Christian Brewster Mrs. Hobbs English III March 19, 2024 The Crucible: Hale and what the Bible says about murder Did those who gave aid to the deaths of the accused witches commit the sin of murder? In The Crucible, many people are accused of witchcraft, however, despite there being no logical evidence, the majority are hanged. A large portion of people contributed to the accusations and the deaths of the accused. Did these aforementioned people commit murder? The playwright of The Crucible, Arthur Miller, used Hale's persona to assert that, under Biblical teaching, all murder is wrong and that life is God’s most valuable gift of all. Reverend Hale is a very reputable character in The Crucible due to his vast knowledge of Christianity and witchcraft. …show more content…
For this reason, he can stand by his word when he states.life is God's most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, may justify the taking of it, (Miller 94). The Bible has many moments where murder is referenced. Self-defense is referenced in the Bible as not being a sin, however, the wording is ambiguous and does not state whether murder is a part of that allowed defense because you can protect yourself without fatally harming the opposing party. Contributing to the death of one who is innocent even if that person had not directly murdered another, is still a sin, this is stated in the famous verse from the bible Have nothing to do with false accusations and do not put an innocent person to death for I will not acquit the guilty, (Exodus 23:7). This applies to the crucible very deeply in the sense that many people aided in the deaths of a large number of innocent people that were believed to be witches. The Crucible has a high death toll. Giles Corey was a frequent litigant who filed numerous lawsuits. Giles Corey claimed Putnam had instructed his daughter to testify against people so that their land could be
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.
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
A person’s character can have a lot of influences in weather or not they can maintain their morals. In the play The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the town of Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony is taken over by witch trials. They are started by young girls who accuse people of being witches in order to avoid getting into trouble for having been caught dancing naked in the woods. Reverend Hale, who is considered an expert in witches, is called in to assist the courts with the trials and give his opinion on the severity of the situation. At first he believes these cases are true, however he changes his opinion when the credibility of the accusers come into question, and he also denounces the courts proceedings. Various townspeople believe that the girls are lying, and some people try to stand up to them but end up being accused of being a witch and dying. The internal struggles of the character play a large part in determining whether or not they will be successful or not in standing up to the girls, and if they will be able to maintain their morals. Two of the people who stood up to the girls are Mary Warren and Reverend John Hale; Reverend Hale was able to maintain his morals by looking at the situation for a neutral prospective and going by the facts, whereas Mary Warren, a girl who was one of the accusers, was unable to successfully maintain her morals and stop the unjust trials because she was fearful of the other girls, she is self-centered, and she had no confidence.
In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Reverend Hale sees that he has made a huge mistake by running the Salem witch trials. Soon after, he attempts to prevent a situation in which he would be responsible for the death of an innocent man. Hale goes to Proctor’s wife and begs her to tell her husband that he must not be hanged, by saying “life, woman, is god’s most precious gift; no principle, however glorious, can justify taking it” (Miller). Here, Rev. Hale is stating that John Proctor should not get himself killed and justify his own hanging with a glorious principle. By stating this, Rev. Hale is
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.
“Hale: Why, it is all simple. I come to do the Devil’s work. I come to counsel Christians they should belie themselves. (His sarcasm collapses.) There is blood on my head! Can you not see the blood on my head!!” (Miller 137). In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, a man is sent to Salem, Massachusetts to help get rid of the witches. This man’s name is John Hale. He helps get rid of people that are accused of witchery. The judge is still accusing people of witchcraft and because they will not admit it they are getting hanged. Hale is a dynamic character because at first he wants to prove that witchery is real but at the end he recognizes that a man named John Proctor was telling the truth and that the girls were lying the whole time.
In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, John Proctor, a proud and frustrated farmer of Salem, chooses to die rather than to give a false confession to witchcraft. Many might view this act as that of a selfless martyr; on the other hand, it can more readily be seen as the height of human stupidity in the face of vanity and pride.
Nationwide, students in history classes study and learn about the infamous incident known as the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Through textbooks and research, students learn about this event from a factual and objective point of view. Students learn such facts like 19 men and women were hanged because they were convicted of witchcraft. Students learn the essential information as deemed important by their teacher; yet, students do not have the opportunity to learn about the trials from a subjective and personal point of view. Arthur Miller uses such a view point in his play The Crucible, which personifies the sentiments, attitudes, and standpoints of the people in Salem who were directly involved in the trials. Through Miller's poignant perspective, he shows the readers another side of the witch trials through the eyes of the actual participants. One such participant in the play who provides the readers with this valuable perspective is Reverend John Hale, a minister from Beverly who is called to Salem to investigate Salem's eccentric problem. Nonetheless, Reverend John Hale's perspective does not stay constant throughout the entire play. In Arthur Miller's The Crucible, the beliefs and principles of Reverend John Hale change dramatically, as the events of the Salem Witch Trials cause him to question his moral values and initial intentions.
Context: This part of the text is included at the beginning of the drama, telling the audience about Salem and its people. The author explains how a theocracy would lead to a tragedy like the Salem witch-hunts. This is the initial setting and is based on the principle that some people should be included and some excluded from society, according to their religious beliefs and their actions. This is basically the idea that religious passion, taken to extremes, results in tragedy. Miller is saying that even today extremes end up bad- communism, like strict puritans, was restrictive and extreme. It only made people suffer.
Arthur Miller wrote plays as a way of showing people the real picture of what life was really like during the Great Depression and after World War II. Before the Great Depression many Americans were living in a significant time period, the Roaring Twenties. People had radios, automobiles, and movies with sounds. Then it all suddenly came to an end with the Stock Market Crash, leading to the Great Depression. During the Great Depression, Americans faced poverty, and had no income because jobs weren’t available. Throughout his life Miller influenced many people with his plays, and his contributions to this day because people want to read and understand what was truly happening in past history. For example, “The Crucible” is a play about the Salem Witch Trials, giving a good understanding of the basics that went on in this time period. Another example of Miller’s influential work is “The Death of a Sales Man”, which is his way of showing what life was like when people were struggling financially during the Stock Market Crash. Overall, Arthur Miller is one of the leading American playwrights of the twentieth century.
Imagine that someone is accused of doing a crime and went to jail and died there, but then new evidence came up and that person was proven innocent. The people in the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller, would have the same fate. The play takes place in Salem, Massachusetts during the 1700s, during the witchcraft trials. People were being convicted of being a witch, just like what happened to John Procter during the Salem witch trials. Injustice of the courts is shown in Miller's The Crucible as well as in the unfortunate case of Robert “Bob” Doyle.
Throughout The Crucible, Miller is concerned with conscience and guilt. Through the character Abigail Williams, he shows how people are willing to abandon their firmly-established values in order to conform with the majority and protect themselves. Those who refuse to part with their conscience, such as the character of John Proctor, are chastised for it. For this reason, the Salem witch trials raise a question of the administration of justice. During this time in the late 1600’s, people were peroccupied by a fear of the devil, due to their severe Puritan belief system. Nineteen innocent people are hanged on the signature of Deputy Governor Danforth, who has the authority to try, convict, and execute anyone he deems appropriate. However, we as readers sense little to no real malice in Danworth. Rather, ignorance and fear plague him. The mass
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.
The crucible, written by Arthur Miller, is about the Salem witch trials and how people react to hysteria created from the fear of witches. In the play, after hysteria breaks out, the Salem government starts persecute and hang people it believes are witches. This prompts people to start to accusing people of witchcraft. Some people who accuse others of committing witchcraft are Abigail Williams and Thomas Putnam. They do not accuse people of witchcraft to stop witchcraft, but for personal gain or to hurt others. Thomas Putnam, one of the many characters who takes advantage of the witch trials, is able to use the fear of witches to bend the court to his will. Hysteria causes people to believe claims that are clearly false. This allows Putnam to persecute his enemies. He and many other are able to get away with this because hysteria driven persecutions are not run like regular courts and the fact that witchcraft is an invisible crime allows evidence to be made up. The theme of The Crucible is when any persecution is driven by fear and people can and will manipulate the system so they can gain and hurt another.
In every conflict there always seems to be at least one person to blame. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller, many problems arise that deal with live and death. Many innocent people in this play were hanged during the Salem Witch Trials. Of course, there are many people that may be blamed. In The Crucible, one may find Abigail Williams, The Putnams, and Mary Warren to blame. Abigail was manipulative, The Putnams were very jealous, and Mary Warren was weak-willed.