The Crucible, a very eccentric drama, is based on the death dwelling minds and lies of people in the town of Salem. The drama happens during the pre-American era. That alone shows that the court systems and the federal government did not exist, but rather each town has their own court; based off of their own ruling. In Arthur Miller's drama, The Crucible, the tragic hero, John Proctor, suffers at the hand of the Puritan theocracy because of the lies and selfish behaviors in Salem; however he redeems himself at the end of the drama.
Selfish Behaviors of some characters (Parris, Abigail, and Danforth), cause more harm to John and others, while trying to protect their own reputation. Reverend Parris stated that witchcraft was not the cause of his daughter's sickness, because he feared that he would lose his reputation. He is only worried about himself, and eventually causes John to suffer. This is shown when he was talking to Thomas Putnam about the girls' actions in the woods, "In my house? In my house, Thomas! They will topple me with this" (Miller. I. 23). During court, Reverend Parris called out words and phrases to try and convince Judge Danforth that John was trying to overthrow the court, when John was really presenting the true, factual evidence. This gave Parris an advantage making himself look like a highly reputable man. Abigail, Reverend Parris's Niece, makes herself act as if she is being attacked, but she really she is trying to make herself innocent. She does this because it would destroy her reputation if anyone found out about the lies, but John knew about the lies. John's attempt to show theses lies go him in trouble as he was looked at as a dishonest man. This is how selfish behaviors in Salem caused more harm than good to John.
Many people were arrested for false accusations about practicing witchcraft, but the accusations were all lies to get people condemned.