Justice and Law

Justice and Law

1. Justice and Law play important parts in this play. But have different meanings and provoke different outcomes

   • ‘Give me the number of the immigration bureau’ – leads to betrayal
   • ‘he dies in her arms’ – leads to revenge/violence

2. Within the community, justice is a matter that they take into their own hands

   • 'Give me the number of the immigration bureau’
   • ‘Animal! You go on your knees to me!’

3. The law portrays justice as something that ‘is natural’.

   • ‘The law has not been a friendly idea since the Greeks were beaten’
   • ‘Most of the time now we settle for half’

4. Eddie takes the law into his own hands to be a dominant character.

   • ‘Give me the number of the immigration bureau’

5. Alfieri is more realistic when it comes to justice and the law.

   • ‘You won’t have a friend in the world!’

6. Miller crafts the play as though it is better to rely on the law as people are not strong enough to execute true justice; their desires and feeling always take a part.

   • 'it is better to settle for half, it must be! And so I mourn him – I admit it – with a certain…alarm'

7. Alfieri implies that the law is often incapable of satisfying everybody, his language is thoughtful and helps the audience think about the issues presented

   • 'Now we settle for half, and I like it better'

8. Miller portrays several characters as not understanding the limitations of the law

   • ‘He degraded my brother. My blood. He robbed my children, Where is the law for that?’
   • You mean to tell me that there is no law that a guy which he ain’t right can go to work and marry a girl and-?’