Moral Stages In The Crucible

The Crucible, by American playwright, Arthur Miller, is about a Puritan village in Massachusetts Bay during the Salem witch trials . Puritans are people who had very censored moral beliefs. People in the village get accused of being witches or coming in contact with the devil, which is immoral and has to be punished, consequently ending with the hangings or imprisonment of the accused. Three of the characters in The Crucible each reflect one moral stage in “Kohlberg’s Moral Stages”. “Kohlberg’s Moral Stages” are arranged in three different levels of morality, which specify each level. Morals are the characters thoughts, actions or reactions to things in a certain way, which are demonstrated by Abigail reflecting stage two, Judge John reflecting stage four, and John Proctor

In this level is stage four, which is an authority and social-order-maintaining orientation. At this stage people do things based on rules that have already been set up or come from a place of high importance, for example, the government. Kohlberg said this was “...based on fixed rules, maintaining order and obeying authority” (2). He also said that there is “...a respect for rules [and] laws” (2). A person reflecting this stage will not make up rules to replace ones that already were there, or disobey rules that were already made to be followed. They are ones that are truthful to their system. This stage perfectly describes Judge John Danforth. He is part of the court and, not even if he thinks that something is unjust, will he disobey the “justice” of his court. When Reverend Hale tries to convince Judge Danforth to listen to Mary Warren’s words, he rejects him by saying, “We “must” do nothing but what justice bids us to do” (59). Nothing will change a mind under the set of rules that they think is right and just. Danforth’s justice is anything that the court has written down and he doesn't base off of anything