Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
criticism of arthur miller
arthur miller themes of his work
criticism of arthur miller
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: criticism of arthur miller
This is a character essay on the “The Crucible”. The character I have chosen to be my subject of this essay is Reverend Hale. This essay is going to be over seven parts of this character’s life. His background, problems and concerns, development through the story, first impressions, what he thinks of himself, what others think of him, and what he thinks of others.
Background He is a man in his forties from the town of Beverly. After his experience with a mother and her child that was afflicted with a behavior change that he allegedly cured within a few days with his kindness and a few days of rest. This even in his lie caused him to start pondering the invisible world more than ever and in return became he well respected specialist
…show more content…
Problems And Concerns
Mr. Hale has plenty of faults in his character like everyone else. Some of his more serious concerns is that his trusts in the courts is way too strong and coupled with the fact he is proud of his specialties and very religious. this make near impossible for
anyone to not be convicted of witchcraft if something bad happens in his presence.
Another major fault Is that he knows that he people he is gathering and sending to jail by siding with Abigail could be innocent the proof of this is in this quote “I-I have, indeed”. This was said in response o that the people will agree to being witches if they can live longer by saying it
Development through the story
At the beginning he believed that Salem was being messed with by the devil himself and that Abigail was is pointing out all the witches throughout Salem and later as the number of victims being put in jail has increased it started to make him question his opinion of Abigail, there methods of exposing witches and, his trust of the court and the confession of Mary warren caused him to completely change. Now he believes that
Abigail is a fake and he is now trying to save Elizabeth
…show more content…
While the court, the girls and
Mr. Parris I would say dislike him slightly now because of the dis agreement he had with the court trying to disprove Abigail
What He Thinks of Them
He has some suspicion in town like his old friend Mr. Parris, who replaced the old church candles with gold ones because he didn’t find then good enough. He also has suspicions with Mr. Proctor because of him not going to church every Sunday. The girls prosecuting he didn’t believe after a while because of Mary warren and the number of
“witches” they found. The victims of the court he started to believe was innocent now because of the conversation he had with john proctor. He started to question the court now because of the new evidence.
What He Thinks of Himself
He views himself as a very intelligent man that has a great understand of the world of witches and witchery. He also views himself as a religious official. He also thinks he should be treated with the upmost respect.
First Impressions
My first impressions of Mr. hale was that he was a very regions man because of all the books he brings when he was first introduced to the story. He might have been a
“No one man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices.” In the case of The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Edward Murrow is uncannily accurate. The Crucible, set in Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials, proves that when one antagonist has accomplices, they can destroy the lives of many. In this story, Abigail destroys the lives of everyone in Salem. That being said, in times of stress or panic, people's’ true traits and personalities can be discovered, as shown in the cases of John Proctor and his damning indiscretion, Rev. Hale’s panicked realization, and Mary Warren’s naive and fearful indecision; all of which develop throughout the play in response to different stimuli.
The tragic tale of the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts was re-written by Arthur Miller in the form of the play “The Crucible”. The trials have been studied to figure out what really happened, but no one will ever know since it happened decades ago. The play is the closest reenactment we have to help us see how people could have reacted to life. “The Crucible” shows how using others as a cushion to keep from being punished can go extremely bad. Amidst all the chaos a man by the name Reverend John Hale came to help but ended up with making it a huge amount worse.
The Crucible by Arthur Miller is an allegory written about the Salem witch trials in 1692. It includes a number of characters who fully conform to the trials and their consequences, it also contains the opposite, those who do not conform and fight it. Of course, as in any story there are characters in the middle that are not sure which side to take. They go along with it, not willing to stand up, but in their minds they are not completely sure whether or not what they’re doing is right. Reverend Hale is the best example of outward conformity and inward questioning.
All of a sudden there was a witch outbreak in Salem Massachusetts. The following day the girls were found in bed inert. The doctor attempted to figure out the sickness the girls could have. However, he could not give the sickness any name. Then Reverend Hale was called in to help the town cure its unnatural problem. Throughout the play Reverend Hale contributed to both sides of the arguments. At the beginning he believed the court was doing God’s job. Towards the end his character changes and is less in favor of the court and more in favor for the people being wrongly accused. Reverend Hale’s is seen to be independent, confident and outspoken. These traits end up changing towards the end of the play. Reverend Hale is a dynamic character in The Crucible written by Arthur Miller he changes from protecting the authority of the court with the strict laws, later realizing the court's accusations were unjust, to finally changing his beliefs in the false accusations and supernatural rumors.
He doesn’t lose his faith in his religion, but he does lose all of his faith in witchcraft. Hale Changes. Hale is the only character through the whole play that starts out believing that witchcraft was really true and then didn’t believe in it at all. The other characters either denied or never really believed in it. Reverend Hale was the only person that gave an apology for the deaths of innocent people. None of the others that was responsible for the deaths did not give an apology. Hale had very much feelings for all of the people's death.
Miller shows the greatest transformation in reverend Hale and reverend Parris in order to convey the idea that theocracies are dangerous and easily corruptible. Hale and Parris notice this and try to save the citizens from their own corrupt court that is killing beloved citizens. In this they have to plead that they break the rule to lie that of which is a sin in Salam. In The Crucible, young girls corrupt the court by lying and claiming to have returned to god from the devil. The church must believe them and with this they accuse anyone that stands in their way with witchcraft and the church follows them. After this no one wants to disgrace their name by confessing they are in contact with the devil and the court is too proud to confess of being corrupt by girls.
Being prepared to look for signs of witchcraft or any other unnatural causes, Reverend Hale sets down his books and says “they are weighted with authority” (1.1.932-933).
American playwright, Arthur Miller, in his play The Crucible (1952), suggests that witch hunts still exist in American Society. Miller supports this claim by drawing parallels between the Salem Witch Trials and the Senator Joseph McCarthy trials. His purpose is to warn his readers of the dangers of concerning with mass hysteria. He uses emotional appeals and logic to convince the reader that mass “hunts” are still a danger to Americans today. The main way, however, that Miller achieves his ultimate goal of demonstrating the concept of reputation vs integrity is through his characterization of Reverend John Hale. Reverend John Hale is portrayed as an internally conflicted character in The Crucible because
‘The Crucible’ is a great example of morally ambiguous characters. A plethora of characters with blurry ethics exist within the world of ‘The Crucible’, this makes it difficult to distinguish who is truly good and who is evil. Arthur Miller has a fantastic approach to how he displays his characters and their moral standpoints. Adultery, lying, and even the suspicion of witchcraft, within the community brings out the worst in the townspeople. John Proctor is an example of how thin the lines are drawn between a complete saint and a damned sinner.
The person who is summoned to the town is Rev Hale, who’s a considered expert in witchcraft and one of the most noticeably dynamic characters in the movie. He first comes to the town believing there is a witch and goes to all lengths trying to find who it is. He given the information that the girls were secretly dancing in the woods with Tituba singing a strange song and boiling a pot over the fire. He truly believes that Tituba was corrupted with the devil and makes her say praises to the lord. Abigail tells him that she is also a victim of the devil and begins to weep, the other girls who had been said to be dancing start to weep too and all of the girls start to say names of people around the town they claim they saw with the devil. After many trials and deaths John Proctor eventually opens his eyes to reality when he goes to visit the Proctor household. John tells him that the girls
“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt” said the entrepreneur, publisher, lecturer, and writer Mark Twain. Most times in any society, whether it be new or old, people tend to be afraid to speak up when they believe something is wrong, so they choose to just sit by in the shadows, watching as life unfolds. While this is an easy way to live, it can be more helpful and beneficial to others once said person points out the flaws in a society. In The Crucible written by Arthur Miller, Reverend Hale is one of these people that prefers to sit behind in the shadows and watch as the Salem Witch Trials take place. Consequently, he instead hurts himself and others by
Many characters had an effect on the story of The Crucible but Reverend Hale was at times good and sometimes bad. The main question was Hale for the good side or did he accidently help the bad side. Being very young and with almost no experience is hard for the witch expert. This paper will include Hales personality and how he helped the story.
A crucible is a severe test as of patients or belief, a trial. The play The Crucible is a journey through the trials of many townspeople caused by the superstitious belief of witchcraft. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller progresses and evolves the outlooks and views of the townspeople of Salem and shows how events, people, and catastrophes cause the characters to change their views on whether the people prosecuted were guilty or innocent of witchcraft. Reverend John Hale changes his view, more and more drastically as the play advances, as a result of the events that he underwent and the experiences he had. Soon he had total belief in the innocence of all those convicted and hung in Salem.
“The one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is unchangeable or certain”.-John F Kennedy. Reverend Johnathan Hale is a righteous and honorable man. He truly believes what he is doing is right. Reverend Hale is motivated by his honor and righteousness when he questions his own certainty and admits he was wrong by the end of the play.
The play, The Crucible, is a fireball of guilt, evil, and good compiled into one magnification. It is a play with tremendous feelings, with many inside twists hidden in the archives of the true story. It is a play with emotional feelings; feelings of anger, hate, and evil, yet also feelings of goodness, and pureness. Undeniably, The Crucible is a play illustrating good versus evil. The principal characters, Abigail Williams, John Proctor, Ann Putnam and Marry Warren all contain within them elements of good and evil.