In the play, Reverend Hale makes the title true by the way his essence was reduced. Reverend Hale’s essence was reduced when he was called to Salem, Massachusetts to help cast the devil’s spirit off young kids. Throughout the play, Reverend Hale’s main focus was to save people’s lives. In Act 3 it states Hale said, “I denounce these proceedings, I quit the court,” because he thought it was foolish, and back then anybody who stood up to the court was killed. In the last act, Hale began to ask people to confess, to save themselves, though it was a lie he wanted nothing more than for people to stop dying. In the last act Hale was speaking with John Proctor and began to realize that Proctor was lying. Though Hale is a reverend he realized how the …show more content…
Elizabeth was put through a crucible or severe test in which no matter what she saw the good and her husband and was willing to lie for him. In Act 3 while at court Danforth asked Elizabeth, “Look at me, to your knowledge, had John Proctor ever committed the crime of lechery? Answer my question is your husband a lecher!” Elizabeth responds with, “No sir.” Followed by Danforth telling Marshal to remove her and John Proctor telling her to tell the truth because he confessed told them. Elizabeth thinks then realizes what she has just done and has been caught in a lie and John tells the court she was only trying to save his name. Elizabeth’s test would’ve been doing the right thing. Although John is her husband, she should’ve told the truth for not just their sake but everyone else’s. If Elizabeth told the truth she would’ve put an end to all the false accusations being made against John, Abigail, and many others. As time goes on and both Elizabeth and Proctor are in jail, in their last conversation Elizabeth was with a child, and she told John she could not judge him and that she realized he was a good husband. Elizabeth’s essence was reduced and she passed her test causing the title true, by not trying to force John Proctor to give them his
In Act I of the Crucible, by Arthur Miller, we are introduced to Reverend Hale, a “spiritual doctor” who comes to Salem as an authoritative figure on the science of demonology to try and assess whether the presence of witchcraft in Salem is true or false. However, as the play proceeds, we see Hale deviating from his original purpose and ideas. His intentions shift from figuring out whether or not witchcraft is afoot in Salem to the desire of making the accused confess to save themselves from being hanged. In Act II, after Hale has seen all of the girls confessing to seeing others with the Devil, such as Elizabeth Proctor, he goes to John Proctor’s house to find out more.
Unfortunately, Elizabeth denies his sin thinking she is protecting his honor, leading to the girls pretending once again and running out to the water. Mary Warren falls under the pressure of Abigail and accuses John Proctor publicly to everyone present by the water. As a result of the false and
Hale is completely dumbfounded to the result of the session and the mindset of the judges. He seems to have lost hope in justice and enraged, shouted “ I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court!” (Miller 1213). As seen in Miller Act 4, Rev. Hale is trying to get the accused to confess to save their lives but to no avail. The jailed have too much pride in their name to be able to confess; but his problem was that he tried to defeat a lie with another lie.
John Proctor says to Reverend Hale that he is a broken minister, and by the end of the play, it is clearly visible that this were not a false
At first glance, Reverend John Hale appears to be just a supporting character to Proctor. He “is nearing forty, a tight skinned, eager-eyed intellectual” (Miller 32), who first arrives in Salem to investigate the rumors of witchcraft in town. Over the course of the play, Reverend Hale undergoes many changes, thus reflecting his true character. Reverend Hale may not be what one imagines a hero
Reverend Hale, who enters Salem very confident of his greatness in discerning spirits, realizes he has caused irreparable damage. In order to right one of his many wrongs, he wishes for Elizabeth Proctor to convince John Proctor to sign a false confession in order to save his life. If John does not confess then he will hang and Hale will feel more guilt knowing Proctor is innocent. He has returned to try to convince the convicted to lie and confess to witchcraft in order to save their own lives because he now believes that lying is better than giving up one's life for no other reason than one's pride. He says in front of Elizabeth and Hathorne that he has arrived to save those who are blamed for witchcraft.
This is a clear example of when Reverend Hale’s character first showed his determination to not commit “social suicide” and let Abigail or other people manipulate him into accusations of innocent people. Through his vulnerable personality, Reverend Hale continues to accuse other guiltless townspeople because of rumors spreading in Salem. John Proctor when faced with death proclaims: “We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law!” (Miller 389). Reverend Hale finally comes to the realization that he valued his reputation rather than justice
When John Proctor and Abigail got into an argument because he told her that he was through cheating on his wife with her, she used her power with the court to hurt him. She went to the court and told the judge that Elizabeth Proctor was haunting her and stabbed her in the stomach with a needle. When Elizabeth found out that she was accused, she cried to her husband “She thinks to kill me, then to take my place.” This had lead to John Proctor defending his wife and getting involved with the court. Later, this lead to John’s death and Elizabeth’s
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.
He idolized his wife’s honesty, claiming that Elizabeth could never lie. When she is prosecuted and pressed on the issue of Proctor’s involvement with Abigail, she lies to the court that Proctor was never in an affair. Her small lie brands him as a sinner trying to topple the court. Proctor’s faith in her ability was ultimately what sends him to the gallows. The final nail in the coffin, though, was in act four.
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
Do as you wish, then.” (Miller 51) “I'll not have your suspicion anymore.” (Miller 51) “The reader quickly infers that John Proctor had the affair because Elizabeth is cold, emotionless and a detached woman. Elizabeth is naïve about the situation and wants to still believe she is living a perfect life.”
Elizabeth has never told a lie beforehand which tells she really does care for Proctor and doesn’t want anything bad to happen to him even after everything he's done. She doesn't realize Proctor has already confessed so she thinks she saving him from utter humiliation and embarrassment and she hopes to keep him out of trouble but her lie does just the opposite. This causes Proctor to be doubted so he is thrown in jail where he is sent to wait for his
In the beginning acts, Hale was trusting the court more than John and was a big part of handling warrants of the accused individuals along with having much confidence in himself, his knowledge of witchcraft, and knowledge of witches in Salem. In Act 2 and 3 in the play, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the character Reverend Hale was changing a lot. Throughout the first act of this play Reverend Hale had much of his trust in the court and fully believed the devil is in Salem but as the trial begins and goes on things start to change when Hale starts to question the court shown when he pleads
Likewise, when Elizabeth is brought before Danforth to verify Proctor’s confession, she lies to protect her husband, whom she refers to as a “goodly man,” from suspicion (Miller, 113). The affair may have caused Elizabeth to doubt Proctor but both parties still care deeply for each other and try to protect each other from harm. Even in his last moments, Proctor’s last words- “Show honor now, show a stony heart and sink them with it!”- were directed toward Elizabeth and were full of love and care (Miller, 144). Proctor may have sinned but his regret over his affair with Abigail and the trouble he had brought upon his wife justifies his