No individual, however, deserves the suffering these accused witches are forced to experience. Their society turned its back on them; they are beaten, tortured, humiliated, excommunicated. These previously God-loving citizens were warped for straying from their religion’s ideals. At one point, Reverend Hale approaches Proctor and his wife begging the question, “. .
With her confirming the avoided lie from Abigail, John was considered a liar once more because she didn’t tell the truth to the court about John’s affair with Abigail. Elizabeth lying in court set the tone for Act Four when powerful people in Salem fear a rebellion and what hanging Rebeca Nurse, John Proctor and Martha Corey would
The Salem witch trials are remembered as one of the most disgraceful acts a village has ever committed. One of the main causes of these events are the bibliocentric views of the community at that time. People often called witch on their neighbors to get more land, or cried witch at someone they simply didn’t like. There were 19 hangings during the Salem Witch Trials and one of the main reasons for this was Reverend Parris. At the start of The Crucible, By Arthur Miller, you see that one of the central causes of the witch trials was because he was more concerned with his own reputation than the lives of others.
In one of the scenes, Parris and Hathorne are talking about the Salem community and what is happening due to the witchcraft trials. “I’ll tell you what is said here, sir. Andover has thrown the court, they say, and will have no part of witchcraft. There be a faction here feeding on that news, and I tell you true, sir, I fear there will be a riot” (79). Everyone in Salem is getting irked and bewildered with the witch trials.
There is a lot not to like of abigail who was seen in the forest “dancing with the devil” with other girls and the servant of the parris family Tituba who apparently forced abigal to perform the black magic with her. Fear is a great human emotion that can lead to wrong decisions when you can 't escape your problems. The community is frightened by the reports of witchcraft which makes the citizens feel guilty in God 's eyes and believe they will be punished seriously if they don 't take action. Quick to the point the town relies on abigail 's witnessing. Judge Thomas Danforth leads the investigation and calls down reverend Hale to help with the possessed little girl Betty Paris and eventually is saved by Hale and later in a heated moment questioning begins and after Abigal manulapitates
He is held in contempt of court, sacrificing his freedom of life for the protection of others and for not telling the court who the witness is that claims to have heard Thomas Putnam. Putnam confesses that he had been accusing his neighbors of witchcraft in order to purchase their land. Due to his refusal, he is forced to suffer the consequences that would follow his actions, “You know well why not! He’ll lay in jail if I give his name!” (Miller 1196). Giles refuses to confess so that he can spare another person’s life and time in jail, which ends up landing himself in jail.
However, throughout the play, he is able to prove the audience wrong. Firstly, when Proctor is arrested, he decides to confess to practicing witchcraft. He does this because he believes it could end the trials in Salem, which could save many innocent lives of others who have been accused. Proctor tells this to his wife, saying, “I have been thinking I will confess to them, Elizabeth.” (Miller, 135). This decision is then backed up by Reverend Parris, who says that Proctor’s name on the list of confessions could convince the town to stop accusing one another.
However when he confesses, Abigail turns against him and accuses Proctor of being a witch. Now this man faces a new dilemma and wrestles with his conscience debating whether to save himself from the gallows with a confession to witchcraft, which he did not commit. Hale and the judges pressure him into confessing to a lie, even though he comes close to doing do. He cannot bring himself to
But when the play goes on, Reverend Hale starts to change what he belief and does not know who he should trust and became a dynamic character. There are three stages when Reverend Hale changes in the play. The first stage is that is that in the beginning of the play, Reverend Hale is so confidence of himself and he believes that his job is to find out all the witches or people who do witchcraft with his knowledge, books or power. Second stage is that when some of the incidents happened and he started to frustrate on the whole witchcraft trial and do not know who should he trust or find for help. The last stage is about he finally lost his faith to everyone and what he belief because he found out that all these things are not caused by witches but by everyone’s greediness and he is the one who made the whole thing became worse so that he leaves Salem and also all his beliefs.
Parris tells Danforth that “...Andover have thrown out the court, they say, and will have no part of witchcraft. There be a faction here, feeding on that news, and I tell you true, sir, I fear there will be riot here” (Miller 1220). Parris fears that a riot could occur in Salem if Proctor and Rebecca Nurse are to be hanged. The town would turn against him and the courts, causing him to lose his minister position and have to leave town. A confession from John Proctor would cause the townspeople not to rebel because Proctor’s life would be