The deterioration of Salem's social structure determined the murders of many innocent people. Once Tituba starts pointing her finger at the witches, the community starts pointing their fingers at each other. Hysteria and hidden ideas of payback break down the social structure and everyone must protect themselves from the people that they thought were their friends. The church, legal system and the togetherness of the community died so those children could protect their families' social status.
The interest of the town was on Abigail because people wanted to know who was going to be named next. When the church was trying to excommunicate John Proctor, there were not enough people at church to do it. The people of the town were in a state of hysteria, and went as far as to leave a dagger stuck in the door of their minister's house: "Tonight, when I open my
The social breakdown in Salem was the major factor in the tragedy that took the lives of many innocent people. A community that was once very close had been broken apart. It appears that the people of Salem are like a family, but isolation of the community actually made them unable accept the situation. If the community had a greater influence from another group of people then the social structure would have been able to adapt to the situation.
The justice system is designed to protect the people that it serves but during the trials the accused had two choices, death or imprisonment. The punishment of death was given to all people that pleaded not guilty; the other punishment was to plead guilty and go to jail. John Proctor gave his view of the justice system when he said "I like not the smell of this authority" (p.29). "And do you know that near to four hundred are in the jails from Marble
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