In Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, he develops his characters by putting them in situations that challenges their initial views. They all change in their own way throughout the play. Miller shows that when you put people in a certain situation they cannot be close-minded. They have to put aside their own morals and think of the other possibilities. An example of a character that really developed throughout the play was Reverend Hale. He was faced with a situation in which he must put aside his beliefs. His eyes were opened to both good and evil in this play. He develops into a man who becomes more aware of what is actually happening rather than just sticking to what he was taught. He is motivated to help and in order to do that he had to put certain things aside. In the beginning of the play, when Hale was introduced it was clear that he follows the books. He believes the innocent will be saved and the people that sin will suffer consequences. In act two of The Crucible, Hale goes to the Proctor’s household to figure out why …show more content…
However, in the middle of act three he begins to experience a change. After hearing the conversation between Mary Warren and Proctor, he realizes that lies were being told to the court. Unfortunately, the mistakes may not be undone and the innocent has to suffer. Hale does have faith that the innocent will be able to get through this with the help of God, but it is evident that he is slowly losing faith. He knows that if the court were to find out that this was all just a bunch of lies and that the accused were not the ones at fault they would still precede with the hangings. The reason behind is because they would not like to look wrong to the common people. Hale knows he cannot do anything about it. It is obvious that he must feel guilty because he feels as if he is putting the innocent to
WITCHCRAFT By Town of Salem (ft. Reverend Hale) “Morality, like art, means drawing a line someplace” (Oscar Wilde). Throughout The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Reverend Hale’s morals are tested throughout the story, showing his evolution from the belief that Salem was tainted with witchcraft, to having to draw the line and prove the innocence of a simple farmer named John Proctor. Hale converts over to believing John Proctor and quits the court because of the blunt ignorance shown by the townspeople of Salem; he goes from absolving Tituba and all of the girls, then to having his doubts about the “witchcraft” happening in Salem and asking John Proctor about it, and then finally to siding with John Proctor and all of the convicted people of Salem.
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.
I cannot think he will listen to another. (Miller, pg. 132) This quote shows that he doesn’t care if John Proctor has to lie in order to not get hanged, showing once again that he doesn’t care that he sins as long as it saves him and the rest of the accused from getting hanged. All of this goes to show that Reverend Hale’s morals have slightly changed since the beginning of the
In the thrilling play The Crucible, Arthur Miller tells the story of the Salem witchcraft trials. Reverend Hale is called on to factor in on the matter with his expertise in the area. Reverend Hale is portrayed as an astute, spirited, and extreme character in The Crucible. Possessing these traits gave the Reverend a substantial influence in the play. Intelligent, smart, clever, bright are all words that fit Reverend Hale’s astute personality.
For example, in Act II, the first sense of doubt Hale receives in the people who have confessed to witchcraft is shown when John Proctor suggests that there are people who, “ ...will swear to anything before they’ll hang” (Miller 1173). This way of thinking creates doubt in Hale, which only grows as Proctor later remarks, “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 1179). All of Proctor’s words throughout Act II influence Hale to review the court and their actions. In Act III, in an attempt to save his wife and also disprove the court, Proctor throws away his reputation and admits to his crime of lechery with Abigail who is underage.
Hale no longer believes in the witch trials. Everything Reverend Hale came to Salem for now no longer means anything to him. By this point Reverend Hale, among others, has become fed up with the pretense and falseness of ‘The Salem Witch Trials’ and wants nothing more than for it to be over. (page 84, act four, Miller, Arthur The Crucible: A Play in Four Acts, Viking Press 1953) “ HALE, quickly to Danforth: Excellency, it is enough he confess himself. Let him sign it, let him sign it.”
¨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
Towards the end, Hale changes from a person who carries his heavy written laws to a person who hates the court. During Act III, after Danforth arrested Proctor, Hale is so angry with the court that he yells, "I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court!” (Act 3, 120). The quote might seem really simple, but it is significant because Hale finally figures out that the court system is a failure to the society, and also figures out what he should be go after. As a result in Act 4 when Hale tries to convince Elizabeth to tell Proctor to confess, Hale says, “‘Beware, Goody Proctor cleave to no faith when faith brings blood.
He said, "I dare not take a life without there be a proof no immaculate no slightest qualm of conscience may doubt it" (Miller 188). He did not want anyone to hang for a crime they did not commit, and he did not want any guilty conscience of it afterward. He started to realize that people are accusing others for their own gain, and when no one would listen, Hale quit the court. In Act 4, Hale tries to save people's lives by convincing them to confess. He doubts his own Puritan faith and pursues the falsely accused on his own.
As the play progress and people confess he starts to notice that what people are saying and accusing people of is not true but just getting to people they do not like. Lastly, At the end of act 3, Hale quits the court. Hale quit the court because he knew that a lot of innocent people were getting killed for not confessing to a crime they did not
In the beginning, he believes the girls and the accusations they are making, but then he becomes doubtful. He first questions himself when he delivers the news to John Proctor about his wife being mentioned in court. He says, ““God forbid such a one be charged” (64) because Elizabeth was a very honest and uptight woman. He had also just been to Rebecca Nurse’s house to warn her she was accused of witchcraft, which was appalling to some people because of her caring, generous persona. Many innocent seeming people were being accused, and Hale didn’t know whom to trust; he couldn’t trust that he was making the right decisions for these people in
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
He chose to believe what people said rather than investigating the situation for actual proof. Reverend Hale happened to be the only member of the court who questioned the decisions the court was making. He wanted to quit the court. In Act 3, page 126, Hale declared, “I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court!” He comes back to the court, only to help the victims once he realizes Abigail Williams was a fraud.
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
The basic human instinct of self preservation serves as protection from harm or death as it provides a strong incentive to protect one's life at all cost. This is due to the primitive instinct of continuing one’s bloodline. Although many allow self preservation to control their morals and beliefs, there are the few that do not. Some even consider self preservation impossible to override when the truth is on the contrary. This is clearly shown in The Crucible by Arthur Miller when Reverend John Hale is invited to come to Salem to cleanse the town of witches.