The Crucible with Lord of the Flies - Good and Evil in Salem

Goldie Bignell

The successful and what could have been successful societies in both Lord of the Flies and The Crucible eventually decayed and fell apart. There were struggles with good and evil in Salem and on the island that were the result of three main elements. Fear, misuse of power and fanatical religious beliefs were the cause of the two societies failure.

In Salem, anything unusual or different from the norm was seen as alien and sinful. When Parris saw the girls dancing in the woods, he became afraid the other townspeople would blame him for letting the sacrilegious acts take place. Since he was the reverend, he was supposed to make sure everyone in town was following their religious paths. To avoid punishment, he blamed Tituba and her culture’s use of Voodoo. This was the start of the many false accusations people would make for fear of punishment from the community and from God. In the beginning of the second act 19 people were in jail, charged with witchcraft. Dozens more people were charged later and filled the jails. Townspeople were becoming afraid of neighbors with grudges against them because they would say they had used black magic or were under the control of the devil. In Lord of the Flies, a monster know as “the beast” was thought by most of the boys to live on the island. The beast was a combination of the pig, the paratrooper that fell from the sky and the boy’s fear of the dark. The beast scared all of the boys except Piggy and Roger because they were more mature and thought logically. They could not build the signal fire on the top of the mountain because the beast lived in that area. This made it less likely the fire they had, would be spotted by ships or planes since it was on the beach and could only be seen from one side of the island. When Jack killed the pig, the younger boys shifted their loyalty from Ralph to Jack. They saw Jack as protection from the beast when he was actually more dangerous to them. Jack focused on making the island more comfortable instead of aiding in their rescue.

The abuse of authority results in death and destruction. Reverend Hale uses his authority in the “crying out” scene at the end of act 1 to make the girls accuse innocent people of telling them to do the witchcraft. He gives the girls answers to choose from when he questions them and they confess to things that Hale makes up. When talking about the kettle Hale says,”Mr. Parris, you did not notice, did you, any living thing in the kettle? A mouse, perhaps, a spider, a frog-?”(42). Though there probably was no frog, Abigail pleads that she didn’t put it in the pot, but it jumped in by it’s self. Deputy Danforth threatens to arrest Giles Corey in contempt of court when court was not in session. Danforth then starts the court and continues to question Giles while they are in the lobby of the courthouse. Danforth’s annoyance with Giles ends up getting him arrested and later, hung. Since Abigail was now an official of the court, she would be thought to be telling the truth. In the courthouse Abigail puts on a show with the rest of the girls and pretends Mary Warren is sending a bird to attack her. They mimic Mary as if she was controlling them and Mary thinks she will get in more trouble. She then accuses John Proctor to take the blame off herself. John gets hung because of Mary’s charge against him. In Lord of the Flies, Jack uses his choir group as a loyal following that he can control and creates a dominant force. Jack tells the boys who are supposed to make sure the fire doesn’t