Elizabeth's Refusal To Judge John Proctor In The Crucible

Elizabeth's refusal to judge John Proctor comes from a pure religious sentiment that was untainted by a thirst for power. Elizabeth, through the book, mentions that the only person capable of judging John Proctor is himself, a believe that comes from the idea that John is responsible for upholding the integrity of his puritan pride and name in front of God and himself. In other words, Elizabeth understands that John must forgive himself for his own sin, as her forgiveness has no meaning regarding John's guilt in his own eyes or in the eyes of God. In the other hand, Danforth, the actual judge in Salem was manipulated by his constant preoccupation for his reputation and his ability to maintain power over Salem. Danforth's decisions could be

Other factors that could have facilitated Danforth's quick judgments was the puritan belief in Predestination, which is the belief that God already decided everyone's fates. In Danforth's puritan eyes, which can be considered a judicial scope of theocratic Salem, his quick judgments are considered part of the accuser's journey towards his predestined fate, in which case his decisions served as catalysts to the already judged accused. In terms of justice, as I mentioned before, God's Law and Men's Law are one and the same in Salem, an ideology that united with Predestination can change the meaning of a trial as the accused is receiving his "official" fate from men after God already decided for him, in which case the accused is nor being judged by a human judge but by God himself. The very idea of a theocracy creates an illusion that every judicial decision represents the already decided fate of the

This disconnection between Men's Law and God's Law created a situation where the accused had to decide his/her own fate by saving his/her life by laying or by dying to be faithful, an irony to their belief in predestination. Because of this, John proctor found resolve in dying while being truthful, not only him but also Rebbecca, to puritans believers like them their actions while living were a representation that they were fated to be saved. Elizabeth's refusal to judge John Proctor comes from a pure religious sentiment that was untainted by a thirst for power. Elizabeth, through the book, mentions that the only person capable of judging John Proctor is himself, a believe that comes from the idea that John is responsible for upholding the integrity of his puritan pride and name in front of God and himself. In other words, Elizabeth understands that John must forgive himself for his own sin, as her forgiveness has no meaning regarding John's guilt in his own eyes or in the eyes of God. In the other hand, Danforth, the actual judge in Salem was manipulated by his constant preoccupation for his reputation and his ability to maintain power over