In today’s day and age, numerous people from all around the world are witnessing others dying, whether it's a loved one or a stranger. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Reverend Hale begged Elizabeth Proctor to tell her husband John to confess to witchcraft, “Life is God’s most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it,”(122) even though that might not all be the case. The statement is correct when saying that life is very valuable but wrong because there are principles that justify taking lives such as to keep others’ safe, keep oneself safe, and to protect one’s rights and beliefs.
Countless of people can condone taking a life when keeping others’ safe is involved. One example would be to kill terrorists …show more content…
One example of keeping oneself safe is self-defence. Self-defence is a right that can be used to justify a homicide. According to Article 12 of the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, “Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.” It exists under the United States law making it legal to defend oneself from any harm that may occur to them or someone else. There are a variety of places that teaches different forms of self-defence such as military combatives, armed and unarmed fighting styles and rape prevention. Multiple people use these different techniques to save themselves from a situation they don’t feel comfortable in and feel as though their life is threatened. In The Crucible, a play written by Arthur Miller, the whole plot in the story was about the people in Salem using 2 during the Salem Witch Trials. The people in the play thought that they were in danger because of the ‘witches’ roaming around their homes. They believed that the ‘witches’ would cast spells on them to harm them and kill them so that resulted in them trying to kill the ‘witches’ in order to protect themselves. Some may ask what are the limits of protecting oneself and is it really necessary to result in killing the person. In some cases yes, it someone was in a life or death situation with another, killing them in order to protect oneself is justifiable in the court of law therefore …show more content…
Some examples this are wars. Some of the wars that occurred involving the United States are the American War, the Vietnam War and World War II. People might bring up is how there are songs that are against war and protest the act. They might think that fighting and willing to kill for their right is too much. Although this is may be true, millions of soldiers kill other people from different countries in order to help protect the country they live in. Even though these wars resulted in hundreds fatalities in all the countries involved, without it occurring, the United States wouldn't be the same. Another example of killing to protect one’s rights and beliefs is in The Crucible. When John Protector falsely confessed to practicing witchcraft, he was asked to sign a paper confirming this action. Danforth wanted to post his name on the door so the villagers can see it. In outrage, he yelled that he already confessed to them and that “God does not need my name nailed upon the church,” he “sees my name” and he “knows how black my sins are! It is enough!”(132). Rather than lie, say that he is practicing witchcraft, and live, he values his good name too much for the church to spread it with lies to the public. He wants to die knowing that his good name is still intact and that is his right. Proctor is fighting to protect himself even though it will result in him being killed. Even if killing someone,