was out, so because the court believed what he said was true he was found not guilty. In “The Crucible”, Tomas Putnam makes his daughter lie to get an accused man hung so that Tomas Putnam can take the mans land after he is killed.
This text also shows that justice often masks an injustice by the court believing that they are doing the right thing, however, this man may be lying and, in this case, the court has just let a two-time murderer back on to the streets.
In conclusion, Justice often masks an occurrence of injustice in many forms and in “the crucible” by Arthur Miller, the leaders of Salem, believe that the way that they are dealing with people of strange happenings is right and just but is actually wrong and unjust.
