Throughout the play The Crucible, there are several transformations among characters. One strong transformation is that of Reverend Hale. Hale epitomizes a very dynamic character. Throughout all of the drama in Salem, Hale changes drastically from a man with intentions to free the world from the clutches of satan to a person who realizes the Salem witch trials were all based on lies and tomfoolery. When Reverend Hale was first introduced into the play, it was that Reverend Parris had asked Hale to come down and assist in the pursuit of the evil that was devouring their small town whole. Hale was cautious at first in accepting situations that people believe have witchery involved. Considering he is recognized for his authority on witchcraft and the devil, Hale initially comes off as arrogant and authoritative. Although Hale never accused anyone of witchcraft, he just asked questions about it, he is more than ready to investigate and rid Salem of any demonic influences. In Act I, Hale arrives with his heavy books of authority. His idealism comes forth as Hale begins to meet several characters involved in the night of what happened in the forest of naked dancing and flying: Abigail, Betty, and Tituba. In Act I, Reverend Hale began to speak to the group of girls and Reverend Parris. He stated, “No, no. Now let me instruct you. We cannot look to superstition in this. The Devil is precise; the marks of his presence are definite as stone, and I must tell you all that I shall not
In The Crucible Reverend John Hale is a very dynamic character. To understand why Reverend Hale is a dynamic character, we need to look back to act one, when Hale was new to Salem. During this point, Hale has complete faith and trust in the court system. Reverend Hale said to John Proctor, “I thought, … to put some questions at to the Christian character of this house ... if you’ll permit me” (Miller 61). Therefore Hale believes in the court so much that he helps the court find witches in Salem.
Thus, devotion and loyalty to the theocracy resulted in a heightened influence over the proceedings in Salem. In Miller’s The Crucible, Reverend Hale experiences a shift from blind obedience, to conscious disobedience against the corrupt system ruling Salem; however, Hale’s authority continually diminishes, until he eventually loses all of his influence. Due to his vast knowledge in the topic of witchcraft, Hale shows blind obedience when he gets called upon to act as the
Just arriving in Salem, Rev. Hale is already the center of everyone’s attention; he was going to be the hero who finds the witch and brings back the holiness of the town. Hale was determined to find the truth and felt that he had to know everything about a person before they were convicted. When talking to John and Elizabeth Proctor, he mentions,” … I find it hard to draw a clear opinion of them that come accused before the court.” (Miller 63).
The moment Hale enters the town of Salem, he brings about him an aura of sophistication and intelligence. He was called to the town to investigate the murmurs of witchery having previously encountered witches in his own town of Beverly. When the townspeople of Salem first see him “he appears loaded down with a dozen heavy books” (478). The presence of Hale and his books puts many town members at ease because of the implied intelligence that he must have.
As the trials start to progress more and more, there are changes in Hale. These changes are visible to those who know what he was like in the beginning of the play. Witchcraft was a huge ordeal in these days and anyone who was accused of it was sentenced to be hanged. Hale was not accused of witchcraft however he did start to have his disbeliefs in it. Hale’s confidence in dealing with witchcraft begins to dissipate immensely from when he first arrived in Salem.
According to the information read in The Crucible and the characters who have dynamically changed throughout this play, Reverend John Hale is the epitome of a round character. As seen in each act he seems to change sporadically; from a passionate, yet mysterious man to an even more serious and realizing person, soon to be very logical and wise in another act, and finally, a regretful and a grievous pastor in the final act. The first act of The Crucible portrays John Hale as a mysterious, yet passionate man who is dedicated to his work. This mysteriousness is a profound use of literary devices.
Reverend John Hale was among some of the most powerful people in his day and age. Because of his education from Harvard and his relationship with God, he was armed with all he would need to get people on his side. However, throughout The Crucible a dramatic change is seen in his character and it throws everything that he believes into question. Once a man who believed in the fact that Satan was taking control of his town of Salem, turned into a man who believed that there's no way that can happen and realized that everyone who had said that was lying.
When Reverend Hale first enters the story he is depicted as someone with great knowledge and authority. Proctor tells Hale on page 185, “I’ve heard you were a sensible man, Mister Hale - I hope you’ll leave some of it in Salem.” Hale is well known to people around Salem and he is known for possessing great knowledge. The people will listen to what Hale has to say, but know that his presence means that there is suspicion of witchcraft.
Throughout The Crucible, during the Salem Witch Trials, Reverend Hale slowly changes from a ‘confident man with a plan’, to a haggard preacher who seems to be losing himself amongst the chaos of these colonial trials based off of lies. After a life-altering experience, Hale is never again the same person he started out as. In the beginning of
¨Hale, continuing to Elizabeth: Let you not mistake your duty as I mistook my own. I came into this village like a bridegroom to his beloved, bearing gifts of high religion; the very crowns of holy law I brought, and what I touched with my bright confidence, it died; and where I turned the eye of my great faith, blood flowed up.¨. Hale recognizes the way he had first acted when he was introduced in the play he had false confidence, was falsely assertive, a title of the best witch hunter in that region meant nothing and being a reverend, he had failed miserably to bring justice to the town of Salem. Along with being a failure he has realized that those that he had convicted were innocent and the girls that had played the system were the actual ones guilty and had escaped their well deserved punishment. The whole point of Hale being the tragic hero was that Hale would have been able to prevent all of these things onto the town but having a title does not mean you are qualified for the
To begin, When reverend hale went to salem he was very confident. Reverend Hale, knew a lot about witches and spirits. Hale took witchcraft very seriously, he believed there was actually something going on in salem. Next, Hale is determined to get to the bottom of what is going on. When hale gets to salem, he is very tired and has very little motivation.
To begin with, Reverend Hale thought that he has authority due to his incredible power of finding and curing spiritual problems. In the story, people of Salem think that Betty has witchcraft. In order to figure out, the community calls, Reverend Hale, “spiritual doctor”, so he can examine Betty, Parris’s daughter, for witchcraft symptoms or a cure to a spiritual problem. When Hale enters the Parris’ house, Parris, minister of Salem, insisted to carrying the books. After Parris carries the book he mentioned that the books were heavy.
Reverend Hale is the character that changes the most in Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible because his feelings on witchcraft turns from full belief to unbelievable doubt, his thoughts on Proctor changes from thinking that he is evil to thinking that he is a good and honest man, and he switches from doing God’s work to doing the Devil’s. Reverend Hale makes a huge change on his claim of witchcraft. In the beginning of the play when Reverend is called to the town of Salem to see if the reason why Betty and Ruth are unconscious is due to witchcraft he brings with him many books. When Reverend Parris sees this he makes a comment that Hale responds to him explaining his expectations. This shows that Reverend Hale is focused on one thing, finding
In act 1 and 2 in the play ,The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the character Reverend Hale was introduced and learned what his role was. Reverend Hale was a man nearing his forties and was a high-status intellectual who was an expert in witchcraft (Miller 155). In this act Hale said that he believes there always will be someone with the devil(Miller 155). Hale was siding with the court in this act and signing death warrants along with believing in these accusations fully as shown in his visit to the Proctors when he said there is too much evidence to deny the Devil is in Salem (Miller 171). Also, Hale almost played as an interrogator when he was giving rapid fire questions to John about his Christian character and if he goes to church in his visit to the Proctor house (Miller 171).
At the beginning of the play Reverend Hale was a bit cocky, he thought he was at a higher status than the other citizens. He was stuck up and against anyone who doubted that the cause