Reverend Hale is a dynamic character in Miller's The
Crucible as he is challenged by John Proctor's courage. He starts out very convincing and seems to know exactly what he wants. John Proctor is a very strong and courageous character. He influences
Reverend Hale so much that Hale completely changes his mind about Salem, the court, and witches.
Reverend Hale enters Salem as a very strong character that knows what he wants to do. He is very sure of himself. "They must be, they are weighted with authority" (p. 36). When he arrives in Salem, he is absolutely sure of witchcraft. "The devil is precise-the marks of his presence are as definite as stone." (p. 38), "Are you gathering souls for the devil?" (p. 44); "Who came to you with the devil?" and
".perhaps another person in the village?" (p. 45). A few of his faults are that he judges too much by appearances, ".you look as such a good soul should"
(p. 37); ".a claim so weighty cannot be argued by a farmer," (p. 99); and he uses people to question other people. "How can you bear to see this child suffering?" (p. 45); "In the book of record Mr. Parris keeps." (p. 64); "The man's ordained, therefore he must have the light of god in him." (p. 66). Reverend
Hale has a lot of wisdom to share with Salem. "Man, remember, until an hour before the devil fell, God thought him beautiful in heaven," (p. 71); ".private vengeance is working through testimony," (p. 114).
John Proctor is a strong and courageous character who will not give in easily to his accusers. In the end of The Crucible he denies the charges of witchcraft.
He says he will never confess that. He could be free of charges if he confesses, but it is a false accusation and he doesn't want anything corrupting his name. He is a very good person who just wants to please everyone, especially his wife. He says, "I'll buy George Jacobs heifer. How would that please you?"; "I mean only to please you, Elizabeth." The fact that he only wants to please people is what gets him into trouble. He tries too hard to tell people only what they want to hear.
This all results in Hale changing his mind about the court, the witches, and Salem. He is very disappointed with how the people of Salem acted. He was outraged by the way they accused people they didn't like of being witches, just so they would have to deal with them anymore. He hated the way the girls who cried out did it all following Abigail Williams.
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, is about mass hysteria of witches being in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. An educated man named Revered Hale arrived in the town with his exclusive knowledge of witches to help the town eliminate the presence of the Devil. He became a member of the court and aided in putting innocent people in jail or hung. As Hale started to see the consequences of his actions, he struggled with fixing his mistakes. The change in his perspective of the witch trials caused his overall personality and attitude to change as well. Hale’s dialogue, stage directions, and other people’s perceptions of him reveal a man motivated by good intentions; furthermore, his mission to help Salem destroyed evil in the beginning and his attempts
Hale is an intellectual man who takes pride in his ability to detect witchcraft. He was called to Salem to analyze their situation. "This is a beloved errand for him; on being called here to ascertain witchcraft he felt the pride of one specialist whose unique knowledge has at least been publically called for."
The book was written during 1953, where WWII had ended. However the United States and Soviet Union still have conflicts within each other. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, it reflects the problems during 1953 by showing the chaos and conflicts that happened in a Salem society. Many audiences focus on the importance of John Proctor(main character) rather than Reverend Hale. Hale was a young and righteous man who fought for justice. His attitude towards the Salem society has changed drastically throughout his stay. At the beginning he was a naive man who believed and put trust upon the court, but by the end he has lost all his faith in the justice system. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, he portrays Hale as an ever changing character, an individual who believes in what the right thing is. Miller shows Hale's change in attitude throughout his stay in Salem, in order to convey the theme of the conflict between civic duty verse moral obligation which
Miller’s play, The Crucible, is a fictional representation of the Salem Witch Trials, which occurred from 1692-1693 in colonial Massachusetts. He wrote the play to humanize the people involved, and to try and interpret their possible motivations to do all that they did. One particular character Miller focuses on is Reverend John Hale. Hale first appears in Act One, when the citizens of Salem summon him for his expertise on witchcraft. His presence sparks the witch hunts within Salem. Hale goes from being the main accuser and the investigator to later condemning the witch trials and the court’s rulings. Miller displays this change of view through the use of commentary, dialogue, and stage directions.
Salem citizens in general were afraid of all ungodly things with their Puritan views. They had no trouble believing that, because Parris had called Reverend Hale, (known for his studies in demonic arts), there must truly be witchcraft within the town. The play progresses and certain characters begin to develop: here is a community full of underlying personal grudges. Religion pervades every aspect of life, 'A man may think that God sleeps, but God sees everything, I know it now.'; but it is a religion that lacks the ritual of confession. Here and throughout the play we see how this affects John Proctor, a man so proud of his name that guilt eats at his very heart, as he will not let out his secret pain in a vain attempt to keep his integrity.
The Salem witch trials were a time period when any individual could be accused of witchcraft for numerous reasons. In The Crucible, Arthur Miller focuses on the deviation of the trials and how the town’s most religious and honest members of the community are tried with witchcraft. John Proctor, the town’s most honest man, is accused of being a witch and must decide if he should confess or not. Proctor’s confession will stop the town from rebelling and uphold the reputations of Deputy Governor Danforth and Reverend Parris. Hale also wishes for Proctor’s confession so he does not have to feel responsible if Proctor were to be hanged for his witchcraft accusations. The confession of Proctor would convince others in the town to confess to their
The devil is defined as being a spirit or power of evil. In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, numerous citizens of Salem Village are prosecuted and convicted for having made contact with the devil. While historically, the Salem Witch Trials were an effect of greed and vengeance and are said to be false, the devil was indeed present in the town of Salem; he takes the shape of a young girl named Abigail Williams. Abigail depicts her evil spirit and coalition with the devil though her deception of anyone willing to listen, her irrational behavior, and her immoral actions, which directly defy the Puritan church.
He tried finding some other way possible to stay alive without showing guilt. He Faced internal struggle with himself to confess of witchcraft. “It is evil is it not, It is evil” (The Crucible, Act 4) He knew the trial had been corrupted because of Abigail deceitful tongue. It only lead him believe in his truth and stand his ground. The whole village had be corrupted in john eyes. Abigail, floundering with lies, got so many people exacted, so John felt it in his power to stop this madness. He would not let evil prevail. He had hated Abigail and everything that she stood for. He wanted to be the opposite which influenced his final decision. Salem would be the same knowing hatred and lies were spread all throughout the
Hale does not start out as such however. In fact he is the reason the witch hunts are started. In the beginning of the play Hale is called to Salem to determine whether or not witchcraft is afoot. Witchcraft is expertise, and Hale, eager and naïve, wants to determine whether or not the devil is in Salem. His analysis is that Tituba is controlling the girls’ souls, leading the girls, starting with Abigail of course, to shout out various people they saw convening with the devil while they were under the control of Tituba. Hale, blindly and unquestioningly conforms to the rest of the town and believes the girls. In fact he leads the way, resulting in fourteen arrests. He is completely unphased by this, and wholly believes that they are all witches and that by arresting them he is doing God’s work.
Lies. Death. Affairs. John Proctor had fornication with Abigail, who hates his wife and would do anything to make sure she was out of the picture. Abigail started the talk of witchcraft because her and the girls were caught dancing in the woods and she did not want to get into any trouble. John died because he was accused of witchcraft . Reverend Hale came into town and aided in pursuing the “witchcraft hunt”. In the book The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Hale is the most responsible for John Proctor’s death because when he arrived in town he started the gossip of witchcraft, he pressured and inquired the girls to give him a name, and he left the court when he could have tried to salvage the innocent people.
The test that Reverend John Hale faces is whether he can change his character early enough to redeem himself for the lives he has caused to be lost. He is the character that shows the most significant transformation overall. When he first comes to Salem, he is eager to find witchcraft and is honored that his scholastic skills are necessary. He feels that as an exorcist, it is his duty to help pe...
Arthur Miller weaves many events into the story that contribute to the alteration in Hale’s mindset. In the middle of Act 1, Hale arrives and is perceived by the town as “The truth seeker”. Hale is called upon to determine what sort of witchcraft, if any, is occurring (Page 33-35). Hale arrives admired by the people, who all want him to claim it was witchcraft that has occurred. Although unsure, he understands he is being led toward the conclusion of witchcraft by the town’s false pretences and mass hysteria. He begins to see a weakness in the position of the townspeople of Salem and tries to not let common accusations be the support for his diagnosis.
Persecution has been a round for sometime and can be traced historically from the time of Jesus to the present time. Early Christians were persecuted for their faith in the hands of the Jews. Many Christians have been persecuted in history for their allegiance to Christ and forced to denounce Christ and others have been persecuted for failing to follow the laws of the land. The act of persecution is on the basis of religion, gender, race, differing beliefs and sex orientation. Persecution is a cruel and inhumane act that should not be supported since people are tortured to death. In the crucible, people were persecuted because of alleged witchcraft.
John Proctor is a good man. He is a puritan, a husband, a citizen, and an all around valuable member of the community. All of this is represented by his name. The name of John Proctor could be considered his most prized possession. It is his most priceless asset. Proctor is very strong-willed and caring. He does not set out with any intentions of hurting anyone. He is a farmer and village commoner who is faced with incredible inner turmoil. He has committed adultery and had absolutely no intentions of joining in the witch trials. After his wife got involved and eventually was set free due to the fact that she was pregnant, he feels that he can't sit back and accept what is happening to the town. John Proctor is a good and noble man and because of this he believes that he can't be hanged and die a martyr when he has this sin blooming over him every waking moment.
...nue the witch trial by calling all defense against the witch trials an attempt to overthrow the court. He benefits from having the witch trials legitimized as they would help him consolidate his power over the parish and protect his reputation in Salem. The conceited action of these individuals are influenced by power and contribute to the death and arrest of many in Salem.