The Movie Moan The Big Change In Salem

The Big Change in Salem

What is change? Change may be defined as a shift in someone’s perspective on a certain topic that causes their viewpoint and actions to differ. One example of change can be seen in the Disney movie, Moana. In the beginning of the movie, Moana’s father, Chief Tui, is so opposed to the thought of Moana going “beyond the reef” and into the ocean due to an incident where he lost his childhood best friend. He used to love the ocean and went beyond the reef everyday until he lost his friend. However, once Moana did this without his permission and saved their island of Motunui, he changed his perspective and their tribe became voyagers again. Chief Tui realized that the ocean that he thought to be an evil, terrifying place

was innocent and that he could trust it again as he had in his past. The expression of change is seen not only in Disney movies but also in literature. In Arthur Miller’s retelling of the Salem witch trials in a play called The Crucible, Reverend John Hale’s character and role in Salem changes drastically when he quits the courts after believing in them all his life, and when he starts to question witchcraft, pushing aside the fact that that was the whole reason he came into Salem, all while figuring out the people of Salem, their morals, and the reasons for their actions, when he had been ignorant of this at first.
John Hale’s character changes throughout the story when at first he strongly believes that witchcraft is present in Salem, then starts to change his perspective and question witchcraft as a whole concept. In Act II, Reverend John Hale visits John Proctor’s house to question Elizabeth Proctor, one of the women accused of witchcraft in Salem during the Salem witch trials. Hale was brought into Salem to sniff out the real witches due to a sudden suspicion of witchcraft by many adults in the town. To Proctor, Hale says, “This is a strange time, mister. No man may longer doubt the powers of the dark are gathered in monstrous attack upon the village. There is too much evidence now to deny it” (64). Hale sounds completely convinced that there is witchcraft in Salem in the beginning of the play. He seems very stuck on this idea that witches undoubtedly exist in Salem. A little while after this takes place, Abigail Williams, an adolescent in Salem, accuses Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft for a second time, but this time she has evidence. She tried to accuse her once before, but no evidence was shown so the court dropped the accusation. However, this time she frames Goody Proctor by planting what looks like a voodoo doll in her home with a needle stuck into it. This doll was made by Mary Warren and she said that Abigail sat next to her while she was sewing it. The needle that was stuck into it was put in by her, not Goody Proctor. When she says this, Hale feels the need to question her by saying, “Child, you are certain this be your natural memory? May it be, perhaps, that someone conjures you even now to say this?” (76). Again, Hale sounds certain that there are witches controlling people and using their dark powers in Salem. By him asking Mary Warren this, it shows that he won’t be denying witchcraft anytime soon. Witchcraft gets brought up into even the simplest things by Hale, like here where Mary Warren is just telling the plain, old truth and he thinks a witch may be conjuring her to say this. The wives of many townsfolk are accused of witchcraft randomly with little to no evidence. For example, the wives of John Proctor, Giles Corey, Francis Nurse, two fairly reasonable and well liked men in Salem, are accused of practicing it. Hale needs to investigate this more so he goes to the house of John Proctor to discuss it and question them to see what they know. These men persistently say that their wives are innocent, wonderful women. Hale’s response to this is, “I have seen too many frightful proofs in court - the Devil is alive in Salem, and we dare not to quail to follow wherever the accusing finger points!” (71). Hale is saying that no matter if your wives are witches or not, there are witches present in Salem and that they have to take all precautions. The court is taking these accusations seriously because no one even bothered to think that a lot of these accusers could have ulterior motives as to why they’re accusing one person over the next or anyone at all. In order to keep Salem safe and orderly, Hale thinks that they need to eliminate all signs of witchcraft, no matter how small. The very obvious and drastic change in Hale’s character can be seen while in court with the head judge, Danforth, John Proctor, and Mary Warren. “Excellency, I have signed seventy-two death warrants; I am a minister of the Lord, and I dare not take a life without there be a proof so immaculate no slightest qualm of conscience may doubt it” (99). Hale’s words now are the complete opposite of what they were in the beginning of the play. Now, he says that without sufficient evidence, he will not take away people’s lives who haven’t been proven guilty because he is a “minister of the Lord” and this must go against his beliefs as a Christian man. Hale no longer acts on ignorance. He isn’t like the people on the court anymore who only saw the accusers as victims. The people of Salem registered that they could get back at someone or get more land by accusing people of witchcraft and potentially killing them, so this is what they did. Another reason why people accused others of witchcraft was to explain an event with an (at the time) unknown cause. For example, Goody Putnam wanted to blame the death of her seven babies on witchcraft, so she accused Rebecca Nurse. Another example of this was that everyone in Salem wanted to blame the illnesses of the children on witchcraft so they did and people were killed for it. In the first quote, what makes Hale begin to question witchcraft is when good, trustworthy people like John and Elizabeth Proctor get accused and confess to witchcraft when there is no way that they could be witches. He knows that they are pure people incapable of worshipping the Devil and this is when he starts questioning the whole situation. He then tries to help John Proctor and the other accused, innocent people to become free of these false accusations by trying to get other people in Salem to believe what he is saying and not believe what the children who are running this whole mess are saying. Hale fuels the trials at first by saying that dark powers are attacking the village and there are indeed witches, but he tries to fix it only to find out he is too late and more people will die, including John Proctor. This impacts Hale because he realizes how ignorant he has been and tries to make amends for it, only to fail. He really became an important character in the trials. In the second quote, Hale refers to witchcraft being present as if Elizabeth or another woman was using witchcraft. He believes that there is witchcraft whether or not this is proof. The change occurs when later on he realizes he has the wrong idea of what’s going on in the whole situation. This contributes to the trails because when Hale admits to there being witchcraft in Salem, chaos erupts and the courts condemn nearly everyone who is accused. Most of the things he says, the court believes so he is a huge part in these trials. The third quote shows that Hale is so strict on the idea of witchcraft in Salem and that he is not willing to budge or change his opinion: People who are accused should be looked into immediately because the Devil is in Salem. However, when he hears Elizabeth Proctor has been accused, he starts to become suspicious and changes his viewpoint a little bit. This leads to Hale's change because he ends up realizing that he is just looking for an excuse for these strange events occurring in Salem like everyone else in town. They all are searching for excuses to explain these bad events occurring. Hale is allowing Abigail Williams to manipulate the courts and himself into believing everything she says. He changes when he realizes that he is being tricked and that he has cost many people their lives. Hale allows the trials to continue being rigged with lies from the children in Salem before he really knows what’s going on. The third and fourth quote show irony though. In the third quote, Hale says that anyone who is accused may be a witch, but in the fourth quote he says that he will not consider anyone guilty of witchcraft without sufficient evidence to prove it. Now, Hale has changed and has realized that he had been wrong all along. He says that he won’t sign another death warrant without there being a lot of solid proof. Hale has begun to realize what he has done wrong when he processes that he has sent seventy-two people to their deaths over something that hasn’t even had good evidence to even consider. This contributes to the trials because Hale is standing up to the judges in the end and for what is right and fair. It opens the eyes of Judge Danforth and makes him think about the evidence he has been presented with and whether or not it has actually been sufficient, but he continues with the witchcraft story anyways. From the beginning of the story to the end, Hale’s nieveness faded and he understood that it wasn’t witchcraft that was affecting Salem.
Another change that takes place inside of Reverend Hale is when all his life he has lived by the rules of the courts and been completely loyal to them, then he officially quit the courts and changes the whole trials.

Giles Corey, Francis Nurse, and John Proctor begin begging and pleading to Hale and swearing that their wives are innocent. He is the witch expert and their wives have been accused of witchcraft, so they believe that he can help them save their wives’ lives. In defense of himself and the courts, Hale says, “Believe me Mr. Nurse, if Rebecca Nurse be tainted, then nothing’s left to stop the whole green world from burning. Let you rest upon the justice of the court; the court will send her home, I know it” (71). This shows that Hale truly believes in the courts and thinks that they are just all the time. He’s saying that if their wives are truly innocent, the courts will know that and let them go: Everything will work out when the court does its job correctly. He is so sure of this, but Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse end up being hanged anyways because the courts couldn’t see that they were truly innocent. Towards the end of the play, Hale knows that all these people are innocent and none of them are witches. He tries to explain to Judge Danforth, but Danforth is not able to see through Abigail Williams’s childish acting and he believes that there is too much evidence to deny witchcraft in Salem or anywhere for that matter. Hale is shown as a dynamic character when he separates himself from the court by saying, “I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court!” (120). Hale begins to doubt the court and its decisions as they cannot see the obvious lies that Abigail Williams and the other children are telling. His perspectives on the courts change he and starts to side with Proctor more than he ever had before. This affects the trials because they go from being totally supported to having a complete lack of support from a number of people, including Hale.

Once people see that Hale is done with the courts, they realize that something is wrong. Hale contributes to the trials because he tries the help the judges to open their eyes to the other, true side of the story. He tries to help Proctor show Judge Danforth that he committed adultery and that Abigail did too to prove that she can’t be trusted. This change that occurs in Hale’s character is the most shocking because he had been loyal to the courts all his life but when he realized how unfair they were being, he quit.
Reverend John Hale’s change of character was distinct and it greatly impacted the Salem witch trials in a number of ways throughout the play. It normally takes something drastic to change a whole person’s viewpoints and opinions but once that change occurs, there will be a snowball effect and everything else will change.