"It's funny how all living organisms are alike. When the chips are down, when the pressure's on, every creature on the face of the earth is interested in one thing and one thing only. Its own survival." These words, spoken by Dr. Iris Henimen to John Anderton in the film, Minority Report, summarizes the sole motivation for the Salem Witch hunts as in Arthur Miller's The Crucible as well the characters' actions in Minority Report. Both of these pieces, although set in very different time periods, compare significantly in the universal themes of betrayal, justice, and integrity. Likewise, the role of prevailing characters, John Proctor (The Crucible) and John Anderton (Minority Report), survive throughout time because of their similar dilemmas in dealing with these universal themes.
             Betrayal is a very prominent theme in society today, and although the precise fact that you never know when it is happening to you is what makes betrayal so powerful, once noticed, lives and stories change forever. This awareness has made movies like Minority Report and plays like The Crucible so controversial. In The Crucible we see the theme of betrayal particularly in the character of Mary Warren, who after attempting to save Elizabeth Proctor's name by telling the truth that the girls are making things up about the accused women, retracts her word for her own well being. John and Elizabeth Proctor's dependency upon this vital piece of truth from Mary sets their fate entirely in Mary's hands. Her betrayal to them for her own egotistical reason of not wanting to be turned on by the group of condemning girls as well as the rest of the Puritan society represents how easy it is for a person to turn its back on someone when they believe their own well-being is at stake. This ability to openly betray has become a fallacy of society as unit and is a timeless problem that proves to reoccur throughout the ages. In M...